Shiprock, New Mexico
Although climbing the fence yesterday wasn't fun, it did take off a huge chunk of walking time. So, today I decided I would try to find a way around the fence to walk across that field to the bridge. First I went to the right beside the horse farm. There was a narrow passageway between two fences that looked like it would work. About halfway down, two dogs started barking at me. I had seen them a couple days ago when I first arrived . . . a medium sized dog that kind of looked like a dingo, and a larger German shepherd. I kept walking, and eventually came to a locked gate! Foiled again! The dogs kept barking as I made my way back.
I tried the outside of the fence in the other direction, but there was heavy scrub brush all around and I couldn't get through without difficulty. Then, I saw the manager outside, so I went to talk to him. First, he suggested climbing the fence! When I told him I already did that, and didn't care to again, he said there was a gate right over there! A gate! OMG! A gate!
It was right by the kids' playground area. Out I went! I still had to walk through vegetation, but it was just like what was in the field, and not bad at all. Success! Hallelujah! I got to the fair in record time!
I walked over to the exhibition building where our booth was, and the door was closed! What's up with that? So, since I heard Indian music, I meandered over to that arena to see what was going on. There were couples in a line in a circle dancing to the beat of an Indian singer. Then, the announcer said something in Navajo and the circle broke up. He kept speaking, and I couldn't understand a word. I had no idea what was happening. Then, I heard, "halftime," and the rest didn't matter. I knew what was going on!
I walked back to the exhibition hall to find the door still closed. Across from it was the arts and crafts exhibition hall, so I went in there to ask if they knew what was going on. They said that it should be open already, and they thought that the back door was open. So, off I went through the mud (the whole place was very muddy because of the rains yesterday) to the back door, which was indeed open. I walked in to a place that was almost empty. Many of the exhibits had been taken down yesterday, and there were hardly any people in there at all . . . either fair-goers, or fair-employees.
I stayed for awhile, with virtually no customers. Then someone opened the front door, but still no people. I decided to go back to the dancing arena. Mostly it was just someone singing . . . in Navajo . . . and the couples dancing in a circle. I liked watching it, and I loved the singing. I would have bought the album! I stayed for quite awhile, and then walked back to my booth.
It was still empty in there! A person or persons sometimes wandered in, but with the fair almost over, no one was interested in a fair program that I was handing out. I decided to wander over to the Indian marketplace again, and then have an early lunch before John picked me up.
I was looking for some kind of Indian souvenir sweatshirt, but there were none small enough to fit me. They all had large sizes only. While I was over there, I saw people crowded around an event center. I could barely see over the crowd, but there was some cool Indian dancing going on with everyone dressed in cool costumes. I took some pictures, but they were shot over the crowd so they're not great. They had one guy drumming, and the rest dancing. Very cool. These pictures I'll put on a separate post.
After a quick lunch, I walked back to the booth to wait for John. Still no customers. John and Debra picked me up. We loaded the leftover newspapers into the truck and took off to pick up the trailer. I had already packed up all my stuff, so we loaded it into the truck and left for home. Debra is the new salesperson that they just hired. She's from Chicago, and she still has to move out here.
We got back to the Roadhouse, dropped off the trailer, and then John dropped us off at Pat's truck which was just off the main road. Debra drove John's truck back to Largo. It was good to get home!
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