July 16
Though we were reluctant to leave the beauty of the Grand Canyon, we knew we had to venture on, destination: Four Corners! One of our encounters with locals had tipped us off that once we crossed into Native American territory we could see booths where we could buy jewelry directly from the makers themselves. Sure enough, as soon as we crossed the Colorado River, there was a collection of open-air booths, covered with necklaces, earrings, and bracelets out of a variety of precious and semiprecious stones.
We spent a few minutes browsing before moving on, but less than a quarter mile away we found another booth! To prevent us from taking too many time-consuming stops, we made a rule for ourselves that we would stop at every 4th booth (unless it was a really large one). Our process proved worthwhile and C was able to find the Kokopelli (a Navajo medicine man) necklace she was looking for.
Knowing our blog readers were antsy for our very delayed posts (we had gotten a storm of complaints via email, text messages, and phone calls!), we decided to stop at the next McDonald’s we came across to take advantage of their Wi-Fi. We found one not too far off our route in Page, Arizona. We entered the McDonald’s and were immediately shocked by the modern-chic décor (not like any other McDonald’s we have ever been in), and incredibly loud noises. There were no free tables. People were everywhere, perching two a seat, standing in corners, and wolfing down Big Macs. The source of the chaos appeared to be the kid’s play area, which covered nearly a third of the potential dining space. Though there were only three kids in there, they were screaming and jumping around and causing more than their fair share of ruckus. Overwhelmed by everything we saw, we could only aimlessly stand around until we sniped a spot in the “lounge area,” which consisted of two arm chairs and a couch…. kid you not. B immediately plugged in her computer and began blogging, while K got a few select items from the Dollar Menu to legitimatize our presence. It soon became apparent that this particular McDonald’s wireless was not functioning, and since K had begun to crack under the stressful environment (as evident by her singing along to the Hillary Duff song playing over the radio), we packed back into the car to find another set of Golden Arches down the road. We tried to find another McDonald’s, but again found the wireless to be out of service. Frustrated, we resigned to waiting until we made it to our stop for the night (sorry blog followers!).
We made our way to the famous Four Corners, where the state lines of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah meet. We were all excited get to the monument, and talked in the car about what pose we would make so we could touch all four states at once. B was going to lie on the ground, K was going to do the crab-walk, and C was planning on the wheel (or bridge, for non-yoga people). But unfortunately, we pulled up to the gate only to be met with a “closed for construction” sign! We couldn’t believe it. What kind of construction needs to be done on a bunch of lines? Someone had placed tape on the ground to mark a fake Four Corners, so we used that for a photo and headed off.
Our route took us through Colorado for a little while until we passed into New Mexico. Our initial impression of NM was not great since we felt that people were staring at us. Maybe it was the car full of girls, maybe it was our New York license plate, or maybe it was the fact that we were all dancing and singing along to the Madonna Glee soundtrack… we’re not quite sure. Matters did not improve when we got to the campground where we had planned to stay that night. It was in the middle of a rather run-down area of town, with most of the campground was dedicated to RVs, and the few tents sites were only separated from a residential neighborhood by a chain-link fence. All in all, the place eerily reminded us of our Creepytown experience in Wells, Nevada. Determined to survive the night, we made a series of phone calls to nearby motels to find a cheap room with a lockable door. After several bizarre conversations (it felt like we were making prank calls, but we swear we weren’t!) we found a cheap room with breakfast and Wi-Fi (our only two requirements) down the road in Farmington, NM.
We made a quick stop at a local grocery store for some desperately needed lotion and salsa, and pulled into the motel for the night. We were happy to discover that our room was on the second floor (never can be too safe!) C & K took the first load of luggage up the stairs, but when they unlocked the door, they discovered the bed in the center of the room, covered in a plastic sheet, paint cans on the floor, and other various construction items thrown about. The room clearly was not intended to be rented out. But it was late and we were all tired and hungry, so all we could do was laugh. B went to get a different room, while C & K brought all our things back downstairs, and around to our new room on the other side of the motel. Wary of the area we were in, we quickly locked (and deadbolted!) the doors. Though it was far from a nice hotel, we were all grateful to not be camping in Creepytown Numero Dos.
Mileage to date: 5,560
States visited: Arizona, (Utah – though since it was a fake Four Corners we never actually went there today…), Colorado, New Mexico
Yellow car count:
C – 169
B – 191
K – 228
Highs and Lows:
Group high – Shopping at the roadside jewelry booths
Group low – Creepytown Numero Dos. Closed for Construction.
C high – Buying Kokopelli
C low – McDonald’s non-functioning wireless
B high – Calling the all the hotels
B low – Arizona McDonald’s Wi-Fi
K high – Prank phone calls
K low – Creepytown Numero Dos
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