Left Gallup this morning and detoured by way of a close by Walmart to get some things and then stopped at a conveniently located Starbucks for a welcome coffee hit!
We then hit Highway 491 North and headed off on the "Trail of the Ancients" into the arid regions of the Navajo Indian Reservation!
Well, the reservation could only be described as squalor! For mile after mile through dry, sandy desert that wouldn't support a lizard we saw scattered huts and shanties surrounded by more rubbish than you could imagine!
Apparently in the late eighties the US Govt brought in a bill which gave native Indians the right to run Casinos and suchlike and retain the profits - thus alleviating the Govt having to keep supporting the people!
There are around 400 such Casinos in the US and they return around $20 billion to the elders who in turn use it as they see fit! We saw lots of new transportable type homes, many circular wooden huts like teepees built, all with satellite dishes etc., and it looked like each one had a small parcel of land attached to it - but obviously no money could be made off such a holding and the natives live on handouts!
It was quite depressing to think that people actually live in this god forsaking region and choose this type of existence - very similar to our own Aboriginals!
However the rock formations and the stark ruggedness of the scenery made up for the dismal locals and we snapped many photos along the way!
We passed through some small settlements, most with a school, a servo and a Casino, then north of Shiprock we passed out of the reservation and back into some mixed farming with lucerne being the main crop. It was all being cut for hay and we had seen many truck loads headed south, presumably to feed the poor horses on the reservation!
After a couple of gas stops - oops, a little yank creeping in there - we paused at Montacelli and had a look at the small local museum, then turned back south to a little town called Blanding, at the start of Monument Valley, which was our stop! We arrived quite early and checked into our quaint little motel - basic but quite comfortable and thankfully to Mumsies clean standard!
It took about 10 minutes to have a look at the place and discover that the one steakhouse had a very poor reputation and that it was going to be Subway for dinner, eaten on the nice lawn outside our units! We headed for the nearest servo to get a beer to have with it only to find it is a DRY town!!! Crap planning by the tour director indeed! The lady told us to head 6km south to a servo that sold liquor and we hit the road running and duly got a few drinks - when we quizzed the guy at the servo about the dryness he said that a 100 years ago the townsfolk got sick and tired of drunken Indians wrecking the place and brought in the no booze policy that has remained ever since!
So we had some pre Subway drinks - bought our Subs, had a great night outdoors in the cool of the evening! We also did some pre planning of the next few days and bought tickets for the train to the Grand Canyon and some accommodation in Williams where the train leaves from!
It should a nice restful day after some long drives.