The Unexpected Lunch
March 31, 2026 — Day 7
Junkyard on 66 Brewery, Grants, NM — Undisclosed Location
Over breakfast we watched many trains go by, we finally had a chance to count one. 105 cars plus 2 or 3 locomotives. But how long is a train car? Most of the train cars you see today are articulating well cars. It turns out the come in 3, 4, and 5 car bundles. You can see this as they ride, you sell 3 containers close together and then a gap, then 3 and a gap, then 4 and a gap. We had never noticed that before. The top container can be longer than the bottom one which has to fit between the wheels. (See Maxi-Stack® I car.)
How long is a well car then? It’s complicated. Containers come in 20, 40, 44, 48 and 53 foot sizes, plus the metric ones in the rest of the world. We did see at least one car that had 2 different colored containers on the bottom, so it was a 40. And one well car manufacturer’s site said the 5 articulated well car was 265′ 3″ long, or something close to that, that was yesterday morning. And, 105 divides by 5 nicely, multiple by 265.25 and you get 5,570 feet and 3 inches. And that’s close enough, it was just a long train, about a mile. We’ve definitely seen longer ones.
Susan said, “The steps!” Paul said, “The camera won’t capture it,” Susan said, “A good photographer could.”
Ahem… The freakin’ steps, shot with an iPhone, passenger window open, 60mph driving winds buffeting… but steps!
It’s all downhill from here. (susan here: I don’t know why but I always thought the Continental Divide was just one spot. Turns out it’s not just one, it’s quite a few. We’ve seen the Eastern, Great and almost certainly crossed the Saint Lawrence divide.)
We know, not in New England anymore, no Dunks, no Tom Brady, no Green Monstah, no “bang a Uey”. This is, we pinky swear, the last time we’ll make that joke. (Last time today…)
Horses!
We came across one of our favorite kitschy Trading posts. We think we stopped there with Stuart, but we’re not sure. We’re pretty sure Clifford won’t fit.
We love these art animals up on the cliffs.
Arizona you need to up your welcome/thanks for visiting game. Give Ohio a call they’re very creative. But, we’re glad to be here.
It’s around lunchtime and we’re driving down the road thinking about a driver’s change. Indian City has had billboards for at least 50 miles. Paul could have sworn they said big rig parking. We pulled off and saw that Player B had entered the arena! Chee’s also had turquoise and rugs, but they had Navajo fry dough! Yeah, we stopped.
We went into Chee’s gift shop and bought some magnets. They had some gorgeous pottery at reasonable prices and some at not reasonable prices. Then it was time for fry dough. They also have Navajo Tacos! It turns out a Navajo Taco is just just Navajo fry dough with lettuce, beef, beans, cheese, onions etc. Paul got that. It wasn’t clear that you could get beans without beef so Susan got the fry dough with honey.
She got desert first! (susan here: often it’s Paul that chooses a better menu item but today mine was better!)
The history of fry bread is linked to the forced relocation of Native American and Alaskan Native Tribes in the 1800s. Credit is given to the Navajo people for creating fry bread after they were forced to make the “Long Walk” from Arizona to New Mexico. Hungry and far away from their traditional foods, they turned U.S. government rations of flour, salt, baking powder and lard into a filling bread that saved many from starvation.
Fry bread is a food that represents resilience and family. Knowledge of how to make fry bread, and the story of its history, has been passed down through the generations.
Fry bread brings diverse Indigenous People together through a shared cultural experience. It is enjoyed with family and friends for meals, holidays, pow wows and other gatherings. (https://foodhero.org/magazines/fry-bread-bread-resilience)
How was it? It was spectacular with honey. The taco? All the toppings soaked into the dough and it wasn’t crispy anymore. The beans were blah and the picante sauce was probably from Safeway. Are we glad we stopped? Of course Paul says, “Yes!” Will he stop again? “No!” Will he try Navajo Tacos again? “Of course!” Susan will stay with the honey version because was just that good.
Rain that falls from the sky and doesn’t hit the ground is called something Susan knows. (susan here: it’s virga.)
And later it hit the ground!
We pulled over for yet another off/on ramp driver change. The winds were nasty today. We found another weird trading post. What are we trading?
We saw these cool erosion artifacts at the bottom of the ramp. Yes, that’s a school bus perched at the top of the hill. No, we don’t know why.
We parked across the street, swapped seats, and Susan looked out the window and saw dead fish on the ground. Did they fall with the rain? Hopefully her joke is funnier than Paul’s. (susan here: probably not. “It rained fish.” It was weird to see whole fish laying on the side of an on ramp in the desert.)
The mountains approaching Flagstaff always take us by surprise, and they always seem to have some snow!
What really stuns us is these cities have tremendous views but the suburban sprawl is great and sometimes the view collide. Down the road was the Safeway that we were going to shop at to replenish fresh veggies.
Beautiful mountains and a Wendy’s and McDonalds!
Why would you do dispersed camping right next to I-40?
That’s the Something or Other National Forest. There are a lot of those around here. And you know, we can camp there and will someday. Susan found a neat one near us that we won’t tell you about since we’re at the Undisclosed Location. But we can have awesome views, better than the junkyard, and not see a person for 3 days.
No, we don’t know what it is. It is at 35°20’19.1″N 112°09’43.6″W, it looks like a worn down volcano and that’s where something blew out. Lava tube maybe? There’s lots of lava fields in AZ so it wouldn’t surprise either of us if that was the case. But where did all those whitish rocks come from?
We pulled into a small town on our way to the undisclosed location and saw our first Sinclair dino!
And we don’t know if this is public art or are the horses for sale? Don’t know.
You have enough clues to know where we are now. We’re not talking just like the Bush’s Beans dog. Obviously no maps or data today.
Hint: We’re not at the National Watch & Clock Museum in Colombia, PA, but it was tempting…