The Four Corners Days 1 - 3

We left Sunday for the first of our longer road trips to what is called The Four Corners, the area where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado all meet. The area is an archaeologist’s dream, with so many historic sites that have been, and continue to be, excavated. The geology of the area is also fascinating, dominated entirely by the Colorado Plateau.

We began the journey with a drive to Durango, Colorado, mostly along highway 64 west (NM), which is a stunning drive. The terrain is ever-changing, from forested ranch land, to canyons to mesas. The space is vast and somewhat desolate. We passed maybe 10 cars in 250 miles. You drive and drive and see no signs of civilization and you begin to feel that you have entered another world, one that reaches way into a past and has no connection to the modern, high-tech world. The adobe structures that we had become accustomed to in the Taos/Santa Fe area were suddenly gone as this area is less influenced by Mexican, Hispanic cultures.

We drove into Apache Land, and had a picnic lunch in the Jicarilla Apache Nation, outside their casino in a roadside park. Plaques there informed us that the native people in this area came south from western Canada. After lunch, we drove north from Bloomfield to the Aztec National Monument (www.nps.gov/azru), the ruins of a native community from 800 to 1000 years ago, first uncovered in 1859. Basically, it is the stone walls of the Great Kiva and its surrounding rooms, many of which are accessed through tiny doorways, that remain and which have been somewhat reconstructed.

Durango is a neat mountain town in southern Colorado which, like Taos, has a real hippie and western-vibe. Regretfully, we will not be here for the Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering that begins October 4th. The special guest is Ian Tyson, a Canadian “legend.” We rode the Durango-Silverton narrow-gauge railway, (www.durangotrain.com) which runs on a 36 inch wide track, through the San Juan mountains, which I suppose are the foothills of the Rockies. It was really neat. At some points, the tiny train seems to literally be hanging over a precipice that tumbles down through massive rocks to rapids in the San Juan River. I chatted with a father and son from Texas who had no idea about Canada. The father admitted as much, saying I didn’t need to bother telling him where I was from as he knew nothing about “up there.” The son asked if I did ice sculptures, or if I did dog-sledding. Oh my god! Really? They were sweet though. They had heard of the Montreal Expos, but didn’t seem to realize that the team had been sold to Washington at least a decade ago. Finally, I had a hard time convincing them that I had never been to Alaska. At one point, the train passes through narrow canyons where key scenes of the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were filmed. The bridge that one of them jumped off of, only to land in a river in California, is still standing.

One of my highlights was watching an Italian couple who reminded me of us when we were in Italy earlier this year. When you’re in a strange country you are somewhat shy and reserved. Well, here in Colorado, as elsewhere in North America, people respond to trains in an almost visceral way. Everyone waves. It is like the sight of that old steam train just cheers people up. So people inside the train wave back. It was fun watching the Italian man make his first wave. When we were in Italy people were so official and serious. I can’t imagine anyone waving at trains. I simply cannot! When the woman saw that her man was starting to wave, she tentatively joined in. By the end of the ride, they were the biggest wavers. It was like they had been set free. They waved and waved, at hobos on a bridge, hikers, everyone, even a deer. It reminded me of when I was a kid, playing at Piggery Park, and we would wave at the trains chugging past until our arms were sore.

Americans are very fun-loving and friendly people; there is no doubt about that. People open up and engage you in conversation in a way that never happens in Europe and happens only occasionally in Canada. The conductor on the train kept weaving jokes into all his announcements. It takes some getting used to and I can never decide if I like it or not. I think, on the whole, I do because there is a warmth to it and you can take it or leave it if you choose. I guess I prefer it to what we experienced in Europe, where there is little communication amongst strangers and the tone was always super serious. I really feel Canadians fall somewhere between the two.

Off to Mesa Verde tomorrow.

(I am posting lots of pictures of the trip on Facebook. I tried putting a link from here to there but it didn’t work. I hope you can find them on FB if you are interested.)