Mexican Hat, UT - NM to CO to AZ to UT - In One Day

Nya - a, Nya - a. We saw snow before you did. Heavens, why am I, a snowbird, bragging about seeing snow first. Sure enough, snow in the mountains around here. Down in the valleys we had rain and temps in the 30’s but the mountains had snow.

Back to our day on the go again. Not that it was a day that I’d write home about but it is a day that I’ll write into my journal. It began well enough, we got all hooked up with out a hitch, found the Dunkin Donuts and enjoyed a leisurely cup of DD coffee and some - would you believe - donuts. When we lived in New England, DD was an institution. We’ve missed it a bit out in the Midwest and were happy to relive old memories of our favorite DD donut here in New Mexico.

Then out on the road on the way to Shiprock, NM. It’s a journey of about 27 miles but it took us 3 hours. Welcome to the 100th Annual Northern Navajo Nation Shiprock Fair. Yep, we got caught in traffic, the likes of which I’ve never seen. It took us 2 hours to go 1 mile. 1/2 mile from the town traffic light, I told Gary that it would take us 1 hour to get to the light. Sure, enough, it actually took us 65 minutes and, when we had done that, we turned off to go the long way around We could look ahead and see a line for the next mile or so ahead of us, so we decided to add 30 miles to our trip and take a detour.

There were small tents with vendors all along the road, several people walking the line of traffic with a cooler selling cold sodas, and the inevitable hot shots using the right hand breakdown land to get around all the traffic. Why, oh, why, do people ahead of us let them in? It just frosts me to see that.

We turned north at the light, heading back into Colorado. We had been on this road before, on our way from Colorado to New Mexico. It was an awful road then and it hasn’t improved in the 5 days since we traveled it last. It had so many small undulations that we found ourselves ‘porpoising’ along the road. And, we’re only traveling at 40 - 45 mph. At one point, our rear end came down so hard that we damaged the metal bracket for the electrical connection between the RV and the Jeep we tow. The lights still work correctly but the bracket is damaged and will have to be repaired.

On the other hand, the territory is beautiful Every direction is another bluff, another mesa, another chimney rock, another beautiful rock formation. The colors of the rocks, the shapes, the sizes and the surrounding territory make for an exciting awsome journey for these two flatlanders. And, by the way, that is snow in the upper elevations of those mountains.

Several days ago we stook on 4 Corners Monument. Today we did the 4 corners for real. We began in New Mexico, drove north into Colorado, swung southwest into a corner of New Mexico, west into Arizona and then north into Utah. There - 4 corners.

We hit Utah and the rocks turned a brilliant deep red, a color I remember from our trip last September through Utah. Tomorrow we start exploring this territory. I’m pumped to begin.

Then we arrived in Mexican Hat, where we are going to stay for 5 nights, population 859 or 2 per square mile. The town is about 2 blocks long right on the highway. We were looking for Valle’s RV and got to the end of town,both blocks, without spotting it. Now, an RV park has a certain look, rows of big tin cans in a line, several well placed trees with maybe a commons room and a laundry. They are not too difficult to hide.

We stopped and I called to ask directions. He told us to turn around and go back.

        ‘You can’t miss it,’ he said.

BUT WE HAD MISSED IT

So, we turned around and drove more slowly, Finally, we saw a bigger open space behind a small store and Gary pulled in. We looked and, sure enough, there were hook-ups for RV’s but no other RV’s parked. I went inside and, voila, we had found Valle’s RV.

        ‘Oh, yeah, the sign blew down last week in a windstorm.’

Well, no wonder: no sign, behind a store that says ‘Pizza’, no other RV’s here. No wonder we missed it.

But here we are.

As Gary was unhooking the Jeep, he saw a young couple pull up. The guy went inside for a 24-pk of beer and, when he came out and got back into the car, the young girl jumped out of the car to begin to push it. Gary asked if he could help, the car started, she jumped in and explained that they just needed to push a little to get it started. Now, these roads are not heavily traveled and gas stations are rare. You’d want your car to be in tip-top condition to be driving around here. Not these two - they’re too young and in love.

Actually, Gary and I cannot talk. Many years ago, when we were young, we took our VW Bug to Quebec and had car trouble on the way back. Rather than getting it fixed in northern New Hampshire, we drove home. This meant that we could not stop at all for the whole distance because we might not get the car started again. We slowed down for the tollbooths, threw a coin into the hopper and drove off, never stopping. We’d see a red light, slow down until it changed to green and drive on. We made it back, two crazy kids.

Finally, I lost my set of RV keys. I’ve checked every pocket, every drawer, every cubby hole. And, believe me, in an RV there are not a lot of places to hide. No keys. Finally I remembered. At the last campground, they gave us 2 keys, one for the men’s bathroom and one for the women’s. This morning I returned Gary’s key and - my RV keys to the key box outside the office. When I got back to the RV, I realized that I still had my bathroom key and then returned it to the box, never looking in the box to see what I had returned with Gary’s key. Drat. This evening, I called the old campground and, sure enough, my keys are there.

Here’s a picture of our RV in the campground. The red hills in the back are the cliff banks for the San Juan River and those vehicles parked facing us are those of people who are rafting the river this weekend. You can take a 3-day trip and get out of the river here or a 5-day trip and get out later.