AZ and NM 5/5/25

 We actually got on the road within two minutes of the planned time!

Mike and I left our house at 6:32, picked up Pam at 6:47 a.m. and hit the road for Texas.

We pulled into our hotel in Soccer, NM at 6 pm. 

Here's what we found , saw and did on the way ( and Mike drove the Whole way!)

We made no wrong turns, didn't get close to running out of gas, and the truck ran beautifully.

It was cloudy the whole way. 50's for temps most of the day. Traffic was okay.

Our first serious stop was the meteor crater outside of Flagstaff.

Mike and I paid the entry fee ($27 each) and got to see the crater, enjoy the museum and displays. I also bought a magnet in the gift shop. It was a nice place with a good visitor center...clear out in middle of nowhere. We had a picnic lunch INside the truck as it was windy and cool with spitting rain.

We had a lot of potty stops, a gas stop...heavy rain thru a teeny bit of New Mexico. We stayed to I 40 and I 25. All day of driving and only a touch of rain.

Photos:

Wavy clouds in Northern AZ.

Vermillion Cliffs were somewhat subdued because of the cloud cover.

Meteor Crater 

Nice paths throughout the visitor center area.

There were viewing decks set up with viewing scopes. We checked out one, looked down at the hole, swapped photo taking ops with other visitors, and then a big wind came up, so we skedaddled out of there.

The inside exhibits were really nice.  Films, a 4 -D experience we skipped, nice gift shop and a rock shop.

A space man like this one was set up at the bottom of the hole. That was a surprise when I looked through the scope and saw that!