Greetings this evening from Room 7 of the lovely Canyon Motel in really cool Williams, Arizona. I stayed here once before on my first trip thru in 2001 and except for the addition of the RV park it is much the same.
So what am I doing here? My Mother decided she needed to go to see that Sky Bridge that an Indian Tribe has built out over the Grand Canyon, a glass bottomed semicircle a mile in the air. I am at a loss to explain why this would be appealing to anyone let alone an 84 year old widow. So she say she would foot the bill if I enabled her, so I agreed.
We have family in Albuquerque, so we flew out on Sat. and visited with them over the weekend. I love Albuquerque, it has such a good vibe to it, it is the only sprawl I think I could live in. We got to see the Fred Garbo Inflatable Theater with was really cool and then on Monday morning we took off for the 4 corners.
For those of you not familiar, the 4 corners is the spot where the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona all meet. Getting there meant driving thru Cuba, (New Mexico) and on thru Farmington where we stopped for lunch. My mother was the only person in the restaurant over 70 not on oxygen. I think this has to do with the dusty conditions people live in there. I did witness two middle aged cowboys hug each other in front of god and everybody and still had that on my mind when in the town of Ship Rock, NM, I saw a truck in traffic that looked a lot like Ennis's. As a result of this sighting I missed my turn and drove half way to Gallup, loosing a whole hour and dealing with that frustration. So we back tracked to Ship Rock and got on the right road and crossed into Arizona, then back into New Mexico and then took a left hand turn into the parking lot of the road side attraction that is the 4 corners.
This point is out in the middle of NOWHERE. It is completely on Indian land (3/4 Navajo and 1/4 Ute) and they run the operation under the auspices of the land management folks. Their wares are sold around the parameter in flea market style to the steady stream of people who come to this spot because in the last century white men intersected two lines here. Yes, I stood on the spot, I was in 4 states at once. I got me a t-shirt too, featuring some natives from the old days toting guns. It reads: "Homeland Security: Fighting Terrorism since 1492".
From there we went into Colorado briefly and then took a left hand turn into Utah, where we were greeted by a dead horse on the side of the road. The horses and cattle run free out there and I hate to think what the vehicle looked like. Whereever it is it will probably be there the next 100 years, as are all junk cars in Utah. No rain to make them rust, eventually people from back east come and find them for the classics they are restoring back home.
As we approached the town of Mexican Hat, (population 50) we saw the hat itself, set against a back drop that was truly amazing, zig zagged and swirled colors in the mountains, rocks that looked like people, it was stunning. Right at the beginning of monument valley. Our rooms at the San Juan were small but tidy and they are pet friendly. Mexican Hat was the filming location of part of "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon".
This morning we took off south into Navajo land, the valley itself. I saw one road I recognized from "Thelma and Louise". There was no cell phone reception, and no radio for that matter. The beauty of the place was only compounded by the abject poverty of the people who live there is old trailers and run down houses, most without electricity. Everywhere there was a place to pull off someone was set up sell jewelry and pottery. You have to do what you can to make a living out here.
Crossing back into Arizona we reached Tuba City where we came upon a horrible accident. An S10 pickup apparently pulled out in front of a semi. The truck was destroyed and the semi jackknifed and was a wreck. Traffic was diverted thru a dry stream bed that was nothing more than red powder. People got lost, people got stuck, tour bussed and RV's towing SUV were negotiating the ruts. I never did learn what happened to the driver.
This afternoon we reached the eastern entrance of the Grand Canyon. We got our pass and I asked the lady selling it to us, a Native woman if this also covered the sky bridge. No she told us, that was an enterprise solely of the Hualapai Nation, and she let her feelings be known it was not in keeping with the mission of the nation park service to preserve the character of the canyon, nor was she going out on it. "It's against my religion" she said.
I don;t know how many pictures I took at the canyon, but each time I took one I knew it would not do justice it. When you visit the canyon I think the best thing to do (if you are not exploring the trails) is to pick a spot and just sit and look at it. It is like a big explosion of erosion, which I realized was the main attraction of this trip: erosion. I had a close encounter with ravens and a coyote mama looking for hand outs, but I only offered them an apology for getting hooked on our junk food.
So we have travelled about 600 miles so far, and tomorrow is the bridge. I don't know how I am going to handle the bridge, I have nothing in my experience except a morbid fear of heights to back me up.
Topic: Shakesthegrounds Rumblings (Read 2591778 times)