We had left Sante Fe, New Mexico early morning, driving west. I don’t know why these 2 bikers chose the exact state line limit to stop, under a no parking sign…whichever way cops would come, the bikers could cross the other side under a different jurisdiction?
Each US state have a nickname, here Grand Canyon state of course. Land of Enchantment applies to New Mexico.
the scenery changed quite drastically from flat desert to this mountainous landscape. No wonder people like to drive on this kind of roads for hours. Just after entering Arizona, we took a north road towards Monument Valley. Rocks are getting redder and more dramatic. Once in a while a homestead lied at the foot of a rock crop. Spectacular scenery but a closer look usually revealed some junk in the yard, and derelict houses or trailers.
this area is under Indian jurisdiction. Here people have been given some autonomy after years of claiming their land back. Poverty seems the rule as it is wildly known and things don’t seem to change much over the years, seen from a tourist point of view that is. Poverty and alcohol were the most striking feats I encountered in a previous trip in the area in 1997. I had just got my flying license in Missouri in a shorter time than planned so a lot of free time and spare cash were available, I had bought an old Dodge to cruise around with no specific plans for a while so I had given a few rides to hitch hikers. Curious to meet people and hear stories.
Monument Valley showing on the horizon! Many films have been shot here. The fabulous Claudia Cardinale was here for Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon in the West”, one example out of many…
I had my stories…quite sad in this area. One hiker, quite drunk at 8am explained a legend about the origin of the beautiful turquoise stones. Some Indian women had preferred to die with their children instead of facing awful treatment under the white man’s rules. So they cried a lot while taking the decision, the tears fell down a river and transformed into turquoise. He was surprised that Custer, Wounded Knee, Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull…were not totally unknown names in Europe.
The man also complained heavily that the government had plundered the country, kicked the native people out, prevented them from living their ancestral way of life, even nowadays that Indians in theory could do it again it became an impossible mission…always 2 sides to a story but sure alcohol doesn’t help.
