We got up early to check out several scenic overlooks around Canyon de Chelly including Spider Rock and White House Ruin Overlook. Spider Rock is named so because the Navaho revere the spider for bringing weaving to the Navaho people. White House Ruin has some ancient dwellings at the base of the cliffs & was interesting to see. Next time – bring binoculars!

We were both interested to see many horses running around seemingly unattended. I was told that the Navaho don’t fence in their animals. Indeed, as we drove through the Navaho reservation later, we noticed more horses and sheep grazing by the road. Getting out of the Canyon area, we headed South and attempted to find I-40. It took a while because of construction and because many of the road signs were missing and we went waaaaaa-ay West of where we intended to come out. We saw our first tumble weeds, but missed the Painted Desert. The road gives, the road takes away.

Not in a mood to double-back, we pressed on to Winslow, Arizona and stood on as many corners as we could find. We hit them all because we couldn’t check to see how the vote went (the West won, if you’re interested).

It’s interesting to note that one of the corners doesn’t have an actual building, just a wall with a mural that makes it look like a building. Another corner claims to be “The Corner” and all of the shirts sold there say “Standing on the corner in Winslow, AZ.” That’s not how the lyrics go, so of course we couldn’t buy a t-shirt from them. Because we were having technical difficulties, The Eagles did not get played, but I discussed the lyrics with Pattie at great length as we ate in haunted La Posada‘s Turquoise Room for lunch. Your interpretations of the song would be much appreciated. Our interpretations of lunch? Quite good. The best food we’ve had on the trip so far.

It’s interesting to note that we ran into yet another group of Norwegians traveling the Mother Road. I didn’t realize this SW Route was such a draw for them, but it is. We also passed Gustav and Charlotte, whom we met in Erick, OK, as we toodled down I-40 to Flagstaff. They had both the American and Norwegian flag going on their motorcycle.

At Flagstaff, we went South on I-17/Hwy 89A to complete our commission for Janine. She wanted a picture of Coffee Pot Rock in Sedona and a picture of a House on Stilts in Jerome. This is the kind of stupid shit we’re willing to do for money (please donate if you have a task for us).

The Sedona area was a surprise for both of us. Mostly I think because we’d stared at desert all day and weren’t expecting pine trees and mountains and wind-whipped red rocks cut into fanciful shapes. As Pattie said, “I thought roads like this only existed in car commercials.” Indeed.

We found Coffee Pot Rock, but didn’t linger in Sedona. The town itself is a tourist trap. Actually, Jerome is, too. It used to be a mining town, but was abandoned and then reopened as an artists colony. Cute, cute, cute. Touristy, touristy, touristy.

Exhausted by a day of driving, we pushed on to Prescott (Pronounced like biscuit. It comes out like press-kit. If you say press-cot, you will be corrected.) JZ’s mom generously welcomed us for the evening. We ate at the Blue Gato for dinner (lovely tapas) and are currently doing laundry and attempting to wrest childhood secrets/blackmail material from JZ’s mom…cause you never know when that will come in handy.

Tomorrow we plan to head South to I-10 and press on to California. Love the desert, but want to see some ocean soon!

It’s 12:42am. We’ve traveled nearly 3,000 miles.