 1 From Bluff we head for Canyon de Chelly. After about 25 miles we cross the Utah border into Arizona. |
 2 The scenery remains spectacular. We enter the ramshackle Navajo Nation on Indian Route 59. |
 3 These are the cliff dwellings once used by the Anasazi. They lived here beginning some 5000 years ago and moved away about 700 years ago. |
 4 The park's distinctive geologic feature is Spider Rock, a sandstone spire that rises 800 feet from the canyon floor at the junction of Canyon de Chelly and Monument Canyon |
 5 According to traditional Navajo beliefs, the taller of the two spires is the home of spider woman. |
 6 The oldest rocks in Canyon de Chelly are 280 million years old. At this time northeastern Arizona was subtropical. |
 7 Fossil plants found in the mud, silt, and sandstone indicate that the climate was hot and moist at the time |
 8 The canyons were cut by streams with headwaters in the Chuska mountains just to the east of the monument. None of the land in this park is federally owned - it all belongs to the Navajo Nation |
 9 The White House ruins were built by ancient Puebloan people who occupied them about 1000 years ago. The ruins are named for the long wall in the upper dwelling that is covered in white plaster. |
 10 An arch is starting to form. |
 11 At the White House overlook. |
 12 After Canyon de Chelly, we continue south and connect with I40 just as darkness arrives. It is very unpleasant driving into the setting sun; it seems to take forever to set. We spend the night in Holbrook in a motel on the old Route 66 (although Route 66 is now part of Interstate 40). |
 13 We have been through Show Low and are now 20 miles north of Globe on US 60. These are great motorcycle roads. |
 14 We drive non-stop to Globe where we stop for brunch. Globe turns out to be where we had stopped overnight on our first trip with B&D so I take a picture of the motel for old times sake. |
 15 A sure sign that you are entering the Sonoran Desert is when the Saguaro Cactus start to appear. |
 16 The next moring we head for Tucson via Show Low, Globe and the Oro Valley. The End. Return to the home page. |
