Chapter 5, Petrified Forest National Park and Albuquerque New Mexico
- traci wilson
- Apr 13
- 5 min read
Things went smoothly getting out of Verde Valley and the drive to Holbrook went well. We had a stopover in Winslow Arizona to check out the spot from the song by the Eagles, Take it Easy. The town really played up the connection to that classic with several local references to the line in the song, standin’ on the corner in Winslow Arizona. It was a fun novelty to get pictures on that corner! We did a little half mile ‘hike’ back to the truck as a leg stretch. The town looked really cute, although small, and we would have liked to spend a bit more time there but since we only had one night in Holbrook and we wanted to go through the Petrified Forest, we thought we’d better get on down the road.
We arrived at the Ok RV Park in early afternoon and set up quickly so we could go on to the national park, the reason we stayed at this location. The Petrified Forest National Park was not at all what we expected. It may sound silly, but we’d thought the trees would still be standing. Now that I know what it’s really about, I see how that would not be possible since the trees are the remnants of an ancient lush tropical forest from before the dinosaurs! It was hard to believe looking at it now—a vast arid desert landscape. It wasn’t as spectacular as some of the other national parks, but it was fascinating in its own way. Just wrapping our minds around what used to be there is kind of crazy! The tree remnants were literally turned to stone!
We drove up to the Painted Desert entrance on the north side of the park off I-40 and drove back through to the Petrified Forest end to the south, which made a loop going through Holbrook. We did two short hikes (trails are all dog friendly in the park). The first was a .3-mile easy walk along the paved Puerco Pueblo Trail. Here we saw old ruins that were partially excavated and some old petroglyphs.
The second hike was approximately one mile, also paved, through the Crystal Forest. That’s where we saw the specimens of the ancient forest, 208-225 million years old. You’re not allowed to take any of the petrified wood but there are reputable places where you can buy petrified wood from the local area. We went to one such place after leaving the national park and bought a souvenir piece.
The following day, we set out for Albuquerque New Mexico. Our plan was to get in early and after setting up, Dave would go do the shopping while I stayed behind in the trailer, worked on laundry and my writing to free up the next day for exploration. We only had one full day to spend there, and we’d heard it was a nice city. Unfortunately, this was not to be! We’d been lulled into a false sense of security due to a mostly uneventful travel day that was also fairly short. About 40 miles outside of Albuquerque, the wheels started to come off our plan as we hit stop and go (mostly stopped) traffic due to road construction. Google told us the delay would be about 15 minutes. In reality, it was an hour. With temperatures in the mid-80s and no shade in sight, we were irritated but so glad when we got through it. We only got a few miles down the road from that delay when the rear right tire on the truck started to rapidly lose air. Dave had to bring the truck to a stop along busy I-40 east with semi’s blasting past (I’ve never seen so many big rigs than in this area). Dave had never needed to change a tire on the truck before and it wasn’t a simple process. There’s a key access to get the spare tire out from under the truck and he wasn’t sure how to do it. I was at the height of anxiety, and I’m sure Dave wasn’t in much better shape but outwardly he was handling the situation better than me. I was sure we were done for!
My first thought was to call roadside assistance, while Dave struggled to figure out how to get the spare tire free. The reception where we were stopped was terrible and I had a difficult time hearing the man on the other end of the phone. It didn’t help that he had an Indian accent. We struggled to communicate as I tried to give him the information he was asking for. I ended up walking down the highway, trying to find a spot with better reception, losing the call completely at one point. All this, to find out that the area we happened to find ourselves in did not provide flat tire assistance and all they could do was tow us. I thought about leaving our 37-foot 5th wheel by the side of highway 40 while we got towed into the city, and I told him, “Never mind, we’ll figure it out ourselves.” He told me we could always call the highway patrol if we couldn’t figure it out. Perfect.
Dave did end up figuring it out, thanks to a YouTube video! He was lying under the truck, using the outside rug from our trailer to lay on, and getting step by step instructions from some man in Florida that was good enough to make a video on how to get the stupid spare tire out from under a Ford F350 truck! Epic. This delay cost us an additional hour and a half. I’m not complaining though, I'm just thankful he was able to get it changed. We pulled into the Enchanted Trails RV Park approximately two and a half hours later than anticipated, stressed out and dead tired. That night we ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut because we didn’t feel like either cooking or going out in public, which Dave had to download a door dash app for as that was the only way we could get delivery.
Instead of exploring Albuquerque as we’d planned, the one day there was divided between grocery shopping and getting a new tire for the truck. The tire that got ruined (Dave thinks it happened going through the construction zone) was only a few months old. We did manage to go on a five-mile urban hike on the Paseo del Bosque Trail, a paved and soft surface trail that runs along the Rio Grande.
Unfortunately, the trees hadn’t leafed out yet, so it wasn’t very scenic. We went along the unpaved section as far as we could, then came back on the paved trail which was much more populated.
Our next stop will be at Carlsbad KOA outside of Carlsbad New Mexico. It will be about a 268-mile trip and we’re hoping for an uneventful travel day. After the trip coming into Albuquerque, when I seriously considered bagging the whole thing and high-tailing it for home, it’s got to be better. Right?