Highways, Byways, and Bumpy Roads

We were up by 7:00 and were left the campground a little after 8:00 a.m.  We had scouted out a gas station for the motorhome and were able to find one with RV lanes.  Oh, how we love RV lanes!  We drove south until we reached Shiprock and then turned east toward Navajo Lake State Park where we had reservations beginning yesterday for three nights.  I knew we would not be there yesterday but the earliest we could check in was 4:00 p.m. so we decided to double book Sunday night that way we could check in Monday morning at Navajo Lake State Park. 

Believe it or not, this formation is called Chimney Rock.

Shiprock from 10 miles away.

We took 491 to Shiprock then turned east on 64 to Bloomfield.  We then took 511 to 171 and then the fun began.

From 171 it was two miles to Cottonwood Campground at Navajo Lake State Park.  This was road was like driving on a old washboard.  It was gravel, dirt and bump after bump.  We might have driven 15 MPH and those two miles seemed never ending.  Everything in the motorbome that could rattle, did!  When I made these reservations, I did not know about this road.  The campground itself is nice with paved roads and camping pads, 50 amp and water.  I asked the campground host if there were another road that would take us out of the campground on Wednesday and he said no.  I asked what's up with the terrible road.  He said, "The oil companies own the road to the campground.  If the state park owned the road, it would be paved!"  Well, we are here and the only way out is back over the washboard road!  This is the third state park campground we have been in and the other two were wonderful.  I guess two out of three isn't bad.

We finished setting up at noon, ate lunch and decided to visit Aztec Ruins National Monument.  We had the time and we had never been there before.

This monument was located almost in the heart of the city of Aztec.  Most of the time, monuments like this are way, way out in the country.  It seems that the city built around the monument.  It was established in 1923 but I guess nothing was done to preserve the acres around it.  The Indians who lived were not "Aztec."  The site got its name because early Spanish explorers traveling north from Mexico commonly used the term "Aztec" when naming man of the ancient sites they encountered.

We were amazed to find out that this ladder is original to the ruins so that makes it more than 800 years old.

There was a paved path around and in some cases through the rooms of the pueblo.  

The people who lived here must have been much smaller.  Carol is standing by a doorway.

There were several areas where there would be three or four layers of rooms.  Each had a doorway.

We thought this was interesting.  The Indians devised a way to divert water from the roof of the pueblo.  The water drains from the top, through this hole and down again until it empties out of the hole in the picture below.  Primitive but workable.

These holes contained the wooden rafters.

These is a mat made of yucca cord covering the top part of this storage area.  That mat is, like the ladder, 800 plus years old and was left when its owner left this dwelling never to return.

The large beam is original.

This shows only one side of the three sides to this pueblo.

It was very interesting to explore, where we could, these ruins.  When we visit ruins like this, we are always told that the Indians "abandoned" these homes sometime in the 1200's.  Here we head that the ancestors of these Indians don't like the term "abandon."  They feel that the spirits of those Indians have never left these places.  They are not abandoned because their spirits are still present.

The highway to and from Aztec.  It was a beautiful drive.  It was a constant of either going up or down a hill. 

This is the part of the two-mile road to the campground.  

After you get in the campground, there is a "wash" which had received enough rain to have water in it.  I hope we don't get anymore rain and fill this wash even more.

It has been a cool day.  I don't think the temperature got above 55.  We turned on the furnace as soon as we got set up.  It is dark outside.  There are no lights in the campground other than those of other campers.  It will also be very quiet.  I am just hoping for dry weather!