Standin' on a corner, in Winslow Arizona. . .

Black Canyon, just east of Boulder Dam

We left Boulder City early, knowing we had a long day ahead. Driving over the new bridge at Boulder dam, through the craggy mountains, enjoying some incredible views of the mountains on both sides of the highway. Leaving the mountains, we went on down hwy. 93 and into Arizona, over rolling plains covered with rich grasses where we could just imagine buffalo roaming in days gone by, then up through the pine covered mountains of Flagstaff, and then down onto the desert, arriving in Winslow in the afternoon. Our final destination, for a two night stay, was Homolovi State Park.

Homolovi State Park protects the remains of several Anasazi pueblos, and serves as a research center for  the late migration period of the Hopi, from the 1200-1300s.

Homolovi II ruins

The remains of structures have pretty much begun returning to the earth from whence they came, though here and there bits of wall, subterranean rooms, and the overall structure of the settlements can be seen.

There are pottery shards everywhere, left as they lie for visitors to admire. The variety of pottery styles that are seen among the shards is interesting.


The visitor's center is small, but has informative displays, and there are several trails to walk, one of which leads to a few small examples of rock art.

The campground spaces are generously sized, plenty long enough for our setup, wide, with lots of open ground between, and many small trees here and there. The land slopes a little, so other campsites don't block the view of the open desert.

Walking up the gentle rise at the edge of camp in the evening we saw the lights of Winslow, sparkling like diamonds in the dusty twilight. At full-dark, those little diamonds moved to the sky. Surely there are more stars here than we've seen in a long time!

After touring the pueblo ruins we wandered into Winslow to see what we could see. The town has a couple of claims to fame. One is the mention of Winslow in the Eagles' famous song "Take it Easy". 

There's even a mural and a bronze statue on main street to commemorate the song. That "girl in a flat bed Ford is featured in the mural, and she's lookin' pretty good! The building that the mural is painted on burned, but they managed to save the wall. Now, there's a park where the rest of the building once stood.

There's an annual music fest too, inspired by the band. This year's is coming up soon, on Sept. 27. The event website has details.

The historic Route 66 goes right through Winslow, as does the Southern Pacific railroad. Because the town has been such an important cog in the transportation system a  Hardy House was built here in 1930. It was named La Posada, "the resting place."

The hotel has been lovingly restored and is a real treat to visit. We had a delicious lunch in the hotel's Turquoise Room, and after lunch wandered the hotel admiring the historic furnishings, art, and garden spaces. Their gift shop offers beautiful Native American jewelery, as well as other handcrafted items, and we really enjoyed browsing.

Last but not least, following the information on a little brochure I picked up at the Homolovi Park visitor's center, we found our way down to Winslow's First Street, where a very attractive little park has been built along the railroad tracks. Central to the park is a totem pole carved by Peter "Wolf" Toth. He has carved one in each of the 50 states (two in some states) and this was the location he chose for his work in Arizona. Photos of each of his carvings, as well as his life story, are in his book "Indian Giver".

The predicted winds had picked up during lunch, and by the time we reached camp it was a full gale. We settled down to take the afternoon off, huddling on the lee side of the trailer, watching the afternoon shadows lengthen. We plan an early departure so as to get out of the area before the strong winds kick up again.

The photo album has more shots of the area, and of the beautiful La Posada hotel.

Black Range Tales, a book review

These are the stories of James A. McKenna, or "Uncle Jimmy", as the community came to know him in his later years. Uncle Jimmy's stories of his life and adventures are unique little windows into a time long past. There is no bragging here, no attempt to write a wild, shoot-em-up adventure story. These are true tales of Indian wars, mining adventures, the miners and gamblers, theives as and good and honest folks. Real life, as the pioneers lived it, in the natural, colorful language of the time.

Set in the Black Hills of New Mexico, those familiar with the state will recognize the names of many of the mines and settlements still on the map. Silver City is at the center of the area where most of the stories take place. Mines, both lost and well known figure largely in his tales, as well as many mining towns no longer in existence. The geographic and geologic details of mining camp locations make the book a great resource for ghost town hunters.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1951 Uncle Jimmie began working his way west at an early age. He did it the way most folks did at the time... a little trapping, a little herding, a little working on the riverboats. He landed in the southwest and settled in  prospecting for silver and gold, as the area was heavy with mining opportunities. When he wasn't prospecting he serving as a justice of the peace, or any one of his many other roles. Along the way he met some pretty fascinating folks. In delicious detail Uncle Jimmy tells of surviving battles with Indians, near misses in mining accidents, hunting bear and dealing with the shysters attracted to the easy money of a mining community. Many of these fascinating characters, like the fellow members of the Spit and Whittle Club, helped him tell the stories. All together, it's a captivating read, especially so if you happen to be familiar with the area and can envision the rugged landscape he describes.

