They said there’d be a dirt road, but OMG!

Apr 4

Monday we went to Chaco Canyon. Dan and Betsy had told us a large section of the drive was on a dirt road so we knew what to expect–we thought. We’ve taken dirt roads to places before, such as to the Kennicut mine in Alaska and to Bode in California, but this road was unbelievable. We drove in from Gallup and there was about 21 miles of dirt road with a lot of washboarding (ridges on the road that rattle your vehicle and everything in it, including your bones!) and potholes. On the way out we thought we’d take the road to Albuquerque instead of back to Gallup. Although that also had a dirt road, we figured that way might be better and couldn’t be worse. Wrong! The entire way was washboarding. We were fish-tailing the whole way. Sometimes Randy went down to 6 miles an hour. It was crazy.

The road looking back. Not a road you want to get stranded on!

Someone put a cow statue on this hill so of course I needed to take a picture.

BUT, Chaco Canyon was beautiful! And amazing. Again, we were awestruck by the “ancient-ness” and surrounding beauty. We walked all around and of course, I took a zillion pictures. There was just one little time of anxiety. Most of the time there were signs saying not to go off the path or into or on the walls but at one point the path went into one of the structures. We went in and I walked through a few of the rooms. Randy, however, kept going and I lost sight of him. I tried to follow but it was like a maze. I called and my voice echoed so I figured I was yelling pretty loudly but he didn’t answer. I went back out to the path to wait. I looked at the time, 2:35. I decided, “At 2:45 I’ll start asking for help.” I could just see him lying there with a cracked, bleeding skull, unconscious. (The doorways were really low; very easy to bump your head as you went through.) Several minutes later, there he was coming down the path from a different exit. When I said I’d been yelling he said so had he. I guess even without roofs, those walls didn’t let sound go through. Anyway, all’s well that ends well.

There are hundreds of rooms in the models of the structures. And lots of kivas, round enclosures, usually dug out so you’re looking into them like you would a swimming pool. You can’t help wondering how in the world did people from that long ago build all this? I don’t think they even had the wheel that long ago (some parts were from BC eras). There was evidence of trading for things from far, far away. How did they travel? And what were all those rooms and kivas used for? Lots of mystery. If our world lasts that long, I wonder what people centuries from now will think of evidence from our time here.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant in Albuquerque, then went home to our little trailer. where we fell asleep pretty much immediately.