In the spirit of Jim Chee, Navajo Tribal Police
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2010
1
5
11
Trip End
Jan 16, 2010
Shiprock, NM, New Mexico
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Gallup, NM
Up at the usual 7:30 AM to the 'annoying' ring of my cell phone. Easy and effective alarm clock! Another sky-blue day with not a cloud in the sky. The high desert is cold and last night it was down again into the mid teens Fahrenheit. After waiting for Rich to join the ‘land of living’ we set off on our continuing our quest for ‘interesting’ food. We each had a breakfast special of spinach tortilla wrap with scrambled egg, white rice, onion, and salsa. Hmmm. Where’s my low-fat yogurt, blueberries, and Fibre One cereal?
I drove yesterday. Rich’s turn at the wheel, today. We headed out for our grand, ‘Hillerman Loop’, driving north from Gallup to Shiprock on the Colorado border, east to Farmington, add a bit more and visit the Aztec Ruins, then return south through Crownpoint and west to home: Gallup. Total of 295 miles. But, before leaving town, we had to drop by the blue-roofed ‘drop-off’ laundry to pick up my five days of dirty clothes. These establishments inevitably due a wonderful job, with clean, folded clothes waiting for us when we return. Robert, the laundry manager, told us about leaving northern New York in his 20’s and ending up in Vegas, but leaving when the town became too large and heading to Gallup 20 years ago. Happy to have his job and good owners who provide accommodation making his $90/mo food stamps go further. Salt of the earth guy.
The west-side route took us through dry, arid country with spectacular sandstone buttes rearing out of the desert to the west of us. Several gigantic smokestacks evident near Shiprock emitted white vapour and a smoggy smudge on the horizon. Coal-fired power plants such as these provide much of the electrical power in Arizona and they’re often seen on Navajo land.
We stopped at a huge, Saturday flea market on the outskirts of Shiprock. Stolled around in the chilly sun, viewing dozens of tables selling native jewellery, leather work, toys, fried bread, fresh fruit (!!!!), used tires, old tools, rip-off CD’s, pinon seeds, ‘medicine’ herbs in baggies, and on and on. Great fun and obviously popular with the hundreds of locals bundled up against the cold. Back into the Jeep to warm up, but not until Rich has fed four mangy dogs the rest of his Nature Valley granola bars. Rich has never seen a dog that won’t come up to him with its tail wagging. Me? All I see are ‘raised hackles’. Hi.
We drove into old downtown of Farmington. Nice little town on the bank of the San Juan River and the only area of irrigated, small-holding, agricultural fields we’ve seen since arriving in Phoenix five days ago. Happened upon the 3 Rivers Restaurant on Main Street for lunch and it’s now on our very short list of ‘recommended eateries’. Good, fresh ingredients in whole wheat bread sandwich and tasty soup. The owners have a craft brewery on the premises and their pale ale is excellent, or so Rich tells me. I had water. Or, maybe not.
East to Aztec, a few miles away, the site of a National Monument where early native dwellings were discovered in the mid 1700’s by a passing explorer. The area is called ‘Aztec, because it was initially thought the dwellings marked a site of the Aztecs from Mexico. Not until many years later did archeologists correctly point out that the site was a large settlement of native Americans, dating to the mid 1150’s and inhabited for only a few hundred years. The buildings were one of the largest known populations of early Amercan native peoples. Hundreds lived in the three-storey, dwellings constructed of sandstone blocks. The circular structure was formed of small, square rooms with earthen floors and low ceilings, all sharing common walls and single, low entranceways. Larger, round ‘kivas’ apparently were used for group activities. Amber, a Park Ranger on site, invited us to poke around in the terrific, little museum on the site.
We headed south on the last, long leg of the day from Farmington out onto the San Juan Plateau as the sun set on our right in the west. We had to get home to downtown Gallup to watch the NFL playoff game with Dallas and Philly. Grown boys have their priorities, after all.
Comments
The thing what you have said is wonderfull.Everyone has different idea.Anyway,happy new year.
I'm looking for a fellow classmate from Az,we went to Westwood high in Mesa,Az
His name was;James-Jim Chee,he was a Navajo.We were in art class together and he was my friend.
If someone knows him or sees this post,i'd appreciate it.