This gives some sense of the far reaching horizons that you experience on the drive along US 89, between Flagstaff and the Colorado River basin.

This is a view to the north, just after dropping down off the slopes of the mountains outside Flagstaff.

Now we are on the edges of the Navaho nation, the largest Indian reservation in America. And, we are crossing Coconino County, the largest county in Arizona and perhaps the largest in the USA.

If you live out here, you better know how to take care of yourself because the response time of the Sheriff's Department is going to be measured in hours, not minutes.

Flagstaff offers another few moments in the high country of pine forest, situated as it is on the slopes of the towering San Francisco Peaks, but we have only begun our journey and we head north, leaving the I-40 and taking US 89 toward the canyon lands that are part of the vast plateau region of rock and sand that includes northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, northern Arizona and southern Utah. Of all the places in the inter-mountain west these offer the most expansive and everchanging scenes of earth and sky.

Tuesday, June 29, was a particularly clear and beautiful day to be traveling through northern Arizona. This is the view as we topped the high point on US 89 near Sunset Crater, just out of Flagstaff and head downward, out of the pines and onto the great plateau towards Navaho Bridge on the Colorado, the Vermilion Cliffs and Marble Canyon.

This scene is typical of the journey north from Show Low, through Snow Flake and on toward Holbrook. You leave the pine country of the rim and enter the plateau lands of northern Arizona woth their vast open vistas, little vegetation and much of sand, red rock and sky.

I love it all!

Here is the man and boy, Steve and son Josh. Steve serves as Bishop of the Linden Ward. It is his ward area that is in view in the valley below this hill.

We really appreciated him taking us on this ride and getting this marvelous view at sunset as we made this short, overnight stop to see them again before continuing on toward Idaho, Tuesday, June 29.

What a nice evening!

While stopped atop the mountain, enjoying the sunset and a view of the Linden Valley, I took some quick snapshots.

Here are Ann and daughter Gracie. They are becoming country girls. They motor about on their quads; they feed the horses and the cows; they live in the openess of the high rim country on the edge of the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. This is a land rich in heritage through Ann's paternal grandparents. They have grown to love it and the people who dwell here.

Shortly after our arrival back at Ann & Steve's in Linden (Show Low), we were treated to a sunset ride on ATV's to the top of a nearby hill, with Steve, Ann and the kids. The mountain air was so cool and refreshing! It also provided a great view of Linden Valley.

It was our first time to operate one of these popular off-road machines. We really had a nice time!

Monday, June 28, after a short visit with Karlie Burnham, at our home on N. Orange and getting a chance to see her two cute little boys, we took care of some necessary errands and then said goodbye to the Valley one more time. We headed east on US 60 for Show Low, going by way of Globe and the Salt River Canyon, Terry's (not Lnda's) favorite way to travel to the White Mountains.

As we neared Apache Junction, east of Mesa we snapped a picture of the Superstition Mountain, our famous landmark, surrounded by so much story and legend about hidden gold, violent death, mysterious disappearances, Indian depredations, and endless tales of unsuccessful searches for the "Lost Dutchman Mine."

Now it's foothills are filling up with development after development of desert dwellers.