6/14/2014
Up at 5 am for sunrise at Monument Valley. It was beautiful as always but l did not get
as good a pictures I have gotten in the past.
Fastening our seat belts and sitting firm in our seats, Paulette drove
us slowly and carefully through the area of the monument where visitors are
allowed. Evidentially If you are in a
rent car, you don’t care if you tear it up. We took many pictures at each
significant vista.
We ate breakfast at Gouldings, did laundry, and headed toward Farmington and on to Bloomfield, NM. Of course that road goes through Navajo Country and the trading post of Tec Nos Pos. How could I pass there a second time without touching all the beautiful rugs. The Ganado Reds and Two Grey Hills were my favorites. I left with nothing but a memory of their beauty. I like it best because the trader tags each rug with of photo of the weaver.
At the Desert Rose RV, where we have stayed many times, nothing
had changed. The manager was serving Bar B Que and the trimmings that evening
so we indulged. I like the area for
Sunday since the church I attend is just down the street.
June 15 - We “camp
dressed” for church and were there in plenty of time. I surely needed my friend
Patsy to fix this hair. No place to mess
with it while camping. Friendliest folks
ever at church.
We grabbed a bite and
headed for Chaco Canyon. Having been there many times while tent camping, we
knew the road would beat the Casita to death.
It is a road that is 12 miles of rub board or worse road. Luckily the BIA had graded it two weeks ago
(first time in 2 years.) We visited
briefly with the Ranger who has been there for years. They have built a new addition to the visitor’s
center and it should house a museum by 2016 with many of the artifacts that had
been removed while excavating. They are in
other museums and the Smithsonian at this time.
It should be wonderful when returned to their place of origin. We only visited the sections of Una Vida, Hungo
Pavi, Chetro Ketl and the petroglyph panels between those areas. The gate closed at sunset so we had to leave
prior to the actual event. So we took
shots on the way out. Too tired to go
shower when returning, we crawled into the sleeping bags and died.
June 16, 2014 – The hot shower with plenty of water was
fantastic. We said good bye to our friends
and headed to the next destination.
Where is a good question? Traveling down a different road than ever
before, we almost flipped a coin as whether to go on into Pagosa Springs, Heron
Lake, find a place in the forest or who knows.
We fueled up and stopped at an awning where a lady and her daughter were
selling Native food. Of course I could
hardly stand it. We purchased red chili
stew, tamales, fry bread and round oven bread.
The tamales were made of the best masa I have ever eaten – she had ground
the corn herself. The chilies and the
husks – everything she had done herself. It was all too much pepper for me but
I did my best. She fried the fry bread
right there. I took a picture to send to
Mama. She loves Indian bread of any
kind.
From there we checked Heron Lake
State Park and decided it was a NO for us.
We wanted forest and not so much lake.
They did have an Osprey on a nest with two chicks that we got to see
through a spotting scope. We ended up in
Chama where we took a little break. On
the road again we stopped for the night at an old favorite campground in the
forest, Hopewell. Sitting in the
trailer, we saw another Casita pull in.
Will visit in the morning.
Sandwiches for supper and time to read, compute and say good night. Forgot to mention that the wind gusts are
around 50 mph and it is a cold 40ish degrees outside. Remember we are in the forest boondocking(
for you who don’t know, that means no electricity or water or heater in our case.)`
Afternoon Tuesday June 17... we have wandered, checked the map, flipped the coin and are now sitting at Bandelier National Monument Campground waiting for the sun to go down a little before taking a hike. Happy Trails and think of joining us next time. My brother John said my blog made him want to travel so he just took a nap instead. Bummer. The Stumblers
