Traveling Rat Royce

	*American Southwest Road Trip* After seeing Tucson, I begged to go back to Arizona. My host found someone who was headed that way, and she agreed to take me out West to see even more of this lovely area. If you are ever able to visit the American Southwest, you really should! But first, I attended a birthday party and I went to Fulton, Missouri, to see the college campus where Winston Churchill made his famous "iron curtain" speech. Here my host's father is showing me the goodies on his plate at his birthday lunch. That shrimp looks quite tasty.
	Ooh, presents! And instead of cake, chocolate muffins. Even more yummy than seafood.
	Opening the presents. My host had gotten her father a book on Admiral Nelson, and some socks with the phrase "mind the gap" on them, as her father always tells people about that when he relates stories of his adventures on the Tube.
	I'm standing at the feet of Winston Churchill. This statue is on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton.
	The campus acquired a piece of the Berlin Wall, part of the "iron curtain" itself! I've climbed up to a hole halfway up the concrete slab. That was fun! I hear Amelia got to visit part of the wall when she was in Germany. Now two Traveling Rats have seen parts of the Berlin Wall on two different continents!
	Zion National Park is a lovely place to visit. The scenery is spectacular and the vegetation so interesting.
	I got to climb up into a Joshua Tree. They are shaped so oddly, but are very eye-catching. Prickly, though!
	Then we went to Arches National Park. I had no idea that wind and rain had carved such unusual shapes into the sandstone. This national park is in what is called "high desert," a place nearly a mile above sea level where summers are scorching hot, winters are freezing cold, and rainfall is uncommon.
	See what I mean about the beauty of the place? The colors of the rocks are very beautiful.
	Behind me is Delicate Arch. It looks small in this picture because it is far away. Click here and see some magnificent pictures of it.
	Sometimes I looked out the side window, but sometimes my host attached my harness to the visor so I could see what was coming up ahead. It was like flying down the road!
	We took the Grand Canyon Railway up to the canyon. The trip up to the canyon rim was awesome. As the elevation got higher, the vegetation changed from scrub to pine forest. I looked out the window all the time.
	On the way, I got kidnaped by this outlaw! Fortunately, he was only an actor pretending to be an outlaw. He let me go and afterward, when the surprise wore off, I was glad to have been part of the show.
	And here's what we've come to see - the mighty Grand Canyon. Carved over millions of years by the Colorado River, it's over a mile deep and several miles wide in some places. It's a sight I'll never forget.
	This is the Hoover Dam. It is a National Historic Landmark which was built in less than five years. It has also been rated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders.
	This plaque tells you that this is a Modern Civil Engineering Wonder! The dam was complete March 1, 1936.
	Here I am on the Continental Divide. Everything east of here drains into the Gulf of Mexico. Everything west of here goes to the Pacific Ocean.
	I am lying on the benchmark that shows the meeting of four American states: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. This area is called the Four Corners. Nearby is Shiprock.
	This is a petrified log from Arizona's Petrified Forest. The trees here were destroyed by a volcanic explosion over 200 million years ago. Ground water dissolved the silica in the volcanic ash, and it percolated into the logs, where it turned them into these brilliantly beautiful stones.
	This is the world's first known meteor crater. For years, it was assumed to be a volcanic formation. But finally, geologists recognized it for what it truly was. The crater is over 4000 feet across and 550 feet deep. It was formed about 50,000 years ago by a meteor roughly 150 feet across.
	Our final stop was Mesa Verde National Park. I could have stayed here forever! In fact, I did jump out of the car, and my host left me behind (she hadn't noticed my escape). But only a couple of minutes later, she realized I wasn't in the car and came back for me. I was glad to see her, but sad to leave this rugged, beautiful land.