Western Trip 2020, Oct. 1-2

 October 1-2

So, this post is not only late coming, but it covers about two and a half days.  We couldn't post anything until now because there is absolutely no signal here to use the Wifi except through Goulding's (the name of the campground and lodge here), and their signal was not strong enough to upload anything.  We even had trouble getting text messages out.  This is our view of Monument Valley looking past the front of the RV right after we set up yesterday on September 30. 

 

This is definitely not a state park; it is owned and operated by the Navajo.  The sites are so close together that the slides and awnings almost overlap each other.  The site to our left in the picture above was so narrow that three different RVs tried to get into it and could not.  Finally, a fourth one tried later in the evening, and it's slide was over top of our picnic table.  You can see in the picture below that our slide on the right is almost touching our neighbors picnic table.  All the sites were like this it seemed.  But the views around us were spectacular! 

Today, October 1st,  is a day of rest again, but we did take a walk around the park.

You can see the enormity of the red walls by noticing how small Paul looks compared to them. 

If we walk down about three RV sites we can see this view of Monument Valley better. 

It was a very peaceful day here at Goulding's RV Park even with all the RVs coming and going. 

The photos below were taken as we left out on Friday, October 2, heading to Lyman Lake State Park in St. Johns, Arizona.  In these first few pictures we were still in Utah, but just a few miles down the road we entered Arizona, where the entrance to the Navajo Nation's Monument Valley Park is located.  We drove as far as we could to get pictures of the sun rise above some of the more prominent monuments.  Then, there was a barricade so no one could enter the park.  We had hoped it would be open by the time we got here, but it was still closed due to Covid.  We've been here a couple of times, and the last time we were here, we hired a Navajo driver and his pickup truck to take us down into the valley.  That was quite an experience that we'll never forget. 

The Great Seal of the Navajo Nation.

The drive to Lyman Lake State Park was beautiful as well.

A sheep dog watching out for his sheep.

Long, long roads again.

And it goes on and on.

Paul made a stop to check the map because our GPS showed that we would get to Lyman Lake a couple of hours before check-in time.  So, we decided to take a slightly longer route that would take us through the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert.  We've been through here several times, too, so we knew it would be well worth our time and extra driving to see it again.

According the Geology.com, "petrified wood is a fossil.  It forms when plant material is buried by sediment and protected from decay due to oxygen and organisms.  Then, groundwater rich in dissolved solids flows through the sediment, replacing the original plant material with silica, calcite, pyrite, or another inorganic material such as opal."  It looks like someone has cut up logs for firewood and just left them there.  But, no, they are stone.

Close-ups of petrified wood.

Once through the Petrified Forest, there were more long roads of mostly wide open prairie.  We went through the little town of St. Johns on our way to our park and stopped to eat at a little diner called, Veterans' BBQ, a very small and quaint diner that honored service men from all branches of the military. 

Lyman Lake State park is located in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.  Since this area is part of the Apache Nation we still don't have any type of wifi signal, not even to text.  Evidently, the Navajo and Apache Nations do not allow cell towers on their land except for what is owned or operated by them.  That's our guess anyway since we haven't had signal in either of these place.  It is beautiful here!

This is our last night on the road for now.  We have about a six hour drive tomorrow from here to Tim's house in Tucson, AZ.  God bless.