Day 28--leaving Arizona

For the first time on our trip we had to take down the camper in the rain. We got up at 7:00 so we’d have plenty of time before meeting Aunt Mary at their Arizona church, Gold Canyon Methodist, for the 9:30 service. And it didn’t rain the whole time, but it came down pretty hard at the prime moments for closing so we ended up pretty wet and cold. The church has 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00 traditional services plus a 9:20 Praise service (in the old sanctuary) and a 5:00 Western service!! Despite the new sanctuary which holds 2000, the 9:30 service was basically packed and we had to meet Aunt Mary (Uncle Don didn’t feel up to attending and being out in the rain) at 9:00 to have seats together. The congregation is largely made up of retirees and the children’s time only had about 3 or 4 kids. But it is hard to say how many families might have been in the Praise service instead. It is a beautiful church and it was an enjoyable service. It was nice for us to be able to listen to their 60 member choir rather than singing in the choir ourselves for a change. After the service we drove southeast on Highway 60 and then Highway 70, not meeting up with I10 until we were back into New Mexico. It was a very pretty drive through some mountains, along canyons, across valleys and passing through the Salt River Apache Reservation. We passed several snow covered peaks but the temperature was in the high 50s or low 60s most of the way. We stopped at Globe, AZ to see the Besh-Ba-Gowah archaeological site. The area was originally inhabited by Hohokam, who established a pit-house settlement around 900 AD and abandoned it around 1100AD. Approximately 1250AD the Salado Indians began constructing what became a 400 room, three story pueblo. Shortly after 1400AD the pueblo was abandoned and the Salado people mysteriously disappeared. Part of the site has been reconstructed and part has been left unexcavated. It is a haunting and fascinating place and we were happy we took the time to visit it. However, we had underestimated how long it would take to reach our destination of “City of Rocks” State Park in New Mexico. As a result we arrived after dark in one of the poorest signed parks we’ve ever seen. As far as we could tell in the dark, all of the electrical sites were taken. So we set–up in what we think is a non-electrical campsite backing up to enormous rocks. As we ate dinner we found out the area is under a Winter Storm Watch for Monday evening and into Tuesday. So we’ll close up the camper and see the rocks in the morning and then head further southeast and to lower elevations before the snow hits. Tonight it’s cold (40°) and clear at 10:00.