All The trip to Williams was unique in that everything was new. There were types of vehicles that we just do not see in the UK and nearly all were bigger. Mind you when you consider that petrol (gas) works out at over $3 a US gallon you can appreciate why. I was surprised by the number of U Move (Haul?) It trailers on the road. It seemed like a major US pastime was moving! In fact just the number of trailers was a surprise. They are not very popular in England probably because anyone with one gets no consideration at all. I know because I used to have a trailer tent. I was also fascinated by the caravan trailers which seemed to hook into the rear portion of a pickup. If anyone has one I would like to know just how they work. The trucks weren't a great deal bigger than the biggest on the English roads but the tractors are larger. We stopped at a truck stop whose name I cannot remember somewhere near the NM/AZ border because Ron had suggested that petrol would be cheaper there. I should have known better. Our motorway (freeway) stations are expensive and so was this one. I was going to take a picture of all the trucks lined up but we had the first of the snow we encountered through our trip. I never did find such an array of trucks again. I was surprised to find a casino as part of the facilities but from what we saw there and some news I have heard since I believe that it may have been run by native Americans. They were running the shop we visited. The annoying thing about being a tourist is that you are not always sure as to whether you are being ripped off or not. However, we had decided that it was probably cheaper to stop and buy some food and water rather than keep eating out. Anyway, we pulled up in a blizzard and left in a blizzard but thankfully we drove out of it. We detoured to drive through a part of the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest (though forest was something of an overstatement. I would have called it the Petrified Copse <g>). Unfortunately it is only a shadow of what it was as a lot of it has been carted away. I was disappointed with this part of the trip as there did not seem to be so much colour in the desert and the forest was anything but. The most fascinating part was all the washes, creeks and rivers that we drove over which were completely dry. Presumably, they carry water at some time. Even so the desert did not seem like true desert. The only reason I say this is that last year we visited Egypt and, once you pass the narrow strip which is irrigated by the Nile, all there is is sand and rocks. This desert was able to support some scrubby vegetation. Getting back to the freeway was our first bit of real navigation and I even got to travel on Route 66! We only had one confusing part where the number of the freeway changed for no apparent reason and it was not really clear on the map. Having a military inclination I continued from the last instruction (direction) and the freeway suddenly changed back to the correct number!? By this time I had another problem. The passenger seat may have been fine but the driver's seat left a lot to be desired. It provided no support for the lower back. By the time we reached Williams I was in pain. Talking about Williams, most of you will be familiar with the fact that you have a choice of exits for a lot of conurbations. So, which one. There were three for Williams (I think). I decided to plump for the second one. Was it the right one - you tell me :?) ( we wanted the Fray Marcos Hotel). Tune in - same bat time, same bat channel. BoW _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Eat the hay & spit out the sticks! - A#1's mule" RTKB&G4JC! http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
