Friday 18th May
This morning we departed Gallup headed 37 miles south to the
Zuni Pueblo. It was a very scenic drive
with more mesas and gorgeous cliffs. 
We have
to be careful with photography we have learned. Once at the visitor centre we discover the
cost to take photos is $10 for stills and $20 for video – no photos for
us! I really would have loved a photo of
the outdoor ovens, some just beautifully constructed stone, others adobe. (Ok but this was before I knew about the cost)
Turquoise for sale everywhere.
Its lunchtime and we hunt down the Zuni bakery we were told
to check out. This should be something
different we figure?? The best we can do
is raisin bread – so that is lunch and we have no butter, no knife – and we are
going to eat it on the run. A pretty
sight!!
We are anxious to get to Canyon de Chelly north of Gallup
before heading to Holbrook – quite a lot of driving ahead.
Despite the GPS lady telling us to one way, I insisted we
take the ‘scenic road’ as per the map.
And of course I was so right – it was scenic indeed. My ‘wow’s’ just kept on coming. I was so pleased with decision to over-ride
miss smarty pants GPS. We were driving
around to the east of the entrance and coming in from the north. 
All was going so
nicely until SMOKE!! Across the road
right in front of us a wild fire was burning.
I firmly (do you like that – firmly) said to Nev TURN AROUND!! Eventually he did – the wind was blowing a
gale and I was scared. We watched as
more cars headed towards it, waiting to see if they came back – they didn’t! So we turned back and carefully drove towards
a guy in an orange vest. We could see
the flames crossing the road in front of us and the smoke swirling. He told us we couldn’t get through here. 
No problems – we turned around and decided it
was best to abort now. We had enjoyed
the drive and it was a bonus – we had not planned to do this trip initially. 
As we make it back to I-40 the wind was really whipping up the dust and it was impossible to take photos for quite a while.
We pushed on at 75mph on the interstate so we could at least drive through the Petrified Forest. For a mere $10 we entered the 26 mile drive through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.
A monument to Route 66 - where it once ran through this National Park
The Tepees
Petrified Logs
We would have enjoyed some of the short walks through the canyons but it was getting late and we had to make Holbrook to check into the accommodation we had been looking forward to - The Wigwam Motel! 
During the day we had been questioning the issue with the clock on the GPS - it was not reading correctly. we brushed it off! Hmm Arizona is not on daylight savings time so we were an hour earlier than we thought - bonus. Arrived at The Wigwam and it was really incredible seeing them all lined up - each Wigwam had a classic car parked in front. 
We learnt next day that the trains (mostly freight) run through Holbrook every 10 - 15 minutes - 24 hours a day. The railroad line is behind the motel. It wasnt too bad as the buildings are made of solid concrete which obviously cushioned the noise and it really wasnt a problem. It was a fun experience.
The movies Cars also featured big time in Holbrook - particularly at Joe and Aggies Cafe.
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