Monday, May 6
I wake up early. I’m looking forward to touring Valley of the Gods today! Very little light is coming through the windows of the Best Little Trailer. (I sleep with the blinds up so we can wake to sunbeams.) Gee, it must be very early. Hmm . . . Spike and Bridget are still asleep.
I lift myself on one elbow and peer out the window.
“Oh, DRATS!” I groan. The sky is heavily overcast with menacing rain clouds that aren’t going anywhere else fast. Darn. I sink back under the covers as the first raindrops tap lightly on the BLT. This is going to be an all-day rain.
After breakfast I go online and find the internet is very slow for no good reason.
Great. Well, there’s always my kindle. I choose a book at random from the scores I’ve loaded. Something by Zane Grey. Turns out the book is about these white guys riding horses through Monument Valley with an Indian guide and they end up climbing down into Tsegi Canyon and the Betatakin village is there and . . . Isn’t that strange? Of all the books . . . Grey engages me for a while with his descriptive narrative that takes me back to our recent camp at Navajo National Monument.
It’s mid-morning and still drizzling.
If this doesn’t clear up by tomorrow morning, to heck with the Valley of the Gods. We’ll leave! I turn off the kindle and pull the covers over my head. Bridget gets under the covers with me. Spike already snores at my feet. Together we stage a protest nap.
Around noon I peer out the window again and . . . wow!
“Blue sky! Sunshine! C’mon, guys! We’re going to Valley of the Gods!”
Well, dear reader, we pull ourselves together, grab a bite to eat, and with much excitement from the crew and quite a bit of anticipation from myself, we set off. Will the roads be bad after the rain? Will we get hung up in a dip in the road? Will I wish we had stayed in bed?
We approach the zigzagged mountains of our backyard view that I’ve been trying for days to capture in a photograph. The light is good. (Note: This is a true picture of what the zigzag mountain looks like. As for the purple mountain in the background? That’s strange.)
I told you they were zigzagged! Now do you believe me?
Valley of the Gods is a 17-mile loop. I decide to enter from the southeast. At the first curve in the road we approach a wash with water in it. Oh, no. Not good. Maybe we should go back. Just then a white SUV appears over the little hill opposite the wash, obviously having completed the tour.
I watch the SUV slowly negotiate the wash.
As the SUV approaches I hail it to stop. A smiling couple sits inside.
“Hello! Excuse me. How is the road?”
The man replies with a British accent. “The road is fine. That there (meaning the wash) is the worst of it. Beautiful drive. You won’t have any problem.” I thank them, the lady calls out, “Enjoy!” and they drive off.
Let me tell you, did we ever enjoy!
A dark and dismal morning evolved into a bright afternoon. What a place! The crew and I had such fun!
The BLT waits for our return.
rvsue
NOTE: Later in the early evening an electrical storm appears on the horizon, moving toward us very quickly. I race outside and take down the antenna and stow it in the PTV. I hurry back inside, close up the laptop, and reach up to pull out the inverter plug from the 12 volt socket. It gives me an electrical shock.
Thus I did not post yesterday.
This morning the inverter (the big one I use to charge the computer) does not work.
I’m typing this out in the PTV with the motor running. The PTV’s nose is to the back end of the BLT so the antenna wire will reach inside the PTV where I have the air card. My laptop is attached to my smaller inverter which is plugged into the dash. The laptop screen is flashing and the keys are acting funny.
Here we are in The Middle of Nowhere and I need a new inverter. I can’t post the photos of Valley of the Gods right now, and I may be thrown offline for a while. I’ll post pics as soon as I can. Carry on without me!
(Spike: “This is not right! I was going to post today!”)
rvsue and her canine crew 