Mesa, AZ - Plunging Down the Mogollon

Today we leave Gallup, NM and head on down to Mesa, AZ for the rest of the year. But - first - we’ve got to stop at Glenn’s in Gallup. Why? Well, look at these two pictures. Yep, two, count them, two big display cases of donuts and other pastries.

Now, you know why we stopped here. And, - they heat them up for you. Here are our plates. Check out that cinnamon roll donut that covers the plate it’s on. Now, I will admit that it is a salad plate, not a dinner plate - but, come on, it’s the biggest I’ve ever seen. And - mine - hmm, why would anyone put 2 flavors of frosting on a glazed donut? Yeah, so I would buy it.

Here’s Pyramid Mountain from afar.

Our route today took us on the famous Rte 66.

Our drive was to take Interstate 40 to Holbrook and then head south towards Payson and on to Mesa. A neat route. To Payson it is a 2-lane highway with first grassy plains and then a forest of pines lining both sides of the highway. Very few cars so we had the road almost to ourselves. We were on what’s called the Mogollon Plateau.

It took a while for me to learn how to pronounce that first word: it’s ‘Mug ee yon’. Doesn’t look like that does it? Well, it is what it is. I”m not going to give you the geologic description of it but it is a cliff that runs 200 miles from north of Flagstaff almost to the border with New Mexico. I towers above the countryside below.

Usually it is 4000 - 5000’ above the plains below it with some sections rising to 8000’ - which means that you’ve got to come down a long ways to get to the low desert country. Long downhills, sweeping curves and always downward. The views from the north are magnificent looking over mountain ranges in the distance and lowlands below. From the south, it is a magnificent rock cliff rising up from those plains. Any way you look, you’ve got an amazing view.

I like this picture with the beautiful red cliff above the yellow and red tourist attractions below.

To say that we plummeted down the rim from the plateau to the plains, is almost an understatement. The road winds its way around the cliffs, through the trees, always heading lower. For miles, it seems. 5000’, 4000’. 3000’ always downward.
We reached Payson, the halfway point between Holbrook and Mesa and then began Hwy 87, a 4-lane engineering marvel, winding through canyons. Because the canyons are narrow, sometimes, the two sides of the highway go through two different canyons and you can’t even see the other side of the highway. Then - suddenly the northbound lanes curve under the southbound lanes and - Holy Succotash - I’m looking out of the passenger side window and looking at the northbound lanes on my right, You’ve got to be kidding. How disconcerting. Here’s what it looks like on a map. See where the northbound lane on the right at the bottom, crosses under the southbound lanes, right above the ’87’ on the map. Then, a bit further north, the lanes cross again. It is a cool road and delightful to travel.

Here’s what I see out of the passenger window. See the truck climbing in a right hand lane.

It’s also called the Beeline Highway because it makes a Beeline from Mesa to Payson. Great trip down it.

The highway never stops curving.

We arrived in Mesa in the resort where we will be staying for 2 1/2 months. We leave in January 1 heading further south.

Along the way, we stopped in a public bathroom where a father took his daughter into the men’s room. He had checked it out before hand (Gary said) and they took the handicapped stall. All of a sudden Gary heard a high-pitched young voice singing ‘Feliz Navidad’. Cute.

Interesting phenomenon here. I’ve got a pair of jeans that developed a few holes in them. Now. I haven’t worn them that much and have no idea how I got these holes. Strange. Not only that but the navy blue of the denim is turning whiter and whiter. Don’t have a clue why. Today I took them out of the closet to wear and the hole was bigger and the color was whiter. Hmmm. Looks like I should toss them. Who knows what is causing this, nor if it might begin to affect other clothes. I wrapped them up into a plastic bag and tossed them in the trash. Oh, so sad. But here are the holes. What in the world would make holes like this? And, the cloth from that hole just disappeared over the last month.

My other jeans are still denim colored, have no holes and no worn areas.

It’s 11:05 and both of us are wondering why we’re so tired. Well, that’s easy to explain - once we thought about it. We got up at 6:00 to get on the road. It’s now 11:05 - or is it? Nope, it’s not. It’s 11:05 here in Mesa which does not do daylight savings time so, it’s 12:05 in Gallup where we started. So, from 6 am to 12 am - 18 hours. Time for bed.

I was practicing with the camera and caught this picture of Gary. His thought: you’re not going to put that into the blog are you? The caption: what do you mean you haven’t found a donut shop on the way?

OK, Now we’re in Arizona again, let’s go into a little pronunciation lesson here. Since we’ve been coming to AZ for the winter, Gary and I have had to learn how to pronounce the place names with which we come into contact. We’ve been to just about every place here and, not wanting to look stupid, we had to find out how to pronounce them.

Tempe - a city in the East Valley and home to Arizona State University. Pronounced: tem-pee’. We go to the art festival every December.

Mesa - a city in the East Valley that has a large Mormon population. Pronounced: may’-suh. Here’s where we stay over the winter

Ajo - a small city in southern Arizona. Pronounced: ah’-ho. Small town on the way to Organ Pipe NM

Nogales - there are two cities by this name, one on each side of the Arizona/Mexico border. Pronounced: no-gal’-iss

Canyon de Chelly - in northern Arizona, a beautiful natural landmark. Pronounced: can-yen duh shay’

Mogollon Rim - the northern Arizona, marks the southern border of the Colorado Plateau. Pronounced: mug-ee-yun’

Gila River - southeast of Phoenix area, popular for rafting. Pronounced: hee’-luh
Hohokam Expressway - also known as S.R. 143, a north south road originating at the airport. Pronounced: ho-ho’-kam

Ahwatukee - a middle to upper middle class community in southern Phoenix. Pronounced: ah-wuh-too’-kee

Tlaquepaque - a wonderful collection of shops in Sedona. Pronounced: tuh-la’-kuh-pah’-kee (my favorite word - just let it roll off your tongue

Estrella - a community and airpark west of Phoenix. Pronounced: es-tray’-uh

Casa Grande - a city between Phoenix and Tucson. Pronounced: kah’-suh grand

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