MIDWEST MARATHON--PHX to ABQ

9:11 a.m.--Mile 0:  Pushback from the driveway.  Lights off, water off, garage door down.  Checklist complete.

10:24 a.m.--Mile 86.5:  Co-Pilot/Navigator has to pee.  Unscheduled pull off at Camp Verde's McDonald's for requested relief stop and, while we're at it, a Caramel Mocha.

Sidelight:  When you leave Surprise (elevation 1,100) you will climb, over a period of 2 1/2 hours (depending on whether or not you follow speed limit advisories) nearly 6,000 feet to reach Flagstaff.  Initially, the terrain is a series of climbs and descents.  Signs read: 3,000 feet, 4,000 feet, 3,000 feet, 4,000 feet, (yes, it's redundant), then 5,000 feet, quickly followed by 6,000 feet and climbing.  We began the journey in an area of  Saguaro cactus, spring green grasses and scattered bushes, then climbed to a grassy plateau, passed through an area of  increasingly thick Juniper trees (they look a bit like Kansas and Oklahoma cedars) into a beautiful Ponderosa Pine and Aspen forest.  The pines become thicker as you approach Flagstaff but, sadly, show more and more signs of the decade long drought and the subsequent virulent bark beetle.  Today we saw too many dead and dying trees.

The San Francisco Peaks from I-17.  It's snowing on the peaks this morning and much too cloudy to see how beautiful they can be.

12:22 p.m.--Mile 178.5:  The pilot has to pee, so we stop at my favorite Arizona Rest Area.  It's carefully sited in an area  surrounded by reddish rocks and multiple signs warning of poisonous snakes, but it is relatively new, clean and scenic.

Rest area just east of Flagstaff on I-40.  This doesn't do it justice.

1:18 p.m.--Mile 196.2:  Stop at Winslow, AZ, for lunch--Pilot and Co-Pilot/Navigator are hungry.  McDonald's once again.  Did I mention we are way too disciplined for junk food, so we eat our salads while deeply and frequently inhaling the wonderful french fry scents wafting from our neighbors' tables.

Eastern Arizona...And they say Montana is Big Sky Country!

The eastern edge of Arizona and western edge of New Mexico on I-40...with a little rear view mirror thrown in for effect.  This, to me, is the beginning of Navajo country.  If you grew up with the Santa Fe Railroad, this was what you saw...only it included a mile long train in the background and a beautiful little Navajo girl in the foreground.  I always feel as if we're driving into a calendar at this point.

Here's the Navajo Hogan which appears to be wired.

Overkill I know, but I love this area of western New Mexico.

5:46 p.m.--Mile 459.3:  Wheels down in Albuquerque, NM.  Actually, if you're a New Mexico native it's 6:46 p.m.  Even though Arizona and New Mexico are both in the mountain time zone, Arizona doesn't believe in daylight savings time and so they're on Pacific time for a few months and....oh, never mind!  We work it out twice a year.