Tuesday, November 1st: We drive to Canyon de Chelly National Park

Canyon de Chelly was only about a 2 hour drive, so we were not in a great hurry to get going early. In fact, we did not leave Cadillac until around 12 noon. We stopped at the 1 small grocery store and gas station in town to buy something for lunch before we left. They had a 2 for 1 special on hamburgers, but when I ordered it, she said that it would take ½ hour to prepare! (I guess that’s what it was like before McDonalds) So we ordered a couple of sub sandwiches instead.
We drove a few miles down the road to our 1^st turn off where we found a large area beside the road to pull off and eat our sandwiches. The drive was uneventful as we drove the back roads of southern UT and northern AZ, watched the beautiful desert scenery of large open spaces and mesas, and looked at the scattered Navajo farms and ranches. We needed propane, so we stopped at a store in a place called Many Farms. We were still on the Navajo reservation, so we were the only “white men” around. I paid inside and carried my propane tank over to the large propane tank, where another Navajo fellow was having a very tall tank filled. This guy was a little wiry guy who was getting on in years and had a Fu Man Chu looking beard. I asked him how much his tank weighed when it was full and he said about 100 lbs. I asked him if he could lift it into his truck and he said, “Sure” and flexed his arm muscles to show me his verility. However, when it came time to put the tank into his pickup, I noticed him struggling, with the tank partially on the truck tailgate and not moving any further. I walked over and gave him a hand and we both got the tank into the truck. The Navajo guy pumping the propane told me that he was a civil engineer surveyor, but couldn’t find work, so he had to do this. I just told him that there were a lot of people in the same situation, but that was probably of little consolation.
We pulled into Chinle, the town where Canyon de Chelly is located. We were excited to see a Burger King as we hadn’t seen one since we left Cortez. It was only about 3:30 P.M., so the visitor’s center was open. Jan had her passport stamped, we got a pamphlet, and then headed to the campground. The campground was in a grove of cottonwood trees, had paved roads, restrooms with flush toilets, and a dump station, but best of all, it was free! When we pulled into our spot, we noticed the same Montana 5^th wheel that was next to us at Goosenecks! It’s a small world. This time when I saw the couple that owned the rig, I remarked on what a coincidence it was that once again, we were neighbors. They introduced themselves as Steve & Dianne from British Colombia and invited us over for cocktails after we got our rig set up. We did go over there and another couple from Canada joined us.  Steve & Diane had been full timing since June 2010, exactly 1 year longer than us. They said that they’d been planning to do this for 20 years and love it. The sun went down & it got chilly, so we all retired to our respective trailers.