September 3, 2019:
In the morning, I take a walk along the San Juan River and take a few photos of the thermal springs and resort. After fueling the van, the ice chest and me, I head out on route 160 west for Durango, Colorado. It's a pleasant drive through the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains. After a few miles I come upon Chimney Rock National Monument but feel the need to keeping moving, I think I've been there on a previous trip.
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| A shaky photo of Chimney Rock through the side window |
As I come into Durango I consider a stop there also, but there is much traffic congestion and I am not feeling the love. I turn south onto route 550 towards Aztec, New Mexico. At Aztec, I had spent considerable time in this area last year visiting the incredible Aztec Ruins National Monument and felt no desire to stop again.
I then get onto route 64 towards Shiprock, New Mexico and Navajo country. Near Waterflow, New Mexico I see an old decaying Navajo Trading Post on the side of the highway, I remembered this from a previous visit and had passed it by at that time. I couldn't let this happen again so I did a (possibly) illegal U-turn and went back for a photo. There is also a sign that explains the geology of this very distressed looking landscape known as the Hogback. The old trading post is very sad, it appears to have been something very special in past days, but for whatever reason was neglected and will soon be a pile of broken rubble. It felt good to save a remembrance before its demise.
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| The Earth is moving beneath our feet |
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| The remains of the Hogback Trading Co. |
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| Another quick stop near Shiprock, New Mexico at a Navajo welcome sign |
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| Nearby is another neglected building with a vibrant mural |
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| A truly great environmental mural |
I then turn south onto route 491 across about 100 miles of Navajo country, with wide open spaces and virtually no development. The road was bone jarringly rough for about half the distance and I was wondering why this road was so poorly maintained ? It is a US Highway and the only one directly between Shiprock and Gallup, New Mexico. Eventually I came upon a newly resurfaced section that was smooth sailing which I expect with eventually extend the whole way.
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| The road is straight as an arrow |
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| Nothing but wide open spaces on both sides |
I have made a motel reservation for the night in Gallup to get cleaned up somewhat before my homecoming in Tucson. I am on track for check in at about 3 PM and go straight there on arrival. As I arrive I see a Walmart just down the road and across the street is a Cracker Barrel which both allow overnight camping. It would have been real easy at either one of them and I feel like a wimp getting a motel room the night ?
As I park I see a small teardrop camping trailer, one of those small cute ones like a bed on wheels that are popular these days. I thought, I guess they like me and enjoy the luxury of more space once in a while. After checking in I go back out to get stuff out of the van to see them sitting in their folding chairs on the edge of the parking lot reading books with drinks and snacks just like they are at a campground, too funny !
I head to downtown Gallup in early evening to take some photos in the good light and enjoy a meal at the Coal Street Pub. As I am walking around a Navajo man greets me on the street and we have a fairly interesting conversation. He says he has been hitching rides to various towns for a while, but is now headed back to his sheep. This seemed very odd to me, but he also seemed very genuine. It made me a little uneasy when he demonstrated how you hold the sheep in your arms while you slit its throat to kill it. He told me how he once went to school for visual arts in Phoenix, but I don't expect that worked out. He wanted me to take his picture and tell a story, but there isn't really much of a story to tell. He seemed to have too much pride to ask for a handout, but I gave him a few bucks on departing, he said I was a good man and I felt better for talking to him.
Gallup is real Indian country, latter when I stopped at the local Walmart I would estimate that 80 % of the customers were Navajo. I really felt like a foreigner in there. I like Gallup, I find it very artistic, colorful and interesting on the positive side but on the negative side there is much poverty.
If it was lunchtime & I saw Jerry's I'd stop.
ReplyDeleteI wandered around Flagstaff on foot for a day & found it to be a pleasant town, plus it's not too far from the Grand Canyon and that is always a plus in my book.