Holbrook, AZ

Left Catalina State Park early this am with much sadness.  We really enjoyed that stay.  We are now 240 miles north in Holobrook heading towards Chinle and Canyon de Chelly NP a Navajo spiritual place with many pueblo ruins.  We are going via the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.   The weather here is 10 degrees cooler during the day, who knows juring the night, but still sunny.  We will be looking for a local weather report as we can no longer count on continuous warm sunshine.  It was a bit of a shock to see our familiar desert give way to the evergreens and shrubs of the higher altitudes during our drive here.  We went over a pass and crossed the Salt River Canyon with incredible scenery bringing to mind a mini Grand Canyon.  Luckily Arizona posts realistic speed limits on those mountain roads allowing the 6-8% grades and tight corners to be negotiated without too much stress.  Graham did a large part of today's driving although I did most of the mileage going up and down the pass.   Looking forward to tomorrows trip through Petrified Forest and arrival at Canyon de Chelly - hopefully we can arrange a tour although it is early in the season. 

Salt River Canyon