“A horse got loose in Kayenta Arizona today. The Sheriff's office reported that Officer ___ was able to herd it using his patrol car 10 miles down Highway 160 to its corral.” At least that's how I imagine tomorrows article in the Kayenta Times will look. Rolling southbound into Kayenta from Monument Valley this afternoon, I couldn't help but notice this large roan horse trotting briskly down the highway in the opposite direction. He was properly keeping to the slow lane, as he had a pretty good clip on for a trot but it was still a trot, and was followed in succession by 1) one sheriff's patrol car and 2) fifteen

other drivers too chicken to pass a patrolman herding a horse down the road, even though they were traveling well under the applicable speed limit at that location of 45 mph.

How did I get to Monument Valley and thence Kayenta, you ask? Well, by running away from thunderstorms all day, that's how. My original plan to hit the bustling western town of Durango Colorado got busted by bad weather forecasts, which seemed to have proven out. I went south out of Moab and took a side trip over to the Needles section of Canyonlands NP.  I have to say, the first couple of miles of the side trip you take to get there is worth it, but I'd strongly advise against spending the time and money to go all the way in unless you're determined to checkoff all the NPs on your list.  Canyonlands just doesn't have that much to offer the casual site seer. Now, I will admit that if you are into mountain biking, hiking, back country camping and/or rock climbing, it probably is the place to be!  

I was dogged by rain and thunder showers coming at me all afternoon from the direction of south western Colorado. So I got to see Monument Valley instead, although I got there too late to see the inside of the park, what I did get to see from outside was plenty. What an awe-inspiring landscape. It's definitely on my list of places to come back to, along with Zion and Arches.

Tonight I am in Chinle AZ-- home, if I recall my fiction correctly, to a substation of the Navajo Tribal Police where Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee spent many an entertaining novel. I have always wanted to visit the scene of the crime-stories (by Tony Hillerman) and it was fun today seeing octagonal hogans (the traditional Navajo dwelling), sheep pens and all the wonderful scenery Hillerman describes. I will miss Shiprock, which calls for yet another journey through here. This is truly beautiful land. (Saw a beautiful coyote today, too.)

So tomorrow I hit the slab (I40 east) in the general direction of where New Orleans is, and will play it entirely by ear how far and where I end up each day. I have 3.5 days to get to NOLa, which should be plenty. I'll be camping where possible and maybe seeing some sights. Don't know if any blog entry inspirations will hit. So you may not hear from me again until Wed. when I hit NOLa. Depends what, if anything, exciting there is to see in all of New Mexico, much of Texas and the length of Loosiana.

The Germans are here in Chinle too. I don't know if they read Hillerman. Heard one of them say to another in German, of course: “If we had won the war, all ziss would be ours! Of course, my Deutsch is just a tad rusty. Auf wiedersehen!