Canyon de Chelly

Today we take to the road. Our destination is the Hubbell Trading Post and points west. By the end of the day we are staying at the Thunderbird Lodge at Canyon de Chelly National Park . We are up but maybe not out early. We stop for breakfast in Flagstaff AZ. We discover that our previous favorite breakfast/coffee/bread spot is out of business. We find a new favorite spot, Macy’s, which judging by the crowd is pretty much everyone else’s favorite. We ‘head out on the highway’ to our next stop and on the way we cover some pieces of old Route 66. Along the road we notice clouds on the distant hills, we realize that it is not low clouds or moisture, it is dust. And sure enough we soon encounter fierce winds kicking up massive amounts of dust. Tumble weeds cross the road and some crash into our vehicle. The news report later says 48 MPH gusts and it is really tricky, not so much for us but a lot of semi trucks have pulled off the road and several large RVs are weaving so bad we try to keep as much distance as possible, they are having serious trouble and stray out of their lane. We come into Winslow AZ which is both in the original Route 66 song and later featured in the Eagles song “Take It Easy”. We stop for pictures of ourselves ‘standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona’ climb up on the flat board Ford truck, sing the song and then head to the La Posada Hotel. This is a grand old hotel, part of the Fred Harvey system along railroad routes. It has been restored to its original elegance. We would love to stay longer but we need to get to the Hubble Trading Post before it closes and it is a couple hours away.

The dust storm continues with us to the Hubble stop. We thought we would get an hour and 20 minutes to shop but discover that despite the rest of Arizona not being on daylight saving time, this corner is. We get 20 minutes to visit and shop and that is enough for Sybil and Susan to find some necessary items to purchase. We go on in the wind and blowing dust into Chinle, AZ and arrive at the Thunderbird Lodge. This is a classic old place but they, and we, have a problem--no power, the winds have interrupted electrical power which means no light, TV, internet and in the cafeteria we dine indoors by the light of Coleman lanterns, feels just like camping. We try to see the canyon but visibility is very limited. But when we return to our rooms we find that power has been restored, yeah! We are hoping that tomorrow will be clear, there is a good chance since it has started to rain. If we are lucky, we can take a jeep tour of the canyon or get in a good hike, we could not have done that today.