Robin and I slept in this morning because we would gain an hour once we reached the Arizona border. With the Trainweb.org problems solved, I started uploading stories from 2015. We had breakfast at the Travelodge then packed and loaded the car before checking out and filling the car with petrol for the day. Driving through Grants on old US 66, we looked for trains then drove to Baca Road, turned toward the tracks, parked and saw a green eastbound signal so we waited.
The view east with a green signal.
The view looking north.
The view northwest. Then we saw a headlight coming our way.
BNSF 7090 East at Baca Road. We headed west but a train caught up to us.
BNSF 4347 West between Baca and Thoreau. We beat him to Thoreau and got up on the bridge over the tracks.
BNSF 4347 West at Thoreau. We took Interstate 40 west through Gallup but had to stop for another train.
BNSF 7318 East at West Gallup. We got off Interstate 40 and took New Mexico Highway 118 west to the bridge over the BNSF mainline and waited just a few minutes.
BNSF 7124 West at Manuelito. We drove into Arizona and stopped at the rest area then it was back on Interstate 40 to the exit for the Petrified Forest. Robin and I decided since we saw the Painted Desert eastbound, why not see the Petrified Forest westbound? Robin used his card to get us in and we bypassed the Painted Desert and almost made it to the bridge over the BNSF mainline.
BNSF 4347 West at the highway bridge at the Petrified Forest. Now we will tour this part of this unique National Park with our first stop at Puerco Pueblo.
Puerco Pueblo. Next we went to Newspaper Rock.
Newspaper Rock has more than 650 petroglyphs adorning boulders below the overlook. Next stop will be The Tepees.
The Tepees. Next we will take the drive to Blue Mesa and we stopped at the first viewpoint.
At the first viewpoint, we got to see our first petrified logs of this trip.
The second viewpoint provided more views of petrified logs.
The third viewpoint was more of colors.
The fourth viewpoint at Blue Mesa.
The fifth viewpoint overlooked the Blue Mesa. We returned to my car and continued south through the park.
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