Day the Seventh

we woke up near the edge of the canyon. the dog that had curled up by the fire in the night had disappeared and we decided to make an early start.

we couldn't leave before experiencing one or two of the scenic overlooks that speckle the winding road like a speckled hen.

leave it to me to spot the county youth corrections facility. i'd like to come back and visit. there was a heavy gang presence on the navajo reservation, which interested and saddened me.

we went a little out of our way to see the hubbel trading post. a historical stop site for many settlers and pioneers of the old west. the place still functions as a general store, and has a small visitors center out front. i was, as usual, anxious to reach our destination and we only stopped for a short time.

i find myself often anxious to reach my next destination, ready for the next thing. i suppose it gives me just enough detachment to never fully invest. i probably need to work on that. this is a picture of me trying actively to get to the next thing in my life.

we stopped to see the dinosaur tracks which were marked on our atlas. little more than plywood hovels on the edge of a desert wasteland, locals fought over our car when we drove up, the winner finally claiming to be the most knowledgeable individual concerning dinosaur tracks present. we informed them we could find them on our own and felt guilty about this afterwords. i believe it was the highest temperature i have ever experienced in my life.

emily gets super old school and hunts a dinosaur for food stuffs. consider her excitement upon finding the track of a dinosaur who is not only a dinosaur but was also in the film jurassic park. this is a print belonging to the "spitters" or DILOPHOSAURUS. these sets of prints were instrumental in proving that dinosaurs can run. and yes we checked out guidebooks to the southwest from the library.

ooooooooo! we finally made it to the grand canyon. a friendly geriatric offered to steal or souls with a magic box. they let us pass them later on the road.

we find the ruins of amon sul at the edge of the grand canyon. a place once occupied by the patriarchs of middle earth is now overrun with tourists.

NEAT. its the grand canyon. and it really is quite grand. suppose we better find our campsite. more to come fashionistas.

Day the Sixth

left auntie jan and uncle ladds place after a later start than planned, but in good spirits.

we started west on 40 and noticed the landscape begin to change. we initially planned on going to sedona, but i decided that i wanted to see the navajo reservation so we left 40 and headed north and then west into arizona.

hit window rock around noon and stopped at the local park offices. no one was there.

saw a sign for the 62nd annual navajo nation fair.

decided we wouldn't have a change like this again and pulled into the dusty parking area. a truck went by and our windows were down, still haven't gotten the dust and grit off the dash.

there was a dust devil. emily had never seen one.

we followed the sound of drum and song and realized we were in a very different place. though we were obvious outsiders and the only people who weren't navajo that we could see, we stood at the edge of the dance circle and tried to soak something in we didn't understand. it was very beautiful, i kept thinking about how i could mix navajo chant with tech metal.

we left in sort of a otherworldly stillness and headed north to canyon de *shelly (*pronounced shay). the canyon is a traditional home to the navajo, though other native nations lived there as far back as 3000 years ago. people who are not navajo are not allowed into the national monument without a native guide.

it was too late to get a park guide by the time we got there, so we wandered down to justin's horse rentals, which was little more than a shack and some horses just outside the entrance to the canyon, and we met terral, who agreed to take is into the canyon on horseback.

shorty helped get the horses ready, we quickly drove to our campsite on the eastern rim of the canyon at spider rock and realized that our camera was about to die. i kept it off so that i could get one picture in the canyon of one of the pueblo ruins we saw. words cannot describe the beauty of riding into a place that is still unmarred and solitary, ask us about it sometime in person.

the most beautiful and fascinating day so far.

Day the Fifth

woke up to the glittering buzzing of the hummingbird, master of his desert domain. decided to follow suit and spend the day relaxing.

further down the path we find a phrynosoma platyrhinos, sunning himself on the burnished walkway. if you look closely you will see he has discharged his tail in some unknown arid skirmish.

after studying the fauna, we took it easy. taken' it easy.

then we remembered, much to our chagrin, that i was still without a sleeping bag. luckily i found a great deal on this penguin buddy bag, with a +75 degree rating.

we had an early night.

Day the Fourth

we woke up early and decided to head to santa fe. auntie jan graciously offered to drive and be our tour guide and we accepted. santa fe is the oldest government in the us (originally mexican) and has the oldest house in the country (ad 1200). my parents love the city and from our brief sojourn i can see why. it was super.

had to go see the miraculous stairs at loretto. saw it on unsolved mysteries. story goes something like this: old church with a choir loft that the nuns couldn't get up to because ladders (which were usually used for the mostly all male choirs) would be indecent. prayed to st. joseph (patron saint of carpenters) and a mysterious carpenter arrived (around 1870) and spent six months building the stairs with a saw a hammer and a barrel of water for shaping the wood. there are no nails and no glue. architects still have no idea how it stays up as there is no center or side support. pretty neat, eh?

the staircase is in the famous leaning church of santa fe.

also went to a guitar store and talked to the owner about building guitars, etc. drove home and talked about being teachers and i read a couple chapters of anne of green gables. got back to the ranch and relaxed while jan and emily made stuffed zucchini. i talked about geology with ladd. then we all sat out on the porch.

thought you might all enjoy the view from the upper balcony..
though i think it was better in person.

tomorrow we're just hanging out. but expect a short update, hope you all are well and we look forward to seeing you soon, or hearing from you. but our cell phones don't work out here, so don't try til sunday, and maybe not even then because we'll be headed to the grand canyon.

