The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
at Meteor Crater - 35 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona off I-40
A Historical wonder and museum that honors the U.S. Space Program
October 3, 2022 and a quick Flashback to 1987 |
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Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater approximately 43
miles east of Flagstaff, in the northern Arizona desert of the United
States. Because the U.S. Department of the Interior Division of Names
commonly recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest
post office, the feature acquired the name of "Meteor Crater"
from the nearby post office named Meteor.
The site was formerly known as the Canyon
Diablo Crater, and fragments of the meteorite are officially
called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite. Scientists refer to the crater as
Barringer Crater in honor of Daniel Barringer, who
was first to suggest that it was produced by meteorite impact.
The crater is privately owned by the Barringer family
through their Barringer Crater Company, which proclaims it to be "the
most well known, best preserved meteorite crater on Earth".
Despite its importance as a geological site, the crater
is not protected as a National Monument, a status that would require
federal ownership. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in
November 1967.
Meteor Crater lies at an elevation of about 5,709 feet
above sea level. It is about 4,000 feet in diameter, some 570 feet deep,
and is surrounded by a rim that rises 150 feet above the surrounding
plains.
The center of the crater is filled with 700,000 feet
of rubble lying above crater bedrock. One of the interesting features
of the crater is its squared-off outline, believed to be caused by pre-existing
regional cracks in the strata at the impact site. |
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Below: Approaching Meteor Crater
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Below: The two walked around the exterior
of the building before entering the building and paying the entry fee. |
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Below: Lee and Karen Duquette made some new friends.
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Then it was time
for the two RV Gypsies to enter the building and pay the entry fee.
First, Lee and Karen Duquette watched a free movie as advertised in
the photo below. It was narrated by the stupid-looking bunny
shown below and was boring, except for a few trivial questions and answers
shown below. |
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Below: Then the two RV Gypsies went behind the building
to see the Meteor Crater for their second time, the first time was
in 1987 and Karen and Lee Duquette were the only two people
around. This time there were people everywhere. Also in 1987, there
was no building showing movies, the history, or selling stuff. And
the flag and astronaut (shown in the below photos) were not there
either.
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  The
two RV Gypsies thought you would like a FLASHBACK to Meteor Crater in
1987 when this place was not commercialized. There was No fee to enter,
no building with history, no gates, no directional signs along the road
(like those shown above), and not even the big parking lot as in 2022.
Plus there were very few people here as shown below in the one photo
taken in 1987. By the time this website was built, other photos from
1987 were lost because Karen Duquette could not take all the photo albums
in the RV, so she had to pull them out of photo albums, and put them
in a box that got lost.
So from 1987, the two RV Gypsies only have one photo, (shown below).
When they returned here in 2022. there WAS a fee to enter, signs along
the roadway (as shown above), a big parking lot, fun stuff outside,
a movie inside the building, and people everywhere out back. Oh well,
times change. But this place was still fun to visit. |
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Below: 2022
photos |
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Below: The two RV Gypsies
went behind the building to view Meteor Crater in 2022. A 6-foot tall
astronaut and a 3' x 5' USA Flag was added. But they are so far down
in the center of the crater, that Karen Duquette had to zoom in to see
them. |
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Below: Several views of the crater. The Astronaut and
flag are hard to see (the above photos were cropped closer from these
photos.)
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