After suffering intolerably for way too long, today we’re going to scratch our hitch itch, at least a little bit. We’re off on a road trip to historic Hubbell Trading Post and Canyon de Chelly National Monument, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in far northeastern Arizona.
This is familiar country to anybody who has ever read any of bestselling author Tony Hillerman’s books, but I’m ashamed to say that as many years as I lived in this area, I have never been there before. I guess it’s like the people who live in New York City all their lives and never visit the Statue of Liberty, or the Empire State Building. Or, for that matter, the folks right here in Arizona who never get to the Grand Canyon.
We’re looking forward to the trip, and to sharing it with all of you. We’re not sure if this will be a long day trip, or if we’ll spend the night in a motel someplace. I also don’t know, if we do stay somewhere overnight, what kind of internet access we’ll have, if any. Much of the Navajo Reservation is still a pretty remote place.
So if there is no blog tomorrow or the next day, we haven’t fallen off the end of the earth, been eaten by a coyote, or fallen victim to any of Tony Hillerman’s villains. But do check in, and if I’m not back online in a couple of days, send out a search party. Or at least a Domino’s Pizza delivery guy.
If you aren’t tired of seeing what Miss Terry has been accomplishing with the new Levolor blinds in our Winnebago motorhome, here is one final picture. She installed the blinds over my desk yesterday, and we think that they really change the look of our home on wheels.
Since I couldn’t get to my desk most of the afternoon, while she was installing the blinds, I stayed out of the way and played Scrabble on my iPad. And I’m proud to say that I’ve finally gotten to where I can beat the computer more than half the time! It’s a small victory, but I take them where I can get them.
Now, I can hear some of you saying how lazy and worthless I am, letting my wife do all the hard work while I goof off. But that’s not true. Terry and I have a very good relationship because we each have our own strengths and weaknesses, and we understand them. If I had tried to hang the blinds, Terry would have been calling somebody to replace the RV’s window with one hand, while she tried to stanch the bleeding I was doing all over the place with the other hand, all the while using her knees to steer as she drove me to the emergency room.
So instead, I stayed on the sofa, complimented her skills, and played word games. Well, I wasn’t exactly playing. I’m a wordsmith, and I was just honing my own skills. At last that’s what I told Miss Terry, and don’t you dare tell her otherwise!
I may have been goofing off, but Bad Nick was hard at work, posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled I’m All About Overkill. Check it out and leave a comment.
Thought For The Day – I like you. You remind me of when I was young and knew everything.
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Nick – do you want extra cheese on that pizza or pepperoni? Janis
Terry’s work looks superb…. Tell her I still carry the metal she gave me in my pocket everyday, everywhere I go…
The interior of you coach looks like a professional desinger’s handiwork. Great job, Terry.
No blog for a day or two !! How will we start our day ?? O’well you earned that right, have fun.
Terry and Nick — Blinds look great!! Now that they have been installed, do you find them noisy as you are traveling? We would like to know the answer to that question for both the raised and lowered positions. We like to travel with out day/night shades down to keep the coach cooler. But hate the day/nite shades when we are parked because they do not allow any air flow in the lowered postion. Monument Valley is awesome. Enjoy.
Canyon de “Chilly” National Monument? It must be cold there. I normally call it Canyon de Chelly National Monument.
Nick would you check out the campground at the Canyon. I’ve been there but not with this BIG rig we have now. I remember a lot of trees and turns and I’m not sure we could maneuver that area now. But it was FREE. Don’t miss taking the truck ride into the canyon. Awesome trip
The blinds have anchors that the bottoms slip into that keep them secure and don’t allow any movement (or rattling) going down the highway.
The blinds really do change the look of your motor home. Terry did a great job. Congratulations Nick on winning some of the scrabble games against the computer. Take some pictures of your trip since we have never been in that part of AZ. Be safe and we will look for smoke signals if you get lost. Do you want a Pepperoni and cheese Pizza’
s ?
Donna, we were just there in early April and it is a little tight. :>) They also said that they are going to start enforcing a 35 ft. combined length limit. We are 35 ft. and tow a jeep and to fit in one of the few sites large enough for us, i had to park tight against one side so that i could squeeze the jeep in beside us. Did see a couple of large 5th wheels and one 40′ class A that tried to get in but had to leave because they could not fit. Rumor has it that they may re-do some of the sites and the layout of the roads in the next couple of years.
The blinds look AWESOME!!!!!! Let me know where you can stay in that area of Arizona being over 35ft. Our 5th wheel is 40ft and we pull it with an extended cab F350 (way over 35ft.)
I want to know how you keep all of that stuff on the bookshelves, while you are going down the road.