Gallup...ing to New Mexico

Bobby Troupe said, Get your kicks on Route 66, the all-American highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. We drove back into Petrified Forest about six miles, as far as the Route 66 display.

"I wouldn't call this kicks," I said, as wind whipped my ears and light flurries froze my fingertips.

Andy laughed, pretended to drive the model vehicle front end and checked out the old touring chassis. We could see for miles across the plains, ten miles distant according to the morning news, with an 11,000 foot ceiling, but the white sky boded winter. The weather deteriorated as we stopped at pullouts back toward the entrance of the park.

From Lacey Point to Whipple Point to Nizhoni Point to Pintado Point, my camera trigger finger moved faster and the stops got shorter.

"Do you want a picture here?" asked Andy, pulling Little Red into the parking area at Chinde Point.

"Yes," I told him. "We took pictures here late yesterday. It might be fun to see the comparison."

With each step the wind picked up and temperatures dropped. "5,680 feet," said Andy, when we walked out to Tawa Point. "We're higher, so it's colder."

We passed up Kachina Point Trail. Too cold.
At Tiponi Point the snow powdered the ridges and edges with lines and blobs of white sugar. A sweet picture. The flurries continued when we left the Visitor Center, Fred Harvey gift shop and movie theater.

Back on Interstate #40 the snow increased, at first just a light dusting, then everything powdered, and 25 miles east, only the ribbon of highway stretched black ahead of us.

"How high are we?" asked Andy, when we passed Sanders, Arizona.
"5,980 feet," I told him, checking elevation on the GPS.
"It's definitely building up on the road now," he said, pulling around a semi as we crossed into New Mexico.

"You are higher too," I said. "6,210 feet."
"They have sanded the road already," he noticed.

Everything blended white--sky, grass, sandstone cliffs, powdered trees, roadside shoulder. Even the road was covered more and more. Then 14 miles from Gallup we met a plow, and the ribbon of highway stretched black again.

Snow flurried off and on all day and then fell in earnest around 4:00 p.m. We holed up in the motel. By 5:00 p.m. the parking lot was covered. Before we left Little Red, Andy lifted the windshield wipers. "At least they won't freeze to the glass this way," he said. We watched other guests follow suit. Undoubtedly, the storm was coming full fury.