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Heading due North. Passing Phoenix I see 120 degrees on the outside air temp. RON Sedona AZ. Baked Blueberry muffins. Gave away 2 to the couple next to me; ate 7 (not all at once!), then a week later, thru away the remaining 3. The convection oven worked well for this assignment. Bought more Blueberries.
I leave the tony town of Sedona and find canyon-like overlooks, cross a barren Hopi Reservation, divert to Canyon de Chelly, destination Farmington NM for the night.
The highlight of my evening was a link to granddaughter Piper (14) playing the roll of Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz via live video from Wenatchee WA. I watched the entire performance on my iPad while recording the first act of The Wizard of Oz. I sent it to Piper with congratulations! And a comment that she was terrific and "eating up the scenery which is something any good director would love to work with".
Then continuing the next morning I climb to the Continental Divide and on to Creede. At South Fork (of the Rio Grande) I passed a public golf course thinking that Creede would be a perfect destination for a family golf outing.
Leaving Sedona another impressive overlook.
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| Leaving Sedona was complete with dramatic landscape |
Soon the drive is desert dry, and empty.
Stopped midway thru Hopi Reservation simply stunned by the poor quality of the land where these native peoples were forced to live. To make that move more palatable the US Government spins this as though this desert had been happily occupied for a thousand years. Likely not exactly in this manner, in my view. Homes are situated about a tenth of a mile apart with long dirt driveways, a truck or two, no water, no greenery, no trees.
Based on historical records and demographic models, it is estimated that the Native American population in the territorial United States in 1800 was between 600,000 and 1 million people. This represents a significant decline from pre-contact estimates of the Native American population in North America, which some scholars estimate to have been as high as 50 million people. Once saner heads realized that Colonial America had virtually wiped out original populations, they managed to give them a place to live together. What I find is that they were, and many still are, reduced to beggary. More on Jackson when we get to Nashville.
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| The Hopi Reservation |
The Navaho Reservation
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Canyon De Chelly sports a drive to a rim views on the North and South sides. The land is part of the Navaho Nation. The National Monument station was closed, but the Navaho stores and hotel were open.
A sad and bewildering moment occurred when I was viewing the Southern overlook and was approached by a young native (Navaho) girl who displayed a simple artifact for sale. Her apparent father appeared at the next overlook. He drew an item from his pocket and perhaps sensing I was not interested in buying returned it to his pocket without saying anything.
These canyons lend themselves to a stereographic treatment. If you go to my Argentina Blog or the Sailing to Greece Blog (links will open in a new Tab) you will find instructions and samples of Stereograms. Here's my attempt (directly above) at stereographic images here viewing from the southern overlook. It's a big job, and my present is jammed with my balance issues (by the end of this year, I have a diagnosis: CIDP (chronic inflamatory demyelinating polyneuropathy), work issues on the darker side, and improving golf scores on the lighter side. It's still too easy to fill my days with pleasant distractions.
Here's how to view this stereogram, above. Focusing on the brown rock wall extending from the green bush at the bottom, cross your eyes. Initially it become blurry, but very soon you will be able to see both walls move together. If you are patient and relax but maintain your crossed eyes view those two walls near the bottom center of the image they will overlap and become one image in the middle of the other two, that image will appear in 3D.
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