This edition (1969) has some improvements over the first edition, published in 1936. Updates include a map in the front that covers most of the locations mentioned in the stories, and the addition of an index. The index is fairly complete, and would certainly be useful for referring back to stories for details on specific mines or individuals mentioned. Even better, the text has been scanned and is available as a completely searchable document on Ancestry.com, for those with a membership to that service. Search Black Range Tales.

Black Range Tales, chronicling sixty years of life and adventure in the Southwest.
James A. McKenna. The Rio Grande Press, 3rd edition, 1969
The book is available from several retailers, and as it has been reprinted several times, check closely to see that your edition includes the index and map. The book is not available in electronic format, other that the source mentioned above.

A big Thank You! to David and Stephanie Nishikida for giving me a copy of Black Rock Tales!

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly ...that's pronounced "Canyon da Shay". The Navajo word for the gorge is "tseyi" ... meaning "in the rocks" so the name is a mixture of Spanish and Navajo.

3,500 years ago, perhaps more, the canyon was home to hundreds of people who farmed the valley floors while they lived high above, in pueblos tucked safely in shallow caves in the high canyon walls. This culture thrived so many years ago we can only make "educated guesses" about many aspects of life then, based on the ruins and other cultural artifacts we find. It is fascinating to stand on top of the canyon rim and peer down into the ruins and imagine what life was like for the the people who lived here then. We know from plant materials that have been found that the climate was much wetter then, so farming would have been easier than it is now, and game probably more plentiful.

This archeological treasure is in the center of the Navajo Nation. Navajo farmers and ranchers now have more conventional homes on the valley floor, where they raise sheep, cattle, horses, and various crops to feed their families. Some old families own the rights to land in the canyon, but live in town, and come out to their ranches to work them as needed.

This canyon is also a geologic wonder. Brilliant red sandstone cliffs have been deeply eroded into fascinating shapes, and contrast beautifully with the green of the juniper trees. By afternoon each day there are usually puffy white thunderheads building on the horizon, and with the addition of a few stray wildflowers and blooming cactus here and there you just can't paint a prettier picture.

Visitors can no longer go into the valley floor without a guide, as I did with my family 40 years ago, which is understandable seeing how many residences are there. We stayed on the rim, looking down, admiring the depth and beauty of the canyon, the ruins in the cliffs, the rock art on the canyon walls, and the fluffy clouds overhead. What a wonderful experience.

Our touring was divided into day one, the visitor's center, day two, the south side of the canyon, and day three, the north side of the canyon. The visitor's center was a bit disappointing as far as the information/displays it offered, but we fortunately have other resources, so at least we knew what we were looking at.

Every lookout or parking area is populated with several vendors, anxious to sell their jewelry, pottery or paintings. The economics of the reservation have improved over the years, but most are still needing to make that extra dollar to supplement whatever their regular income is. We chatted with several of the vendors and found them very friendly, informative, and not at all pushy about selling their wares.

Day one - The south rim tour includes Spider Rock, where Spider Woman gave birth to the twelve gods. It was Spider Woman who taught the Navajo how to weave.

In any of the photos, look closely for the details like roads through the bottom of the canyon. These will give you a better sense of how deep and wide the canyon is.

There are several places where visitors can walk to the edge of the canyon and look down on the ranches below. At one of the stops while admiring the canyon below we noticed odd, bare circles in the green areas. It made the area look a little like moon craters.

The park ranger who was talking with visitors there explained they were caused by ant hills. We had already noticed a lot of ants in our campsite, but wow! These are huge! Compare them to the road cutting across the top, left corner of the photo.

While viewing the canyon with a group of other visitors we observed a major breech of travel etiquette that I can't help but comment on. Please, fellow travelers, don't go into Navaho Land and lecture a young ranger on how the Navajo should run things, just because you saw something done on a tour of Laos. This isn't Laos. The Navajo know what they are doing. They are successful capitalists, 'have been for generations, and will figure out for themselves what suits their culture!

Day two - The south rim tour includes Mummy Cave, in Canyon del Muerto.

The alcoves making up this site take their name from two mummified bodies, found still wrapped in yucca plant fiber, by an archeological expedition in 1882.

Antelope House is another stop on the south rim. It is so named because of the many antelope drawings on the canyon wall near the ruins. The paintings are just above the dark streak on the canyon wall to the left of the ruins.

 We were thankful we'd brought the binoculars to this site, as with the naked eye we would never have known where to look for the paintings.

As it is our zoom lenses weren't as adequate as we would have liked. You'll need to look at the photo of the paintings in full screen in order to seen them.

