DAY 3 SUNDAY MAY 20 LAS VEGAS TO CHINLE

BOULDER CITY

Boulder City, Nevada is a town built by the government to house the people who built Hoover Dam. It's elevation is listed all over the Internet as anywhere from 2200 ft. to 2501 ft. You get the idea. The older, main drag looks fun. The closer you get to Hoover Dam, however, the blander things get. Housing developments and really, really green lawns and too many golf courses. Not to mention this is where the money seems to be. Boulder City is also close to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area so, essentially, it can't be ALL bad but you won't catch me speding lots of time there.

We took Route 93 south to pick up Route 40, a state highway. The drive away from Hoover Dam was bleak. For that matter, the ride down 93 was bleak. It didn't get much better for a long time. There is very little change in landscape along 93. Little change in color or texture. It's dry, bland, and rocky. I wish I had taken pictures of the blandness but I think I was just overwhelmed.

Kingman, AZ and Flagstaff, AZ are not much to write home about. Granted, we only drove through but there was little to be seen from the highway to intice anyone to stay. And it's not like you can't see for miles on this kind of highway. This part of the trip also took us through part of The Painted Desert. We saw only a small part of this but it was pretty, especially compared to the rest of the landscape we'd seen that day. From Rte. 40 we caught 87 going north on our way to Chinle, Arizona. In a short while you are on Hopi Indian Reservation land. The Navajo Nation spreads and spreads for miles in many directions. Also, it's not just one big connected piece. The Navajo Nation lands spill into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. And the poverty is obvious. But it appears the the Hopi land looks even worse. But allow me to disclaim that we saw a small part of it, just on 87 north from I-40, to Rte. 264 East, to catch Rte. 191 North into Chinle, Arizona. And I'm not sure where border lines are for Hopi land and Navajo land. I realize that I've painted a grim picture. I also realize that the many characteristics of poverty we saw are just one part of a very complex system of culture, tradition, goverment and hope. Hope in the form of a brilliant rainbow we saw after a storm.

Below are a couple of shots along 87. This is not the bleakness I was talking about earlier. Though sparse, there is plenty of texture and color and the sky was very dramatic. The light was eerie.



I had never seen cars stuck in the side of an embankment before but here you go.

The plan was to stay two nights at Spider Rock Campground in a traditional Native American hogan. This place has a great website. They have a crappy campground. The dude is real nice but the hogan is a dump. There was no way we were going to sleep on that "matress" pad in that cramped, dark, and cobwebby closet of a hogan. Plus, there was no running water. There was a Honey Bucket but it was rank. Neither of us could picture this place as home base for two days. Far more rustic than camping and Sally has been on some long, rustic backcountry camp trips. We told the dude that it was a bit too rough for us, to keep the money, thanks. Before this happened, we were told that a German woman, Gisella, was camped here and was renting a jeep for a canyon tour the next morning. We found Gisella and she agreed to let us share the jeep and the cost. We planned to be back at 9 am the next day. We then drove back to town and booked two nights at an overpriced Holiday Inn. This is where we met many of the stray dogs and cats of Chinle. Most were females, most had had plenty of litters. All knew that a hotel parking lots was a good place to score a snack but we refrained from contributing.