Petrified Forest National Park/ Painted Desert, AZ

Well my short 4 day trip is history!  I put 625 miles on the Silver Wing with 130 of them on the Freeway. I visited Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, both National Parks and both near Holbrook, AZ.  Also visited Homolovi Ruins State Park and Little Painted Desert County Park both these last near Winslow, AZ. The weather did not cooperate very well.  I saw rain, sleet, hail and WIND...oh the wind.  My theory is if you don't want to be caught in inclement weather...stick to a cage!  My SWing ran flawlessly as usual, fuel mileage ranged from 52.5 MPG to 57.8 MPG.  Average close to 55 MPG.  And here we go:



Here I am starting out, the poncho did not last long in spite of the rain.  Was afraid it would blow over my head so it had to go away.



Near Clint's Well a VERY small post office and gas station, I topped up here.  This is about 45 min. north of Camp Verde.



As I approached Winslow on Hwy 87 this is how the sky looked (not good).  Fortunately the road veered slightly to the right and I missed the worst of this.



Cool motel in Holbrook and yes you can actually stay in a Wigwam!  I did not however...



Tuesday I did Petrified Forest.  Next few shots are from there:









Could not resist that last one...Dry Wash?  I don't think so!!!

Next two are from Painted Desert National Park (the two parks run together):







In Holbrook is a really cool museum the Navajo County Courthouse dating from back in the 1880's!  Worth a trip and the cost is good too (FREE).

After two nights exploring the area around Holbrook, AZ I moved to Winslow for the last two parks:



Next couple of pictures are taken at the above County Park, sadly the park is in bad shape but the views are breathtaking!!!!





Note the roadrunner above checking me out!





Next couple of shots are from Homolovi Ruins State Park.  Ancient Hopi ruins.  This park is in MUCH better shape than the last one:







After this I headed into Winslow and spent the night and got up the next morning and headed home.  Temperature leaving was 42 degrees F.  Note I had only summer gear with me (it was 80 degrees the previous week), yeow!  

In spite of all this the trip was great!  The Silver Wing does such a good job at touring one-up!!!  Would leave again if I could.  Hope you enjoy this brief tour!  And perhaps this will inspire some would-be tourers to get out and RIDE!!!

 Glenn thank you for bringing us along through pictures. I know
pictures usually don't do justice compared to seeing things in person
but pictures are the next best thing.

Glenn thank you for the beautiful photos! Especially the panorama ones. Looks like it was a great trip. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate a bit better tho.

Thanks Again!

I'm not jealous. I am not jealous! Oh heck, YES I AM!! Thanks for sharing.

Glenn, man I gotta ride out sometime and ride with you. Incredible ride area and was there about 45 years ago. Probably looks the same though. I looked at your Walmart poncho and thought before I read your comment, that ain't gonna work. I've got a set of Frogg Toggs that work great. We've got rain in the forecast nearly every day now in Texas. It's the craziest weather I've seen since moving to East Texas 30 years ago. I don't even worry anymore if it's going to rain from day to day because it probably will. And, if I want to ride, I don't worry about the rain, otherwise the scooter will just sit. So, I opt to ride, rain or no rain as it's all fun to me.

Hi Glenn, Arizona IS a beautiful state. Thank you for the pictures.