Wednesday and Thursday were were at Canyon de Chelley in northwest AZ.  I really have to think which state we are in.  Fortunately it will be UT for awhile so I won't have to strain my brain so much! It was SO windy there but the scenery was beautiful so we can't complain.  Al walked down into the canyon one day--good for him!!--I slept late--good for me!! It was a 500 ft. drop and I figured they would have to bring me out on a burro if I went. The canyon walls were such a beautiful red and there were ruins in numerous places on the canyon walls.

Our adventure in Canyon de Chelley was new for us.  We were "boondocking."  It was the first time we have had no hookups of any sort.  We had emptied the holding tanks before we left Gallup, filled the water tank with as much water as we thought we would need.  So, we existed on that plus the battery power we had. It worked out nicely...no
microwave, toaster etc.  We read etc. as we didn't use the TV either.  It wasn't bad but I wouldn't want to do it if it was any hotter.  This a.m. it was probably in the lower to mid 40's so Al did crank up the furnace for awhile.  We didn't use any heat at nite but we do have 2 furnaces if we want them. We do have the 2 generators but we didn't use
them except to see if they worked.  There is a problem of some sort on one circuit so we will have to get that checked.

Today we moved to Monticello, UT and we will be here until Monday.  We will be going to see the south end of Canyonlands Natl. Park from here. We are back to electricity and sewer so we have all the comforts of home.

This campground is at 7200 ft. We have been driving in the mts. obviously and have had no problems.  I was the lucky one to drive up a long grade at 25 mph today as they were doing construction and the road was really rough.  No problems pulling and the other side was not as steep as going up but I had it in my head how I was going to handle the gears, brakes etc. if it was.  Al did have a short downgrade of 6% and the exhaust brake did a good job on that, in fact, he has used it several times and it does hold the speed down.

So, there you are. We are sending a couple pictures.

This picture of the ruin was taken by Al when he walked down to the bottom of the canyon. The White House (white bldg) is about 50-60 ft. up from the floor of the canyon and the rest of the ruin is on the floor of the canyon.  "The White House Ruin was built by ancient Puebloan people and occupied around 1000 yrs. ago.  It is named for the long wall in the upper dwelling that is covered with white plaster."

We did see numerous cliff dwellings that were a lot farther up the canyon wall.  It is incredible that people could scale a wall so sheer and live in these cliff dwellings. 

This picture is of Spider Rock.  It is 800 ft. tall and the canyon is 1000 ft. high here. In some areas of the canyon there is a river running thru it.  Navajo live in the canyon in the summer and farm but do not live there in the winter. Tours are allowed into the canyon only with a Navajo guide.

They do tours via 2 1/2 ton trucks, horses or private tours with 4WD vehicles.  They also have overnite tours. The only way to get in without a guide is on the 2.5 mile White House Trail.  Can't figure out where the roads are that go into the canyon.  It is a well kept secret, I guess. The park is on the Navajo Reservation and maintained by the federal govt.

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