Saturday, October 4, 2008

Shiprock, New Mexico

It was quite a long walk from the RV park to the fair, but it was interesting looking around at everybody and everything.  Since the parade was supposed to start at 9:00, the streets were already crowded, and people all over getting set up for the parade.  The smell of perfume was in the air.  There were a few cigarettes, but not many, which surprised me.  (There were many more when I was visiting West Virginia!)  I saw a handful of cell phones, but not like you would see in most places.  Little children milled about excited about watching the parade.  And little siblings squabbling just as they do in every other place.  What it brought to mind was that no matter what race or religion we are . . . we are all the same.  We all want to look nice, find happiness, and get along.  Well, most of us want to get along!

After eating a quick breakfast at McDonalds (I'm embarrassed to admit), I went outside to see the parade.  In the middle section of the Trading Post News, it said that the exhibition building where I was to work, wasn't opening until after 12:00.  So, I had time to watch the parade.  I got out there a little after 9:00 when the parade was to start, but there was no sign of it, so I walked over to the Indian Marketplace on the other side of the fairgrounds.  There was booth and after booth of Indian jewelry, and herbs, and food, and all kinds of things.  

I checked out the herbs, and I thought it was interesting that they were labeled, "arthritis medicine" or "headache medicine" or "medicine for open wounds", but none of them said what the herbs were.  I asked one woman if they were secret, and she said they were.  I stopped at many herb sellers, and not one of them listed ingredients.

I kept checking for any sign of the parade, but I didn't see any, so I kept walking around the marketplace.  There was so much to see, I didn't get bored.  Finally, I heard the band playing and walked out to the street to watch the parade.  There were a lot of floats, and horseback riders, and a few marching bands.  Most of the floats threw candy to the children (or whoever could catch it), and some gave away t-shirts or bottles of water.  They expected it to be a hot day, but it was very cloudy and cold!  

Delving into the political arena momentarily, I have to tell you about a couple floats.  The first one was for Obama . . . there was a sign "Dine' for Obama" . . . and an old Navajo woman on the float on a loudspeaker speaking Navajo to the crowd.  A few floats later there was a huge, fancy motor home with McCain stickers all over it.  No native speaker with this one . . . it spoke for itself!  And I guess there are no Dine' for McCain!

I left the parade early to see if the exhibition hall might have opened early.  It did.  I went in and got settled.  It started raining, and people started pouring in to get out of the pouring rain!  Most everyone came by my booth, so I was handing out fair programs right and left.  I went out to get lunch, but being a vegetarian . . . even semi-vegetarian is not a good thing on the Navajo Reservation.  I could have gotten all the mutton burgers or Navajo tacos I wanted!  It kept raining, so I hurried back to my booth.

A few hours went by and the rain came and went, came and went.  I hoped to leave at 5:00 and hoped that the rain would let up by then.  It didn't.  I gave it a little longer, and then decided to make a break for it at 5:15.  Stopping at the Red Cross  rest station, I asked them if there was a taxi in town.  No taxi.  Oh well.  I had a long way to walk, and no jacket.  Bummer.  I hurried back out the gate to the fair, and just outside was a cart selling fair trinkets and a kid's umbrella!  I bought it!  It was better than nothing.

The walk back to the RV park is about a mile.  But, about halfway after you cross the bridge over the San Juan River, there is a trailer through a field leading to the park.  The only problem was that there was a six foot chain link fence between the field and the park.  I had already decided before I left the fair, that since it was raining so hard, I was going to take my chances on the fence.

By the time I got to it, I was pretty wet, despite the umbrella.  I started climbing the fence, but it was harder than I anticipated because my tennis shoes have really wide toes, and it was hard to fit them into the fence.  And, the top of the fence had these little spikes.  It wasn't barbed wire, but it was the ends of the fence wire sticking up to discourage climbers.  I was not daunted!  Onward and upward I went!  I put one of the newspapers I had with me over the spiky things, but it didn't help much.  I swung my leg over, and was straddling the fence with one leg on either side, and kind of sitting on the spiky things with the newspaper "protecting" my legs.  I could still feel them, and I hoped they wouldn't poke through my new Levi's.

Well, there I sat and I was kind of stuck.  The rain had tapered off, but I was halfway home, and getting down the way I came was as hard as getting down the way I needed to go!  I didn't know what to do.  Then, I had an idea!  Since Pat is one of the most inventive and resourceful of individuals, I thought, "WWPD . . . What would Pat do!?"  Then, I knew what she would do.  Just do it!  So I swung my leg over the fence, and dropped to the ground . . . not too much the worse for wear!  No holes in my jeans, and only a few bruises on my thighs (that I found later).  I made it.

I walked quickly back to the trailer, cranked up the little heater, and put on dry clothes.  I was safe and dry.  I imagined my mother, who is now on the other side, sitting across the small table from me.  She'd be shaking her head, and she'd say, "Jerri, you're fifty-seven years old and you just climbed a six foot chain link fence!  What other fifty-seven year old woman would do that?"  Then, a little smile would appear, and the shaking of her head would turn into a nodding of her head, and I would know the little smile was one of approval.