On the fourth day we went in to the closest town, Chinle [Chin (as in where your beard grows)-lee ] It's not a large town, but there was a pretty good grocery store, and we had good enough "connections"  to pick up email, and then we went for lunch at a local restaurant. We'd asked a couple of locals for recommendations and let that guide us. here are only a couple of restaurants in town and we heard the "locals" ate at the Best Western restaurant. It was full of locals, no question about that! TA Navajo taco and what amounted to a shredded beef sandwich on fry bread were our choices. We were a bit disappointed at the lack of any type of spices, but then, we are used to Texas cooking!

We spent all four days at the only campground in the area, Cottonwood, which is operated by the Navajo Nation Park Service. Nicely shaded with cottonwood trees, it was comfortable enough. There's no water or electric service, but the restrooms do have running water. 

Our only complaint... well, it was really Shiner's complaint, is that the sandy ground is full of goat-head burrs, and her poor feet suffered frequent stabs as she investigated on her daily walks.


Next stop, Hopi Land and Tuba City.

We're not in Kansas anymore!

We left Buffalo Bill State Park shortly before 10 AM under a cold, gray and cloudy sky. By 11:00 AM we were in McCook, in SW Nebraska, and admiring the gently falling snow. It wasn't exactly a blizzard, but there was enough to make the roof-tops and ground white and more drifting down, a chilly 35 degrees, but thankfully no wind!

The rolling grain fields of Nebraska flattened considerably once we entered Kansas, looking more the way we've pictured the plains, and the snow stopped! No doubt because it had warmed up to 36!

You never know what unique sites you'll encounter on the road. We stopped for fuel and while it was pumping watched this semi tow a wind turbine tower around a sharp corner. You've got to admire the skill some of these truck drivers demonstrate in managing large loads like this one.There are a few of these wind generators on the horizon across the plains, but so far none of the huge installations that we've seen in Texas and California.

 

 We later crossed over a rail line with a multitude of cars carrying these tubes, and passed truck after truck transporting them. Apparently this is a booming business in the area.

We skirted around the west side of Oakley, the county seat of Logan County. Oakley wasn't named for the world-famous performer "Annie", the town-site was laid out by David Hoag in 1884 and named after his mother, Elizabeth Oakley Gardner-Hoag. Annie Oakley did performed with the "Wild West Show" in the area.
There's a museum honoring Buffalo Bill at the entrance to town, and nearby is this amazing sculpture of Buffalo Bill in action. It commemorates a buffalo shooting contest near the town between William Cody and William Comstock. Cody won, earning the name "Buffalo Bill".

The seemingly flat terrain across Kansas is deceptive. As we left the highway for our new temporary home at

Our site, looking toward Horsethief Canyon

Scott Lake State Park we suddenly found ourselves in a deep canyon filled with rocky cliffs and a wide variety of hardwood and evergreen trees.
Scott Lake is primarily a fishing lake, but there are also accommodations for equestrians, and judging by the concession stands around the lake shore it must be a very popular family hangout during the summer. Everything is closed this time of year. In fact, we never saw any park personnel, and only a handful of other campers.

An unusual feature of the park is an archeological site - Pueblo Indian ruins. Pueblo tribes are generally considered to live in the southwest, but on two occasions two different groups ventured clear up here, stayed only briefly, then returned to their homelands. Several signboards around he excavation explain the history of the area.


There's also an historic home, once belonging to the couple that donated this property for use as a park.

It was not open, closed for the season as is everything else, but looked quite cozy tucked in a copse of trees near one of the limestone cliffs. High up on top of the cliff is a monument to the family, and a stone shelter for those ambitious enough to climb up the narrow trail to view the monument.

There are vague trails up the rocky canyons here, making for interesting walking, but cutting cross-country is a bit hazardous. It seems a strange combination, but the forest of trees is carpeted with sharp, spiny yucca and cactus.

Do I look cold enough?

Venturing off the trail is hazardous to one's shins!  The multiple blossom stem remaining from the yucca that bloomed in the spring illustrates just how many of them there are.

Under other circumstances the trail would have been of interest to me, us but with the 34 degree day and intermittent snow showers  a quick view of the archeological site was about all we could muster up. We made a quick tour of the site and then dove back into the RV for a nice, comfy day watching football.

Just before we left the state we stopped for fuel in Liberal, Kansas, home of Dorthy and Toto. Their house was just down the Yellow Brick Road from the fuel station! (That really is the name of the street!)

A few miles down the road we left Kansas and enter Oklahoma. Across the narrow panhandle we saw extensive oil and natural gas wells, cattle, and lots of wide open spaces. By evening we were in The Republic, at our overnight stop, Collingsworth Pioneer Park, near Wellington. See the next post for a report on that site.