A Caravan Tour of the United States - Part Three
Created | Updated Apr 7, 2009
The Greatest Invention
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
The canyons and mesas of the Four Corners region are filled with thousands of ruins built by early Anasazi Indian inhabitants. Some of the most visited ruins are here in the Mesa Verde National Park in the Southwest corner of Colorado. Through dendrochronology, the study of tree rings, the construction of these dwellings can be dated very precisely.
The best preserved ruins are those built in caves or cliff dwellings sheltered by rock overhangs. As we drive along the rim of the mesa we can see a half dozen examples of these.
The Indians here lived on top of the mesas for thousands of years. During a 20-year period ending about 1276 AD, they retreated to cliff dwellings and then abandoned these within a ten-year period. The reason for the retreat and exodus is thought to be a 23-year drought which decreased food supplies and increased warfare over scarce resources.
A major source of food was corn. They used a 'dry farming' (no irrigation) method, planting in wet, low-lying areas where water pooled in the spring after the eight-foot snowfall melts.
The development of Maize (corn) by an early Mesoamerican geneticist probably happened sometime between 10,000 and 6,000 BC in southern Mexico. This development has done more to enable a population explosion to six billion than any other human invention.
From the 1938 to the 1960s, Mangeldorf's 'Tripartite Hypothesis' on the origin of corn was widely accepted. He believed that corn was developed from a cross between an undiscovered wild Maize and the plant Tripsacum.
In 1968, George Beadle, in retirement, began to provide convincing evidence for his own 'Teosinte Hypothesis', which simply believed that Maize was developed from the plant Teosinte. Today, scientists generally accept the Teosinte Hypothesis because of advances in the study of genomes.
The Canyons of the Ancients
Hovenweep National Monument
Colorado/Utah Border
Cortez has four nice tennis courts just next to the municipal library. In the Firecloud Vs. Firecloud match, I lost 6-1, 6-1. I'm starting to think I'm over matched. I had better luck in the library, where they sell surplus books by the pound (four pounds, four dollars).
After tennis, we drove to the Canyons of the Ancients, a large area with over 10,000 Indian ruins. We hiked a 3-mile loop at the Hovenweep National Monument around the rim of a canyon with numerous ruins. Hovenweep is a Ute word meaning 'deserted valley'.
These dwellings were deserted in 1276 AD, about the same time as those in Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Bandlier and all the other ancient ruins we have visited in this four-state area. It's a dark mystery. Perhaps some kind of mass hallucination was the cause. Maybe some unknown but very dangerous creatures awaken from a long hibernation every few thousand years and slaughter villagers indiscriminately. Maybe it was climate change or UFOs.
The square towers are unusual. The have small windows, allowing sunlight in on the solstices and equinoxes.
We're heading to Monument Valley in the middle of the huge Navajo Reservation. That's the place with all the weird spires where they used to make cowboy movies. 'Forrest Gump' stopped running there on highway 163. Easy Rider had a few scenes from the valley early in the movie. Clark Griswald's station wagon fell apart here in National Lampoon's Family Vacation. Robert Blake played an Arizona motorcycle cop here in the movie Electra glide in Blue. We'll camp at Goulding's Trading Post in the Reservation and hope for some good pix.
The Meaning of Home
Goulding's Trading Post
Monument Valley, Utah
This is Susie. Susie is 91 years old. She is a Navajo. Susie never went to school and speaks no English. Here Susie is washing some wool from her herd of sheep. After the wool is washed, combed and rolled into twine, it then has to be dyed, using native plants. Then Susie will spend seven months making a 2'x5' rug from the dyed wool. Susie has 42 grandchildren who take turns coming out to help her with her herd and bring her water and other supplies.
Susie lives in a hogan made of cypress logs and red mud. She doesn't have electricity or running water. The hogan has a doorway, facing east, and a square hole in the roof for light and for the chimney of her wood-burning stove. In the picture above, Susie is partly in sunlight from the roof opening.
Tom brought us here. Tom is about my age. As he talks, we learn that Tom is one of Susie's sons. Tom has spent his entire life in this valley. Tom has five brothers and a sister. He grew up in a hogan like this and went out every morning to herd sheep. Tom probably has no difficulty with the concept of 'home'.
In a flippant mood, I tell people that home is where my wheels are. We've been driving around for 2 1/2 years with no fixed address.
When I think of home and what it means, I have to separate past home, present home and future home. I was born in Ithaca, New York. When I go back there, I feel that I've gone home. Cayuga lake is 55 degrees F in July. When you plunge into the lake the cold water in your nose will tell you you've arrived home like an ageing salmon returned to spawn.
Mrs. Phred and I have been married 42 years (there's that number again). We've lived in a number of homes. The longest stretch was in a home in Tampa where we watched our son grow up. It was a friendly place and the neighbors often gathered for evening porch parties and shared wine and appetizers. The little kid next door liked me and brought me copies of his all his new Captain Underpants books. I made copies of his favorite music on my computer for his friends. He helped me to bottle wine.
Right here and now, in the present, home really is where my wheels are. Mrs. Phred is here. When we wake up we have to always remind each other where we are today.
There is one spire here where they took a helicopter and put Ray Charles and a piano on the top. The spire is called the 'Totem Pole'. It has a diameter of 75 feet at the top.
If you come to Monument Valley, book a tour with a Navajo. You get into the Navajo Tribal park and see things and places you couldn't see on your own. It's hard to stop taking pictures.
Monument Valley
Navajo Reservation Tribal Park, Arizona
We decided to go back to Monument Valley. It would have been great to catch a rainbow or impressive sunset behind the monuments, but it was not meant to be.
This rock is called "Mexican Hat". It appears to be well balanced.
Mrs. Phred is standing on John Ford Point. This is an outcropping with a panoramic view where John set up his cameras to film John Wayne in Stagecoach.
We had dinner at the trading post. The red wine was non-alcoholic since no intoxicating beverages are allowed on Navajo land. I had a green chili and pork stew with traditional Navajo bread. Mrs. Phred got a strange pepper with her meal. It was sweet on the tip and got hotter toward the stem. They played soft flute music though the meal as the sun went down.
The Creatures Who Throw People Down Cliffs
Lake Powell
Page, Arizona
Lake Powell is a huge lake created on the Colorado River by the Powell dam. It is about 100 miles long and winds though spectacular desert sandstone canyons.
The red sandstone rock here crumbles in your fingers. The softness allows the wind and rain to carve mysterious shapes.
Just to our south is the town of Page, Arizona. Page has tennis courts. We will get in a couple of sets this morning before meeting our Navajo guide to go into Antelope Canyon.
20 miles downstream is Lee's Ferry, considered to be the beginning of the Grand Canyon. The raft trips there last from three days to two weeks. They tend to be booked up a year in advance.
This land was confiscated from the surrounding Navajo Reservation when the Federal Government decided that a dam and lake would be a good idea. Apparently, these treaties can be unilaterally renegotiated. In the Navajo Nation, walking near the edge of cliffs is taught as a taboo so that the creatures who throw people down the cliffs won't grab you.
