What a day!!! Left the clean but Psycho inspired motel this morning and headed out on what turned into a very long rainy ride. We ran into a wall of rain about 20 minutes into our journey and had it on/off all day long. Our goals today were the Four Corners and the Grand Canyon.
As we traveled along with our sketchy phone service, I was trying to use google maps, when we were about 20 minutes out from our first destination it was telling me it was closed on Saturday and Sunday’s. So I found a spot that my phone showed two bars and pulled over. Placed a call to the center and they said it was open 7 days a week from 8-8. With no concrete evidence we turned around and headed to our second destination. Came to the turnoff for the Grand Canyon and if we went east we went to the Four Corners, west got us to the Grand Canyon. We decided to go ahead and see if the Four Corners was really open and add another ‘did this’ to our travel list.
What an experience!! We were in Navajo Indian Reservation territory. I was the minority at the places of business I stopped at to purchase gas and then a second stop to use the restroom…sometimes you cannot do both in one place. The bathroom experience was a shocker…as I finished up and was getting my clothes adjusted; I was partially completed in the process when the the door burst open. A wide eyed girl stood there saying “I’m sorry” as she kept the door wide open with her hand blocking me from closing it. I quickly stepped behind the door and gave it a firm push (the door didn’t have a lock — next time I’ll wait for the one that does). The poor girl is probably scarred for life…I am the color of Casper, she probably thought a ghost was in there hence the reason she didn’t quickly shut the door.
We finally made it to the Four Corners (each site has different info), paid $5 each to get in…to walk into a flea market type atmosphere around a metal disk in middle of a circle. There was a lined formed to the left all awaiting thier turn on the disk. Around the perimeter were booths selling “stuff”…ranging from pottery to every necklace imaginable. Part of me thought there would be more of a reverence at the site, something like in Washington DC where people site and observe and soak it in…not hawking wares and trying to make money off of it. KJ laughed at the whole thing, and got enjoyment out of the Brits in front of us and the family behind us that kept saying they were leaving and going to a different state, as they stepped over the line.
All in all, it was a let down, but I can say “I’ve been to the Four Corners”. Luckily since I’ve done it I won’t have to again. As with every thing we’ve went to, it’s a 60 mile round trip, so we hoped in the car and headed west.
After a 3 hour ride…yes folks, a trip to St Louis, we finally reached stop number two, the Grand Canyon National Park. BEAUTIFUL!!! It was amazing!! We were able to stop at a few of the viewpoints before the rain caught up with us…but it was very neat to stand on the rim of something so vast…makes one consider their smallness.
With the rain causing us to seek shelter, we hoped in the car and headed to our motel…but first we had to stop at Wal-Mart. YES…a Wal-Mart FINALLY!!! There where no Wal-marts in Utah…that we could find. We made a jaunt to Flagstaff, AZ, and walked into civilization. They had Wal-Mart, radio stations that were not static, and cell service that actually registered LTE — not just 3G, 4G or what we’ve become accustomed to…’no service’. KJ was excited to get a book, I picked up some water and a charging cable for my phone. We saw a man screaming obscenities at the voices in his head, telling them they needed to repent to the Lord or he was going to get mad (cuss word used here), and he didn’t know why they just wouldn’t shut up. He was being followed by a sea of blue vest.
It was a very long day on the road, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be stuck in the shape of my car seat. I miss my RAV4 very much, and am thankful more so for it. Tomorrow we head out to Hoover Dam, another long ride…then to Vegas. Soon I will be back on Missouri soil.
Until later…ERM.