Right now I am watching the cows go by! I have never figured out the cows, never seen one charge! When in the middle of the road I generally wait in first gear, we exchange looks, invariably they have gone into a slow trot to give way. Buy I figured as in everything, there must be an exception. We just got back from having a facial, I think next time we go out I will wear a bandana across my face like in the movies! Sandstorm! Has been a while, barely shot a couple pictures at the entrance of "The Valley of the Gods", I will not put the camera through that kind of test and there was no way we were going to set up camp where sand is so abundant with very little vegetation. Four miles away is the "Gooseneck State Park" where we had never been, I took a chance thinking maybe there will not be as much sand and it paid off. How profound is all this!!!

The wind is very slowly dying down, might even be able to put up the Dish tonight maybe, who knows when all this will stop. You haven’t seen anything till you have seen this river here, the San Juan! I thought it was just one bend through the canyon… and as I glanced quickly near the edge, please remember "vertigo" and "sandstorm" conditions, it is a few bends! I think as the weather clears up I will use the tripod and make a collage of 3 or 4 pictures as even a wide angle will never catch it in its entirety. My head feels as it has been beat up and my face has lost a layer of skin! For some reason I was thinking about a barco lounger and a wide screen TV… both which at 60 I yet have to own! But here we are, plenty of food from a round trip to Blending, water, fuel and propane. The cows are back… I have to go see them!

My Map is acting up again, but I will leave it up, you can still decipher the words and maybe this one below will give you a better idea of the geography. As we took a walk to the tip, where the white arrow is, I wish I would have been about 20 feet taller for a real wide angle shot!… A helicopter ride must just be awesome… Lets not forget a rafting trip at the bottom!

Fast forward 24 hrs… the winds have calmed down just a bit, a few bursts of 12 to 15mph, colder, and the prediction should make it remain as it is. The weather forecast is for freezing temps at night for another week or so which makes me wonder if summer is ever going to get here. I must be doing well, as, similar to everywhere we go that is so grandiose I keep thinking "this is the best"! No such thing of course, there are so many bests while enjoying the moment, we are living it now. There were a few campers about 2000 feet away and they all left this morning. We are away from the end of the road were a few tourists arrive at times, take a look and a couple pictures and on their way they are. Wish I had thought about bringing so firewood for this great pit we have, I have some pecan wood still from Texas but I am saving it for cooking.

I woke up with this sunrise this morning, a peaceful one and that is how the day has been going. I have not even been thinking today! This is as being transported in no man’s land. The entrance of "The Valley of Fire" is 4 miles from here, there is a Bed and Breakfast with a couple who own’s it living there, maybe so guests. Another 8 miles is Mexican Hat… and that is about it. No one else is around and I think my mind just went numb today.

This bend is about 50 feet from us. It is a long far drop of a 1000 feet [quote]"a chasm carved through the Pennsylvanian Hermosa formation by the stilt-laden San Juan river."

The river meanders back and forth, flowing for more than five miles while progressing only one linear mile toward the Colorado River and Lake Powell.  I feel real fortunate that this State Park is not developed and hope it stays this way for a long time for everyone to enjoy its raw image.

After a while even the photos become confusing! These above "are" 3 different distinct photos… If I had not shot the middle one crooked, which actually should be the first one, I could have stitched them together. I will just have to take some new ones tomorrow.

Old Faithful has not even been started today. We are just walking, and Spirit loves it. He even started dragging a bit on our way back from the point, saving his energy to chase the lizards while on a leash for sure, it is a long drop down below just in case. There is more camping on the tip and all along this road that gets rougher as we walked it, the rocks are not hand placed… they are part of this Mesa, just left along as so few come this way.

You can see Monument Valley faintly in the distance, this is Paradise as it leaves me a bit speechless.

You be well and stay well…   Ara & Spirit

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Ara Gureghian   853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245   Naples, Fl 34108

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 4:23 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.