DAY THREE: I Found My Purpose

Opening Location: Cortez, CO

Closing Locaton: Tuba City, AZ

Mileage: 305

Gas Expenditure: $35

A more relaxing day, but then again, anything is more relaxing than 12 hours of driving. Of course, we slept in pretty late and made it out to the Mesa Verde around 11:00 am. The funniest thing about the park is that it takes an hour to get from the park entrance to anything interesting to look at. Other than the scenery of course. But by this time, you know, scenery was old hat. I mean come on, I grew up in Illinois… the most topographically interesting state in the Union. So we got up there finally and then took a driving tour around the canyon ridge so we were not actually able to go inot the ruins, but to see them really well from a far. But they are pretty fricking cool. We learned a great deal about the culture of the anasazi, who are a ‘native american’ tribe, one of the many that I am sure our government made a treaty with and then steamrolled over. But that was much after they built these charming adobe homes with canyon views and quarter mile climbs to any water or food source. The Anasazi Indians for reasons unknown abandoned these dwellings in 1280. Of course the maybe the whole food/water scarcity had something to do with it.

We then drove an hour back to the park entrance and another hour on to FOUR CORNERS, the only place in America where you can stand in four states at once. See if you can guess the states. The whole little made up monument is run by the Navajo nation, so I did not feel bad about giving them my $3 for entrance and $2 for some Indian flatbread. I was going to be a shirt but the only thing I had left was these blankets, covered in smallpox…

Then on to MONUMENT VALLEY… featured in several movies and the US Marine commercial where he scales the cliff and then receives his sword. The part about this attraction is that it was basically on the way to where we were going anyway, and it was visible entirely from the highway, so we just drove along and stopped every few minutes to take pictures.
Along the way we stopped for gas in Bluff, Utah, a mormon city where I paid 35 dollars in cash for 10 gallons of gas on a pump where the numbers didn’t move and handed it over to a woman with half a hand who told me that the gas prices were ruining the economy. I of course agreed with her but quickly got out of her store before she tried to sell me any onf the so called ‘indian artifacts’ set out unmarked on a plastic card table.

We got into Tuba City at about 7:30, which was a nice change of pace. Had a relaxing diner and went to bed early. I also got free internet access that actually worked, unlike in Cotez where I couldn’t upload any pictures or Carlsbad where they were like ‘the internet… yeah um… we don’t have that here.” And I was like is there an internet café or something and they didn’t know what that was either. I then asked if there was a starbucks in town (knowing they usually have a pay service – and I’ve never in my life asked for a starbucks) and she said “oh, this is a small town” Of course, they had a fricking wall-mart. And so did Tuba City for that matter, and Cortez. I hate Wallmart. They can donate all they want to the new Orleans relief effort but that doesn’t make up for a business model of exploiting America’s Poor. They suck. Anyway, way off track. The Hotel at Tuba City was the original Mormon Trading post that was built in 1905. When the city became Navajo reservation territory they had to sell it to the Indians, which is pretty funny because all the stuff they were trading was like Indian jewelry etc, so they ended up getting a lot of there own stuff back. Anyway the staff there was very nice and helpful and I hihly recommend you stay there for your Grand Canyon needs rather than the typical and more expensive ports of call.

Most Interesting Conversation Topic: How well people of different races age … i.e. which peoples stay cuter longer

New found PURPOSE: to pee on the roadside of every state we pass through. … 5 states down, 2 to go.