Day the Third

We awoke to the sun peering over the edge of the canyon, which is i'm told, the second largest canyon in the nation. we were surrounded by rust colored clay and dust and a cornucopia of desert flora and fauna. i slept like crap, my sleeping bag was broken (not your fault sam) and i was cold and had dreams about gangs.... big surprise.

we saw a road runner, didn't have time to take a picture.

we had to ford a small river on the way out of the canyon. we broke an axle and lost three oxen and our eldest daughter. i shot seven buffalo but i could only carry 250 lbs back to camp, but since the rest of my family had died of snakebites in my absence it was pointless anyway.

we took a picture of ourselves in the canyon, this one's for you.

the canyon was quite lovely so i put on some puccini and pulled off for a scenic overlook, i tried to deposit a quarter into some mounted binoculars, but it got stuck. i hoped that wasn't going to set the tone for the day. we returned to our vehicle, with whom we are becoming more and more acquainted and headed towards the west side of amarillo and the fabled cadillac ranch.

words cannot describe the beauty and putrescence of such a unique, american landmark. we were lucky enough to be alone with the blue collar stonehenge and spent several minutes meditating and snapping picture memories for posterity.

i wanted to stop at stuckey's, but more for a lucasarts shout out than for the food. ate fried eggs and green chilis off a styrofoam plate. sam and max weren't there, but all fifteen employees were, who all seemed to be related in one way or another. the guy at the cash register couldn't do the math, so after overcharging me on his third try i just overpaid him. seemed like they needed it more than i did anyway.

new mexico!

we passed the state line in need of facilities and weren't disappointed, in fact we approve!!!

took more backroads in order to make it to emily's aunt and uncle's ranch, which is surrounded by nothing but beautiful scenery and desert animals. they live in an adobe dreamland, glad to be invited. we're staying in the bunkhouse. santa fe tomorrow.

Day the Second

enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the ceder rock inn and bid farewell. we faced a gray day of backcountry driving and windblown plains. as we left the main roads for ft. cobb we began to see more animals and an endless graveyard of ancient homesteads, burnt out oldsmobiles and school buses. we were headed out to a town of about 300 people where my aunt and cousin live, and after a bit of searching we found their two houses (they live side be side) and enjoyed a wonderful visit with them and their three dogs and an uncertain number of cats.

jonathan/emily/elijah/christy

after a few hours we continued on backroads that covered the landscape exactly unlike vericose veins... we saw more old buildings and the remnants of tourist traps, but we finally made our way into the great state of texas.


the sun slowly began to set and we pulled over to what claimed to be the largest cross in the western hemisphere. it didn't look that big, couldn't help but wonder where the largest cross in the eastern hemisphere was.

turned off I-40 to head around amarillo, tx to palo duro canyon to spend the night. it was dark by the time we got there and we set up camp by the car's headlights. bought some firewood for $5 from an rv park down the road and wondered what scene would await us when the blanket of blackness lifted. i decided to play my banjo by the firelight and we went to bed.

Day the First

we left chicago around 6:30 am destination: cracker barrel (bloomington, IL). rendezvous with my grandparents, well three of them anyway, grandma greener had an appointment to keep. had a pleasant meal, though it sat a little heavy on my gut. it was good to see family.

got a cooler and some fuel injector cleaner, celebrated my birthday and anniversary with a lone purple candle in a zebra cake and went back to the rushing pavement. missouri passed in a blur, as i'm told it does for most people. kept driving. hit the oklahoma border in a soft rain.

the first part of oklahoma was a long stretch of open grassland and rolling hills, not what emily expected. i told her we'd hit the desert before too long and we needed to pull over at the only stop for 47 miles: the will rogers memorial mcdonalds.

no dollar menu, had to keep moving. when we finally got to tulsa we drove through some areas that made me feel at home, but we finally arrived at the cedar rock inn to celebrate the historic day. the place was incredible...

we made a special dinner and went to bed. i also watched some of the original bbc version of hitchhikers guide, by the way, hope you don't mind i borrowed it nick. we're looking forward to day two where we visit my family in rural oklahoma and move further west. love from us.

jonathan