HWY 80 to NEW MEXICO

After leaving Bisbee, our plan was to head east across the bottom of Arizona to the Chiricahua Mountains. This road took us through the small settlement of Apache near where Geronimo surrendered to the Us Army in 1886, ending the Indian wars.

© John Lovett 2018

Crossing into New Mexico, we stopped at a roadhouse in the little town of Rodeo. It was an interesting place with great food and an entertaining passage of local ranchers stopping in for coffee and gossip.

© John Lovett 2018

© John Lovett 2018

© John Lovett 2018

Further down the road a Museum had a great collection of local desert snakes – all safely behind glass. We hadn’t managed to see a rattle snake in all our wandering around, so this was a good opportunity to get a photograph.

© John Lovett 2018

Crossing back into Arizona, we headed up to Portal in the Chiricahua Mountains. The mountains were spectacular with birds and wildlife everywhere.

© John Lovett 2018  © John Lovett 2018 © John Lovett 2018 © John Lovett 2018

 

 

© John Lovett 2018

Hummingbirds were a lot of fun to photograph, being so small and moving so fast. Even at 2000th of a second their wings are blurred.
© John Lovett 2018 © John Lovett 2018 © John Lovett 2018 © John Lovett 2018 © John Lovett 2018

From Portal we climbed the mountains up to around 10,000 feet, passing the huge Morenci copper mine.

© John Lovett 2018

© John Lovett 2018

© John Lovett 2018

© John Lovett 2018

Old Indian cliff dwellings outside Camp Verde

© John Lovett 2018

MONUMENT VALLEY

 

From Brisbane, Australia to Flagstaff, Arizona via LA and Phoenix is a long haul. We were jet lagged and weary when we collected our hire car and drove into town to a motel.

Next morning, bright and fresh, we headed down Route 66 and peeled off north to the Utah/Arizona border and the spectacular landscape of Monument Valley National Park.

148Old Trading Post along the northbound Highway180

190Strange sign leading to an Indian Reservation.

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153Goose Necks on the San Juan River

156Mexican Hat

181Bridge across the San Juan River.

160San Juan Motel perched above the river at Mexican Hat – a mecca for bikers from all over the country. This group were from Florida via Texas.

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162Small scale oil drilling – Mexican Hat

163Patriotic Cowboys.

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187…Off into the sunset