Day 14 -- Holbrook to Tuba City, Arizona -- 152 Miles

Today we made our best decision yet! Last night, having decided to go north into Utah, we needed to select a route that wouldn't require us to go all the way back to Flagstaff. In studing the map, we could see that Arizona Route 77 went north from just east of our camp at Holbrook, intersected Arizona Route 264 near the village of Jeddito, and headed west for Tuba City without any backtracking or needless miles. It was perfect!

From the start, our plan was to intersect Arizona Route 89 and head for Lake Powell. But about mid-day, totally on a whim, I asked Concetta to contact the RV camp in the Grand Canyon village again to see if they had a space yet. We had contacted them days ago and found that the RV park was totally booked. Miraculously, when Concetta called this time they gave her a site for tomorrow night, and we were just elated. Only one problem, we had no place to stay for tonight.

Concetta immediately went on line to see if Tuba City could accomodate us, and it looked like the camp at Navajoland RV Village had only twenty spaces so she didn't think we'd be able to get a spot. We decided to just see what we could turn up along the way, and we just kept heading for Tuba City. In the meantime, I kept stopping the RV every few miles to get a shot of all the fabulous desert vistas and boulder-strewn cliffs.

When we reached Tuba City, we rolled over to Navajoland, parked in the back adjacent to the RV sites, and I walked into the office to throw myself on their mercy. We were prepared to just dry camp if they were full, but if they would allow us to park in the picnic area or somewhere similar we'be be happy. I approached the desk, the Navajo clerk smiled at me, and I asked if per chance they had space for the night. I told her I had no reservation.

The clerk looked studious for a moment as she studied the computer screen. Then she looked up. "I have one "pull-through" left," she said, "if that would be okay."

"Absolutely," I said, and the deal was struck. We got a nice space beneath a cottonwood tree. The sewer intake was located a little far from the truck, but everything else was perfect.

At this point, with our one night in the Grand Canyon assured, I decided to push our luck one more time. I asked Concetta to contact the Grand Canyon office and reaffirm our reservation. I also suggested that while she was at it, why not see if there had been any cancellations for Saturday night so we could have a full day in the park to tour around.

In the meantime, I got the rig set up, the brand new awning extended, and all the utilities working. By the time I got back inside Concetta said, "You're not going to believe this, but we got Saturday night, too. While I was on the phone, I had the Park preson check to see if there had been any cancellations recently, and she told me that one had just popped up. She immediately put it on hold and we got it!"

Well, now that's an incredible piece of luck. Reservations at the Grand Canyon often require a year's advance notice. Now we can spend all day Saturday enjoying one of the most beautiful places on earth and not have to feel rushed. Come Sunday morning, we'll exit the park via the east entrance, the same way we came in. Then we'll head north passing through Tuba City and make our way toward Lake Powell. Perhaps we'll even make a reservation at Lake Powell in the meantime.

And now back to today's driving and the reason I felt our rustic route across the Navajo and Hopi reservations of northern Arizona was unparalleled in it's 19th century frontier feeling, its geologic beauty, and its lightly traveled roads. The most unexpected aspect of the drive was the occassional appearance of livestock wandering along the highway. We saw wild and domestic horses both on the highway and grazing outside fenced enclosures. We also came upon a whole heard of sheep crossing the highway and bunching on the roadsides.

Naturally, being the closet geologist that I've always been, the landscape was my favorite part of the day. Weathered sandstone cliffs, often fractured into giant blocks the size of our RV, were on full display and marching away to the horizon. It was all I could do to contain my excitement and thankfully, Concetta let me stop in some pretty precarious spots so I could jump down and dash away into the sagelands to grab another photo.

In addition to all the great geology, I had great fun finding plants to photograph. Included in my day's finds were an example of "Perky Sue," otherwise known as Tetraneuris acaulis, a member of the sunflower family. It looks like your average daisy with yellow petals and a yellow center. I shot some "Purple Aster," which has light purple petals surrounding a dusky yellow center. I saw more of the "Silvery Lupine" that I have seen just about everywhere this trip. It has loads of small purple flowers and an erect stem about 8 inches tall. I saw some "Mormon Tea" today which, quite unexpectably, was bursting with yellow flowers. Our Mormon Tea plant in Nevada has NEVER had flowers in the 45 years it has been living in the back yard.

One of my very favorite plants that I've seen on roadsides since we arrived in Arizona is called the "Narrowleaf Yucca," or "Spanish Bayonet." It looks just like the yucca I grew up with in southern California except the "bayonets" are very, very slender. Ever since I first started seeing them, I was desperate to locate a plant that still had a few seed pods available from last year's production. Up to now I've had no success. The reason is the seed pods normally, almost exclusively, open upside down so the seeds fall out. But today I located two plants where the pods had accidently opened facing upward, and the seeds hadn't fallen out. Now I can try growing my own in Nevada.

There's one thing about the desert that most people miss. If you take your time, wander the roadsides or fields near your camp, you can see some wondrous things like plants you've never seen before, rocks that speak of millions of years of earth's history, or historic routes and structures that may soon disappear. One of the best books I have in my collection is one entitled (something like) "Look Beneath Your Feet." It's meant to be a mesage to photographers and advises the them to pay attention to what lies at sidewalk level. There's just oodles of things down there few ever see.

The photo at left shows a plant I photographed today, and at first couldn't find in any of my field guides. I meant to photograph the whole plant, but all I got was the spent flower blooms. But I think I've finally found it on the internet. It's called Fourwing Saltbush and botanically called Atriplex canescens). The male and female plants look completely differenct and, by accident, I managed to photograph both sexes. This photo is of the female plant I believe.

We wish you informative and exciting travels of your own!