It is now 9pm and I am parked in the camp ground at Canyon de Chelly…
look at all the lovely cottonwood trees and all the empty spaces….here is Ramona and the quarter moon
The drive today was 150 miles through gorgeous countryside
I arrived around 4pm and the first stop was the Visitors Centre where as usual the staff are so friendly and helpful….I had done my homework and knew what I was going to do. Here there are the north and south canyon rim drives each about 39 miles round trip and there is only one trail where you can hike unescorted by a Navajo guide.
The plan was to drive the south rim first then tomorrow the north rim in the morning and then the hike.
The weather was sunny but cool and it is supposed to get really cold tonight.
At the first scenic lookout I found this Navajo artist
I did buy a piece from him
Here is Pete the artist with his Canadian key chain…
Pete took about 10 minutes to explain all the details of my art work everything has a meaning, it was a very cold but educating 10 minutes.
The only problem with the look outs was that most of the informative signs were weather beaten and could not be fully read or photographed.
This was a beautiful drive and the sun was just going down…
The valley looks quite fertile…
The 800 feet Spider woman rock!!!
The sun was setting on the other side so the photos of the canyon were not good…
As soon as the sun went down the temperature went way down too…
The Park is jointly run by the National Parks Service and the Tribal band and it is very well run, clean and no admission charge and the lovely camp ground is free!!!! There are showers, dump stations but they are closed for the winter season but all sites have a picnic table and BBQ pit, what a great treat!!!
I will try and post this when I am on the road tomorrow and this is the end of my Canyon journey and after my hike I do some serious driving and hope to be in Tucson by Thursday where I am meeting Linda and Guy’s ( they are the lovely friends that own the casa in SMA that I shall be baby sitting next month) daughter Teri whose has some items for me to take down to her folks and then perhaps Friday I shall cross the border or if not Saturday.
I have been asked numerous times by friends and people that I meet on the road about the risks of driving in Mexico considering all the drug war stories the media report.
Well of course I cannot deny these happenings but they tend to be centred around the border towns but they have also occurred in other parts of the country as well. False police road blocks and thefts of vehicles and kidnapping…all sorts of things..
My answer is quite involved but yes I shall do some things a little differently this year, absolutely no night driving, staying in more RV parks as opposed to the Pemex gas station, be aware of my surroundings, be alert, I have a wallet with Visa card and small amount of cash in my drivers door ready to hand over and I will not do anything stupid if confronted …act dumb and keep saying Buenos dias!!!!!!!!
I cannot let these stories stop me from what I have come to love and enjoy…my girls, the country, the history, the high regard for family values and the beautiful people…so away I go!!!!
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