This year my wife and I started our flying vacation on July 13th and are flying the Piper Archer from El Monte airport in the Eastern Los Angeles area across the country. Our itinerary will take us to Prescott and Winslow, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico (where I am right now); and on to Amarillo Texas in the morning. From Amarillo we will be going to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Springfield and Chicago, Illinois; Midland, Michigan; maybe Washington, DC; some little town in West Virginia, Greenville, South Carolina; Ashland and Bowling Green Kentucky, Colorado Springs, Colorado before returning around August 13. Below are some photos I've taken along the way.

About an hour east of Los Angeles and North of Palm Springs is the town of 29 Palms, home of the US Marine Desert Warfare training Center. In addition this area was used by the US Army during WWII for training for North Africa.

Just South of Needles, California where I-40 crosses the Colorado River is the Topok Gorge. I've been canoeing here several times! You can rent a canoe and go to Lake Havasu to be picked up. It's a great paddle, but do it in the late spring when the temperature is reasonable.

Sedona, Arizona is a beautiful place between Flagstaff and Prescott, Arizona. The airport is on a mesa.

As you fly from Prescott to Winslow, Arizona you will fly very near the Meteor Crater. The diameter is about one mile or just under 2 KM. The crater was formed by a meteor impact about 25,000 years ago. Because it is in an arid area, there is not much weathering because of water. It is supposed to be the best preserved impact crater on the planet.

OK, among my hobbies I am also an amateur astronomer and I am interested in impact craters.

East from Winslow, Arizona along I-40 are the Painted Desert and Petrafied Forest National Parks. These are well worth driving to see.

About 50 miles east of Albuquerque from Zuni VOR I spotted some very dark ground with few trees growing in it. I know there are several volcanoes around and ...

here is the one which had the flow I saw earlier.

If you are looking for an interesting trip by car or airplane, I can recommend getting to Flagstaff, Arizona by some means. Get a hotel for several days, then you can strike out in several directions from there. Sedona is abouta 1 hour drive south and worth a days exploration. Driving east along I-40 the next day you can see the Meteor Crater, then continue east to the Painted Desert and Petrafied Forest before going back to Flagstaff. To the north of Flagstaff (maybe 1 hours drive) is Sunset Crater with several indian ruins to be explored.

After doing these trips, you can drive or fly to the Grand Canyon and spend several days there. After the Grand Canyon and if you still have time to spend, drive to Monument Valley. But a word of warning: DO NOT buy gasoline on an indian reservation unless you filter the gas as it goes into your tank. I learned this the hard way. If you are flying, fly to Page, Arizona and spend the night. The next day take a short flight to Monument Valley. There is an airport there, but I do NOT recommend landing there as it is in pretty bad shape. Monument Valley is not a National Park and is sparcely populated. See my website for photos and description of my trip in 1999.

As this trip progresses, I will be posting additional photos.

One thing I found out on this trip is that the "Best Western" chain of hotels/motels now have high speed internet. In this one in Albuquerque it is in the room and also in the cafe via a wireless connection. The place in Winslow had wireless. So that is a big plus!