Into Arizona

Much to our surprise, today we came into Arizona--we had planned to travel east, not west--and are spending the night in the town of Show Low.

There is a "rule" in New Mexico that, despite the sparse population, you won't really run out of gas if you keep your tank filled into the upper half. But ours got lower than that because we didn't add fuel before starting out from Silver City NM this morning. The highway we went down had few services, and at a certain point we got worried.

The GPS informed us that the closest gas was 70 miles away, to the west. So we went there, across the Arizona line for the first time.

It was the tinest little gas station I've ever seen. And when we pulled in, it was locked up! But soon a girl showed up riding a motorcycle, unlocked the pumps, and got us gas. So that worry was solved.

But from that point we had to follow a complete different path, much of it across Indian reservations on US 60. The scenery was spectacular, though, so we have enjoyed our day completely.

Tomorrow our plan--plans are not always realized, of course--but still our plan is to get back on Route 66, this time heading eastward, not westward. It is a good bet that we might spend tomorrow night in Gallup, New Mexico.