Today's sensory input involved everything from incredible distant vistas, to the miniature flora of the Utah desert; from pondering the nature of geology millions of years old, to the more immediate nature of artwork made of rocks; from the pioneer struggles in the unforgiving old west, to the modern equivalent of finding a good camp site. We started early and finished late -- well with our usual cocktail on the lanai. Great scenery, great food (made by Concetta), great discussions with the local inhabitants, and yet another great sojourn through the heart of the west.
After gassing up the rig this morning (they predicted lack of services for the route we had chosen), we started the day at the Navajo tourist center in Monument Valley. Turned out to be a huge new building that Concetta and I had mostly to ourselves, but I'm not sure why. They had some really cool exhibits everywhere you looked, including a nice portion devoted to John Ford and the movie industry in the valley.
I set my sights on one young Navajo twenty-something sitting on a nearby bench just sort of staring out one of the picture windows. He looked friendly enough, so I ambled over and asked him if he was keeping an eye out for horse thieves or something. That cracked him up and we spent the next quarter hour just talking about this and that and getting acquainted. I told him I sure liked where he lived, that it was just breathtakingly beautiful, which made him smile. "Yes," he said. He thought so, too.
"So what are you looking for out there?" I asked.
"Lizards," he said.
"Lizards?" Not knowing just how to follow up on that declaration I said, "How about that sky yesterday? Have you ever seen anything like that?"
He smiled and his face lit up. "The clouds?" he asked.
"They were perfect, weren't they?" I said.
He just smiled even broader and nodded."
We talked for awhile about this and that and nothing of real importance, then I bid him goodbye and rejoined Concetta in a tour of the building exhibits. Soon we had gathered up all the maps and brochures we could easily carry and were back to the RV. Our plan was to continue north on Utah Route 163 until it intersected Route 162 and then Route 160. Our ultimate aim was to end up in Cortez, Colorado for the night, but not before we visited the Four Corners area that neither of us had ever seen, which would be a side trip.
Utah Route 162 is a wonderful, lightly-traveled, ribbon of asphalt meandering amidst the buttes and mesas of Monument Valley with seeming indifference to modern highway building techniques. It flows up and down and around rock formations and rolling hillocks of sand. The road is flanked often left, often right by craggy ridges and exfoliating boulder fields. It could use a good resurfacing someday. I had to reduce speed to fifty at one point because the undulating surface was starting to make me seasick. But because it is so lightly used you can sit back and just enjoy the scenery without the constant scouting for oncoming 18-wheelers.
The highlight of the morning revolved around our mutual appreciation of geology. We had been rolling by some fascinating roadside rock formations all morning which involved many feet of what looked like mudstone topped with a creamy white layer that I figured must be limestone. When I finally spotted a pull-out that came complete with a historic marker which was surrounded by some absolutely fascinating rock formations, I pulled over. The historic marker had to do with early Mormon pioneers. But the rocks were what I found most interesting. The limestone or sandstone was arranged in what looked exactly like the rippled bottom of some body of water. And there was acres and acres of it. We spent perhaps forty-five minutes prowling the surrounding desert, looking at the rocks, and wondering if we were looking at the one-time bottom of some ancient sea. We photographed both the rocks and the local flora which I wish I had more room to display. Good times!
I brought a couple of books on rocks, but I neglected to bring my geology textbook. So it was tough to determine if the cream-colored rocks that I wanted to study were limestone -- that is derived from living creatures who died and fell to the bottom of a body of water -- or were just a light form of sandstone. After taking some samples and looking at them through a magnifying glass I still don't know. Like I said, the rock outcroppings were arranged in what looked decidedly like the ripples at the bottom of a body of water (photo above right) Maybe you know what the answer is?
Back on the road we soon stumbled over our next adventure for the day, the 1870s Mormon settlement of Bluff Fort. Though the settlement was ultimately unsuccessful, flooded out by the nearby Animas River, the modern Mormon docents have reconstructed the settlement composed just as it was, made up of replicas of the individual cabins of the early settlers. Of course I'm drawn to western history settings like a moth to flame, and thankfully Concetta likes them as well, especially when it involves lots of information on how the settlers led their daily lives. Since it was close to lunchtime anyway, we pulled into the parking lot intent on some pre-lunchtime exercise and historic exploration.
The photo tells the tale. The Mormon docents, some of whom are even related to the original pioneers, have done a fantastic job of telling the story of the original pioneers' struggle to tame the wilderness and establish a bit of civilization.
After our tour of Bluff Fort we had a nice lunch in the adjacent, tree-shaded parking lot, then it was off for our next destination: the famous Four Corners of America. Four Corners is the only place in the U.S. where you can be in four states at once. You might have to put your left foot in New Mexico and your right in Colorado, and your left hand in Arizona and your right in Utah -- and look a bit ungainly and dorky doing it -- but it can be done. Concetta and I elected to tour the many Native American craft booths which form a huge square around the actual brass plaque in the center of the facility. We decided to save the hand and foot ceremony for last. Truth be known, after watching all the other tourists do their calisthenics whilst trying to be in four states at once, we elected to have me stand in the middle and wave.
The facility at the Four Corners appears to be fairly new and belongs -- we're guessing here -- to the Navajo tribe since they are the ones collecting the $5.00 per person entrance fee. The square structure is made up of several dozen separate sales "rooms" where Native Americans can lay out their hand-made wares and sell them to the visitors. I was especially entranced with the guy who was etching pictographs on stone, I think he said it was chert. Might have been sandstone. His pictographs looked just like the ones you see on large boulders throughout the southwest. His artistry was finer in detail, but the designs were drawn from the designs of his ancestors. The other booth that drew my attention was the man who was doing flint knapping and making his own arrows. He was using Oregon obsidian for the points and turkey feathers to make them fly straight. Concetta spent her time chatting up another vendor who was selling T-shirts, tapestries, and jewelry. We didn't attempt to photograph any of the artists, though I certainly would have liked to have done so.
Four Corners required a detour off our intended route, but only about five miles. After our visit with the Native American artists we backtracked to Route 160 and headed for Cortez, Colorado, our intended stopping place for the evening. Thanks to the Good Sam guide, we scored a really nice camp which lay only a short walk from a nice grocery store. We got in a few more steps -- Concetta says 7500 for today -- and loaded up the fridge in the bargain. Tomorrow, we're either going off into the boondocks to explore the archaeological site called Hovenweep, or we might end up exploring the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, or we might just head for Durango. We'll decide over breakfast no doubt. So until tomorrow, I wish you happy traveling.
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