Day 7: August 27, 1999
Re-Tired in Arizona
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Both teepees and beautiful scenery seem to be everywhere. Examples of both occur together at the Arizona state line.
A short side trip into the Painted Desert National Park. The building is the Painted Desert Inn now being restored to its 1940's appearance. The wall remnants are from an old pueblo.
This wood peddler has spent 30 years in this location in a business that "Made me rich once, but a woman took care of that". He's ready to retire - to Colorado.
Another teepee, this one in Holbrook. If we had realized this was here, we might have tried for here last night instead of stopping in Gallup.
Just before leaving Holbrook, we were chatting with the owner of a collection of for sale VWs. (These included a camper on a bug chassis. Sorry, failed to get a digital picture.) when he spotted a bulge on the right rear tire. That made us think back to a rather violent encounter with an ugly gang of punk pot-holes earlier in the day. Most likely, that was the cause.

A Chevy dealer in Winslow directed us to the biggest tire dealer in town and he, in turn, directed us to the Discount Tire, Co. in Flagstaff. On the way, we spotted a Goodyear store and, although they couldn't handle the 18" Run Flat, they provided better directions to Discount. The local store did not have a replacement but located one in a store in Phoenix and told them we were on our way. After driving through rain and past two accidents (one with an upside down Cadillac) we got to the store in Phoenix and were put right in good time. Thanks to John D and the whole crew in Phoenix and to Tony and the other helpful folks in Flagstaff.

This was a 260 mile side trip that did nothing good for our "ET to the coast" but is the only real problem encountered so far. Not happy about the time, miles, or money but realized that we've been rather fortunate overall. We returned to Flagstaff and, after dodging the biggest elk in the world, settled down to grab a little sleep. We'll still make it in time.

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