Four Corners - Day 28

Start Location: Farmington, NM
Ending Location: Prescott, AZ
Miles Today: 389
Trip Miles: 9134
States Visited: 33
Provinces Visited: 3
Low Temp: 65 degrees
High Temp: 93 degrees
Min Elevation: 3262'
Max Elevation: 7251'

Route Map:

We manage to stay off the interstates again today and have aninteresting day. We start by passing through Shiprock, NM and we think that this is the reason for the name - although it doesn't look too much like a ship to us. In general the scenery and the roads are similar to yesterday.

We think that a visit to the real Four Corners would be most appropriate for a 4 Corners Tour. The Four Corners is the only place in the US where the borders of 4 states all touch. Of course, this has been commercialized and it costs us $3.00 per person to get in. Once inside we find a monument with flags from all 4 states and a bronze plaque designating the precise intersection. Of course it starts raining on the way to the Four Corners but not enough for us to stop and put on our rain gear. By the time we arrive, the rain has picked up and we suit up before taking pictures in the clouds and rain. Then, as we are driving out, the rain stops but we leave our gear on for another half hour just to make sure.

The roads in Arizona this morning are very good and the scenery is also fine. We see signs to watch for horses and, sure enough, there are some. They are running along the side of the road and we worry they may bolt across the road in front of us. A cow did that to us in the mountains of northern California once and almost took us out. We also see motorcycles on trailers and feel bad for them but then see more on the roads, where they should be.

As we approach central Arizona, the scenery improves even more and we see red rock cliffs as well as huge rock formations. We also pass the road which we took on a previous trip that goes to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and see a large group of bikes leaving the Canyon. Then as we approach Flagstaff we see huge fields of yellow that we're not sure if they are wild flowers or weeds. We prefer to think of them as wild flowers but are probably wrong.

As we leave Flagstaff on route 89A we get one of the most pleasant surpises of the trip yet. We get about a 30 mile ride through Oak Creek Canyon which is incredible. The scenery just gets better and better and better. See even better pictures here. This is one of the fun things about the trip, coming on roads or places or events that you never expected - especially pleasant ones. The road ends in Sedona, where neither of us has been before. This is a beautiful town with lots of galleries and artists. The town is obviusly tourism based and everything is perfectly groomed and well kept. This is a place which we would like to return to someday - our list is growing.

After Sedona, the road becomes a 4 laner for another 20 miles or so until we come to Jerome. Jerome reminds us of Bisbee. It is a historic town virtually built into a hill side. We tried to get pictures but weren't able to. We thought the view of the houses in the side of the hill was amazing and then we found that the road went right through the town switching back and forth very steeply. It was a great ride but would have been more interesting if we didn't have a truck in front of us. Again Linda didn't get any pictures because she felt the need to hold on as we switched back and forth and climbed through the city.

We end the day in Prescott and plan another day off the interstates for tomorrow.

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