Koyaanisqatsi II -- A Road Trip page 12 Day 7 ...although it seemed like we'd been gone much longer than a week. We waited in line to do laundry, wishing we'd saved more of those quarters we dropped in Vegas. We realized how lucky we were to be leaving Holbrook when we met a woman who was living at the KOA all summer while her husband worked on the highway. We packed up the car and headed back on Highway 40 to Flagstaff where we found an ATM machine and a Safeway to do more camp-out shopping. Heading north on Highway 89 we took a scenic side road that went past Sunset Crater and the ground for miles was all black ash, even after 800 years. Onward to Wupatki ruins: we stopped and walked through 3 of the ancient Indian dwellings. Some were unbelievably big and complex, and very spiritual. They were all alone in the valley so they would have been able to see visitors or intruders coming from miles and miles away. Back on Highway 89, we entered Navajo Nation and the full glory of the Painted Desert. The pastel bands colored the ground and the hills. We began stopping at trading posts and really doing some shopping. We found out that signs reading "Watch for Animals" didn't mean that a rabbit might cross the road, but rather that stray sheep, goats and horses were on the loose. We saw a wide range of Indian housing styles, many with mud sweat houses and all with TV antennas. We crossed a vast prairie headed for Echo Cliffs way in the distance. The cliffs got bigger and bigger as we got closer to them -- lots of colors and shapes to be found on their faces as we approached. We had great roads for driving fast and Pink Floyd tapes playing. We started driving along parallel to the cliffs and then wound around and crossed the Colorado River. It wasn't very impressive at this point. We drove past the Vermillion Cliffs which were equally impressive but different than Echo Cliffs. These were harsher and more ominous looking. Many crumbling slides could be seen -- in one place there were house-size boulders that had landed within feet of the road. We passed towns on our maps (Cliff Dwellers, The Gap) that were practically non-existent. Blackfoot, Pawnee, Cheyenne, Crow, Apache, Arapaho   Close to the edge, down by the river... I get up, I get down   Where the streets have no name      In God's country   Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there   My features form with a change in the weather - we can, we can work it out When the wind blows, when the mothers talk - we can, we can work it out   Tell a friend about this site with a free virtual road trip postcard © 1990-2006 neonpages.com