This jaunty Baja Super Beetle greeted us on a corner in Cottonwood, which it turns out is the Southern terminus of the Sedona weirdness.
Tuzigoot National Monument wasn't on our radar until we saw it on a map of hikes around Dead Horse Ranch State Park, where we'd camped the night before. It was well worth it. The ruins themselves have been partially reconstructed, which is slightly lame, but the artifacts are incredible. I thought these stick figures were toys, but it turns out they were probably totems.
Two intriguing facts about that ochre bowl: it was likely made by an adult but the figures were painted by a younger person, and the figures (there's a fourth one you can't see) are macaws.
Pre-Columbian natives of the Southwest established trade routes with the Aztec empire to the South, and there is indisputable evidence that some of that trade consisted in live scarlet and military macaws in all four Four Corners states: Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado*. Triple-exclamation point fascinating.
We chatted with a nice couple and their '78 in a grocery store parking lot. They've been living in it for several months. Hey guys! If you see this, get your name on this list.
Melissa and I had a nice long discussion after talking with them, basically renewing our vows to Ludwig. At least that's how I took it.
Good ol' Ludwig, still pushing us along, every day.
Kavalierly kruising the konfines of Kokonino Kounty (the Kountry's 2nd-largest), klimbing hills and koasting past kliffs.
Still climbing, into Flagstaff.
And then past Flagstaff. After this it was down, though not much, to the South Rim, where we camped for the night.
miles 40157.1-40312.8
*The article at the cite doesn't mention Colorado or military macaws, but the materials at Hovenweep indicated that there were macaws in Colorado as well. Displays at a few sites we visited, including Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle, mentioned military macaws in addition to scarlet macaws.
No comments:
Post a Comment