Twin Arrows Casino

   For years the Navajo Nation voted against building casinos on their lands, mostly out of moral conviction, however in 2013 the Twin Arrows became the first Navajo casino. There are now three more all on the edges of the reservation and close to major travel routes. This one is particularly popular because it’s only about 20 miles east of Flagstaff.

   Two small sections of parking lot on the east side of the casino have long spaces for RVs. The spaces are sloped so levelers are required in most of them. They also start filling up in late afternoon. Sign in is not necessary.

   The trip to the casino is uphill. The chairs are fairly easy to move and the money and ticket slots are easy to reach.  Casino 35.16684, -111.2558

New Mexico Mining Museum

   Uranium ore was discovered in western New Mexico in 1950 which made the small town of Grants, New Mexico a boomtown of sorts. Uranium was needed by the US government for nuclear weapon development until the 1970s when its main use was in power plants. Jobs in the mines and mills were easy to get and the pay was good. The workers did not realize that breathing in the dust, working in a radon saturated atmosphere, and drinking radioactively contaminated water would injure and sicken them and their families. Many miners died of lung cancer. Miscarriages and birth defects were common in families where the husband or wife worked in the uranium industry.

   The museum has good exhibits that give the facts in a non-committal way and gloss over problems such as the health of workers or the disposal of radioactive waste. The most interesting exhibit is a recreated uranium mine which takes up the entire basement level.

   The museum is accessible. An elevator provides access down to the “mine”. The main path through mine is paved and smooth.

   Small RVs will fit in the parking lot. Larger RVs can be parked along the alley by the park to the west of the museum. Museum  35.15356, -107.85425

Sky City Casino

  The gravel lot north of the hotel is marked for oversized parking but it’s far away from the casino entrance so we parked in an unused gravel lot south of the employee parking lot. Head across the lot to the employee entrance and follow the sidewalk to the left to get to the casino entrance.

   The chairs are fairly easy to move and the card and money slots are easy to reach. Casino  35.07546, -107.55426

Ohkay Casino

  The casino has a large gravel lot for truck parking. Since the casino wasn’t busy we parked in the paved lot just lot of the gravel lot to avoid most of the dust and truck noise.

   The nearest entrance door for the casino was blocked by construction barriers so a it was a bit of a hike to the front door. The casino has easy to move chairs. The card and money slots are easy to reach. Casino  36.03438, -106.06119

US 56/412 Picnic Table Rest Area

 

   An internet search for a good overnight spot along US 56/412 yielded little as most of the land is privately owned or checkerboard state trust land. As far as I know New Mexico state trust land is closed to camping so it was time to take a look at the old trusty Rand McNally paper map. This little rest stop, marked with a picnic table on the map, was great – fairly quiet with a large gravel pile blocking traffic at one end so nobody rumbled by us during the night. Picnic table rest areas usually do not have anything but a place to pull off and picnic tables. Stays in New Mexico rest areas are limited to 24 hours.  36.30558, -104.18886

Dinosaur Statues

  Two of the three dinosaurs are surrounded by protective, white picket fencing. The triceratops has been refurbished recently with new horns and a new paint job but the brontosaurus’s skin is flaking away. The third dinosaur looks tougher so it may be made of concrete or fiberglass rather than foam like the other two.

  The dinosaurs are located at the Clayton Tourist Center. An interpretive sign describes the 100 million-year-old dinosaur tracks that can be seen at Clayton Lake State Park, located about 15 miles north of the town.

   The dinosaurs can be viewed from the sidewalk or from your vehicle.

   Short RVs will fit in the gravel lot on Palm Street. Long RVs can be parked on the street. Statues  36.44131, -103.17795

No Man's Land Regional Park

  There aren’t any designated camping spots in this small community park. Either of the two parking lots are okay and we also saw a fifth wheel parked in the grass by the baseball diamond.

The park has a dump station and potable water, a skateboard park, picnic tables, restrooms, and picnic tables.

   The parking lots are large enough for any RV. Park  36.67618, -101.46932

Seward County Historical Museum & Dorothy's House

   A young tour guide dressed as Dorothy leads visitors through a small farm house furnished as it would have been in the early 20th century and explains what life was like before the invention of modern conveniences. The tour continues to the Land of Oz where Dorothy enthusiastically acts out scenes from the movie and ends in a room of artifacts – some real, some replicas.

   This is a very unpolished attraction from the humorously awkward plywood characters outside to the repurposed store mannequins and the almost unrecognizable tinman in the Land of Oz. Don’t expect a lot - it’s all part of the fun!

   The museum and Dorothy’s house are located next to each other. Go to the museum to pay admission and sign up for a tour of the house and Land of Oz. The museum features old photographs and donated historic artifacts.

   Dorothy’s house is accessed by a ramp but there’s a short step up at the threshold. The Land of Oz building has a step up at the entrance and down at the exit. The museum has a ramp and a high threshold at the entrance. The second floor is accessed by stairs only.

   The parking lot is large enough for cars only but RVs can be parked on the street or in the gravel lot north of the museum on East Cedar Street. House   37.03446, -100.91028

Davis Park

  The  camping area is a grassy lot on the southeast side of the park. There’s enough room for about eight RVs with four electric pedestals spaced out so that they can be shared. There aren’t any signs with rules and regulations so I don’t know how long of a stay is permitted.  Park  37.60716, -99.28304

Big Well Museum & Visitors Center

   For years Greensburg, Kansas’s claim to fame was the hand dug well, 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter, that supplied water for the steam engines that ran through the town. It was completed in 1888 but capped in the 1930s as trains were converted to electric and diesel power. In 1937 a successful campaign to draw tourists to town tempted visitors with the novelty of descending down into the well.

    Life continued peacefully for the small community of fewer than 2,000 people until May 4, 2007 when disaster struck. A 1.7 miles wide EF5 tornado leveled the entire town, destroying 95% of the buildings and killing 12 people. Today the town has been rebuilt as a green community with all city buildings following environmentally friendly standards. Only half of the people returned and there are many empty lots where houses once stood.

   A new museum was been built to tell the history of the town, the big well, and the tornado. Visitors can once again descend into the big well on a new spiral staircase.

  The museum is accessible. The staircase provides the only access to the depths of the well and the rooftop observation deck.

   Parking for RVs is available on the street. Well  37.60368, -99.29456