20050513 Bluff UT                                                       Picture Link

We didn't go too far, but we got around if you count states. See map below.

Beautiful day again. Cool in the AM (low 50's), high in the low 70's. Not enough wind to matter.

We left Farmington and headed west. Immediately, we could see the rock formation they call Shiprock. It sticks up out of the surrounding land like a ship sticks up out of water. The town nearby is named for it.

We went through Shiprock and continued west through Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, then north on US-191 to Bluff. We took lots of pictures through the day of the spectacular scenery. Actually, it's pretty sparse but the ability to see 20 miles or more makes up for a lot. You can see these great rocks and bluffs a half-hour before you get to them.

We ate lunch in the trailer, then headed east and north to Hovenweep National Monument. HNM is another pre-pueblo native place but much different from Aztec or Salmon. Here, they built towers (self-defense?) next to small housing units and placed them near the cliff or in other precarious positions. This was done later than Aztec, etc., so this might have been some intermediate stage between prosperous and the time (not long after) when the whole region was abandoned.

We walked a couple of miles and took many pictures. All sorts of different rock buildings. We didn't get the rabbits but we got one lizard.

After that, we left and went east and south to the Four Corners Monument, the only point where four states connect. In 1969, there wasn't anything here but the monument. Now, there's all sorts of stands where Indians sell things. Also, you get to pay an admission fee. Can't blame them, but.

While I was lining up to pay at the booth, the convertable ahead of us (California plate) paid his money. He got back his tickets, which he promptly dropped to the ground. He jumped out of the car to get them. The car started moving slowly forward, still being in gear. He jumped back in and finally stopped it twenty feet later. Then he got out and retrieved his tickets, got back in, and drove to the parking area. I told the attendant it was worth $6 just to watch that idiot. She laughed.

We made the full circle around the monument in the truck, thus being in four states in 30 seconds, and headed back to Bluff. We fueled up for tomorrow - $2.599 per gallon for diesel. Then back to the little house for salad, spaghetti, and hot Italian sausages with two wines. 

We'll try to get off the past several days of these notes tonight.



 

20050514 Bluff Utah                                                       Picture Link

So what do we do when we're not going anywhere today? Drive 288 miles to look at things. "Things" are spread out in Arizona.

We left the trailer in the RV park and went out to breakfast. Then we dashed 100 miles or more to Chinle AZ to the visitors center for Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "shay", a corruption of an Indian word for "Rock Canyon"). We looked at the options and decided to just do the motoring tour of the north and south rims of the canyon complex.

The land in the canyon is still farmed. Up and down two or three branches of the canyon, the ancient people built their houses and farmed.

The north rim drive has four (one currently closed) overlooks into the canyon. Each of these gives a view of an early-year ruin or another feature along with a spectacular view of the canyon itself. 

The south rim drive has six overlooks, of which we did four. Not all of the overlooks are directly accessable from a parking lot; some you get to hike over the rocks as the old inhabitants did. Well, there are some steps.

It was warm today and all that kept it from being outright hot was a thin layer of upper level clouds. When the sun poked through a hole or if the cooling wind stopped, it was warm.

We took our quota of pictures here. We managed to avoid the vendors of silver and turquoise jewelry.

Then we took off to the northwest on Indian route 59 to get to the town of Kayenta so we could then go northeast through Monument Valley to get back to the trailer. The wind erosion in the rocks here has left very interesting rock formations. We stopped in several places and (again) took a bunch of pictures.

Another thing we saw today was the extreme poverty in this area. Housing is poor at best. There's no industry to speak of. I have no idea how these people survive.

We got back to the trailer just after 4pm. We'll take a break (mine is a "Fat Tire Amber Ale") before we run up to the cafe for an early dinner (we skipped lunch). The cafe has wireless internet, so we might get this note off tonight.

Tomorrow we move to the Grand Canyon.
 

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