Friday, October 3, 2008

Largo Canyon to Shiprock, New Mexico

Zekey hee-hawed today!  I think that means he's out of the woods!  Yeah, Zekey!

Pat and I left this morning to deliver me to the Roadhouse, so John can take me to Shiprock to the Navajo Fair.  It was an exciting adventure just getting there.  First, we saw a tarantula!  I was excited about this!  The tarantula's are migrating now, and I've been dying to see one.  We passed this one by, so I couldn't get a picture.  Then we saw some Pronghorn Antelope, and before I could even take a breath, there in the pond in front of us was a Great Blue Heron!  It was so awesome.  I knew it would be a good day!  I've seen several Great Blues since I've been here . . . one even landed in a tree in the yard.  I never got a picture of any of them, though, unfortunately!

We got to the Roadhouse, and I had a delicious lunch while I was waiting for John to finish his shift.  A couple was supposed to come in to be interviewed.  Navajo City is a lonely place far away from almost everywhere, so when I heard John's instructions to Pat, "if they're not druggies and they know how to cook, hire 'em," I understood!  But, they came in while John was still there, so he interviewed them, while I surfed on his computer.  It was a lot later than I hoped for when we left, but I knew it was the perfect time!

On the way there, the Shiprock appeared out of nowhere again, and still struck me with its beauty and its power.  It was misty in the distance, and I took the picture from the moving car, but you can still get the sense of the ethereal in the picture.  The Shiprock is so awesome, I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.

We pulled into [the town of] Shiprock, and somehow managed to get a parking place exactly in front of the gate where we had to go in for our booth.  I knew it was going to be a good day!  John showed me where the booth was, how to get there, and what I should do.  Then Pat called.  She couldn't find the keys to John's truck so she could get home!  John had them in his briefcase!  Bummer!  He dropped me off at the trailer I would be staying in.  It was a cute little thing, mainly just for sleeping.  He showed me the heater, but I couldn't imagine needing it, since it was really hot in there.  I was wondering how I could sleep with it being so hot in the trailer.  Then, John showed me where the bathroom was . . . right next to where the trailer was parked . . . and he was off.  

I opened the windows in the trailer to cool it off, and went over to the bathroom building.  The door was locked!  I tried the men's room also, and it was locked, too.  I walked around the building thinking maybe there was another door I missed.  No such luck.  The bathrooms needed a key!  A man in an RV had already driven by and asked me about the manager, whose house was just across from my trailer.  He told me that the manager had a note on the door that he wouldn't be back until 6:00.  Bummer.

The man parked his RV and sat outside the manager's house.  I sat outside and read, and hoped for the best.  6:00 went by.  6:30 went by.  Then the man left to call the manager.  He came back and said the manager had told him where to park.  I asked if the manager was coming home soon, and he didn't know.  I had found an outhouse across the way and used it.  The man asked if it was sufficient, and if it had toilet tissue and everything.  It didn't.  He offered to give me some, if I needed it!  People here are so nice!  He and his wife drove down here from Washington state, I believe.  Shortly after that the manager arrived, and I got a key!

By the time I got back into the trailer, it had cooled off a lot, and I realized what the heater was for!  When I went to sleep, it was just the right temperature.