View the Gallery >> January was the month chosen for my my first cross country drive of the year. The focus was on traveling throughout the Southwest and visiting Indian ruins. This is something I've wanted to do ever since my first Southwest tour got cancelled because of a trip to Russia. This drive was by far the best yet, although it started out a little rocky. Four hours into the trip, I get my ride stuck on the side of a dirt rode in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately some government employees doing some useless government work came by and actually did something productive. It was a good reminder to me that no matter how hard I push my car, it’s still not four wheel drive. This knowledge came in very handy when I was traveling around the Navajo Nation on some pretty bad roads. Although instead of thinking I had a 4x4, I went into rally car mode and started sliding the back end out around all the turns on the dirt roads. If it's not one thing it's another. Locations: Death Valley, CA Grand Canyon, AZ Wapataki, AZ Navajo National Monument, AZ Monument Valley, UT Navajo Nation Canyon De Chelly Hoovenweep, CO Lowry Puebolo, CO Mesa Verde, CO Chaco Canyon, NM Great Sand Dunes, CO Breckenridge, CO Denver to DC Page One:Death Valley, CA -->> Navajo Nation Page Two: Canyon De Chelly - Washington DC Death Valley, CA Death Valley is amazing, but only if you enjoy that desert solitude, expansive, nothingness type of amazing. If you don’t dig on that, then it’s probably just big, hot and dry. I fall into the former category so I didn’t want to leave. Especially after being stuck up in the cold in Bishop for a few months. It was nice to enjoy the sunset wearing a T-shirt. There were old mines and tunnels and lots of good places to explore that you weren’t supposed to go. I met this one guy who told me about this really extensive mining camp that’s not on the map. Presumably cause it’s dangerous or the trail isn’t marked. Both of which made me want to investigate more. Soon I’m trying to find a shortcut, hauling myself up the side of this steep mountain side. Eventually, as the sun is setting and my hunger pains kick in, I realize I’m not going to find it. So I race back down to try to catch the sunset from out of the canyon. Another area was called ‘Badwater.’ This was where the salt flats were located. I wandered around in this extensive flat empty nothingness for hours. It was great, you could just walk and walk and walk and walk and nothing changed. The mountains were still far away on each side, the white salt ground still encircled me equally on all sides, and there was not a thing around. Except for that clown who wasn't thinking when he dressed in black to walk around the desert. Pic 1          Pic 2          Pic 3          Pic 4          Hoover Dam This place was packed. So I didn’t hang out here too long. Besides I have bad memories with this place anyway. A few years ago, I camped out a few miles south of the dam and in the morning my car got stuck. (That car wasn’t four wheel drive either.) So I’m out in the middle of nowhere again and I have start walking. But first I make a series of signs that said, Stop Ahead, Car Stuck Up on Right, Please Help, Next Right, Stop Here. It’s nice having unlimited art supplies wherever you go. After a brief wait, a guy sees my signage and comes to help. He doesn’t drive up to my car because of the sign on the side of the dirt road that says, ‘four wheel drive cars only.’ He asks if I fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down. His help involves driving me to the police station head quarters on the other side of the dam. Thanks pal, just where I want to spend the day. So I'm hanging out with cops all day trying to find a towing company that has a permit for their truck to pass over the dam. There are way too many permits to obtain in America. I spent the entire day there dealing with this nonsense, by the time I had everything situated, I wanted nothing to do with that damn dam. Grand Canyon, AZ This was my first trip to the Grand Canyon. I arrived late at night and just camped outside the park in the Kaibob Forest. I figure the first view of the canyon should be at sunrise. Apparently half the country also felt the same way. It was such a surprise to see hundreds of people bunched up by the railing waiting for that elusive perfect Canyon sunrise shot that a million people have taken a million times before. Everywhere you walk there are signs saying “DON’T HIKE TO THE RIVER IN A DAY. YOU WILL DIE AND ROT IN THE SUN.” Well, it didn't say 'rot,' but it did say be prepared for the following: Brain Damage, Cardiac Arrest, and Death. I'm not sure what the signmakers were thinking, but these signs made me just want to try it right away. Since I am getting to be an adult now, I figured I should be semi-responsible though. So the first day I hiked halfway down to the river to see if it was doable. Just as I thought, it was fine. I did my sketch, and headed back up. The next day I get up early and start my hike. It was brutally cold in the morning, but as the day wore on, I started taking off my hat, gloves, coat, shirt, pants, shoes, boxers. Till I was running down the trail naked. Soon other people joined in. Eventually there were about twenty to thirty people all hopping naked down the trail. Once at the bottom, we all jumped in the river. Then out of nowhere an Orca whale started rushing the beach and devouring people like they were baby seals. I quickly got dressed and tossed the remaining people safely back to the top of the canyon. Of course none of this happened, but it’s my website and whose going to read all this nonsense anyway. The entire site could be just made up for all you know. Pic 1          Pic 2          Pic 3          Pic 4          Wapataki NM, AZ These were the first ruins I visited. They were located out in the middle of this expansive desolate desert. It was really beautiful and very empty. For the most part many of the ruins I visited were from the time period between 800 – 1200 AD. I visited the ruins and took my pictures, but then wandered off to try and get lost in the desert. There were no whales here, because it was really dry. There was nothing much here really but some old broken buildings, lots of arrowheads, and a cute red head at the information desk. I met a Native American here who told me a story about the Donner Party. He said how his tribe knew the Donner people were in there, but they didn’t offer any help because they were eating each other and the Indians thought that that was a bad sign. So if you’re in trouble and you have to eat your friends, do it in private cause people won’t help you because cannibalism is frowned upon. Pic 1          Pic 2          Pic 3          Pic 4          Navajo NM, AZ The Betatakin cliff dwellings were located here. Like most of the trails to these sacred sites, a tour guide was required. My usual style isn’t to go hiking with a bunch of retired people, but I wanted to see the place so I put up with it. It was good I did because this place was pretty unreal. The guide for the tour was ‘Tommy Rock’ of the Salt Clan. We started talking once the old people started heading back up. I was asking him what he thought about taking all these gawking tourists down to a place that was considered sacred to his people. The Navajo consider these abandoned cities to be sacred. They say it was left for a reason and now it’s merely a resting place for the souls that remain. Tommy was telling me how he sometimes would catch glimpses of something or someone and then turn to look and then they were gone. We talked about things for awhile and he’s telling me that even right now being down there he was getting this weird feeling. A feeling he attributed to being on sacred land. Towards the end of the conversation he ends up saying that he’s never going to do this again. He’s done giving tours and he’s going back to college to study up on Uranium Mining. Sorry Tommy, I hope I didn’t convince you to quit your job. Monument Valley, UT I’m sure you’ve all seen this place in some snazzy fast paced car commercial. It’s basically a flat desert with these towering rock columns, buttes and plateau’s all scattered around. It was pretty unreal, but it’s all Navajo land and they ask that tourists don’t go wandering off the trails and roads because they consider their land sacred. I found this annoying because I chose to follow it. I’m not going to follow some dumb ‘no trespassing’ sign put up by some offical from DC whose never even seen the place, but if it’s your backyard and you like to keep it nice…. I won’t disrespect that. Page One:Death Valley, CA -->> Navajo Nation Page Two: Canyon De Chelly - Washington DC