Page 208 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2023 DISCOVERING TURKEY

gear. They attach a trailer to a bike to carry
most of their luggage.
But watch out for deer, they cautioned,
practically in unison.
“And holes in the road,” Doug added.
A small price for the understated splendor
of the Petrified Forest, in their opinion.
Conifers that grew during the Late Triassic
Period have emerged gradually from the
sandy grit that now covers this place, reveal-
ing what 200 million years of climate evolu-
tion can do to trees trapped in silt. Now the
fossil logs, some oddly segmented, share the
park with petroglyphs like Newspaper Rock,
agate, hiking trails, views of the Painted
Desert and the permanently marooned shell
of a 1932 Studebaker that stands on Route
66’s obliterated path and serves as homage to
road-borne restlessness.
Danney said the fascination of petrified
wood is “knowing where it came from, how
many years it took, the erosion process that
took place. And there’s no telling how much is
under the ground that we still yet can’t see.”
“I think this should be on everybody’s list
to come to,“ Doug said.
He later backed his gleaming Gold Wing out
of a parking place, Nell perched on the high
back seat, Danney and Debbie waiting nearby
on their bike. The Watsons were headed for
Angel Fire, New Mexico. They looked serene,
wore cool helmets and talked on their inter-
coms. Johnny turned toward his 2016 Toyota
Corolla, which squeezes 42 highway miles out
of a gallon of gas but is cramped, slow and re-
lentlessly uncomfortable. No matter. Just
drive.
To Alburquerque, where the historic Old
Town plaza dares you to experience old and
new simultaneously. As old as centuries of
Native, Spanish, Mexican and American his-
tory. As traditional as entrees served with
separate small bowls of red and green chilis,
an option known as Christmas style. And as

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