The Great Southwest

by Larry Lynch

In June and July 1998 my then wife Renee and I took a 5,000-mile car trip (with some camping) to the Southwest. In the narrative to follow, be sure to click each thumbnail image to see a full-screen version.

We did our usual thing of heading over to the Twin Cities and then going forever down I-35 through Minnesota, Iowa, a corner of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and on into Texas, where Renee's mother Rebecca Howerton and grandmother Cora Beckmann live.

My dad and mom had been telling us that we really should stop in Kansas City and see the Steamboat Arabia Museum, which is right on the Missouri River just after you enter KCMO from the north and make the bend west along the north edge of the city (the first jog west, now that I think of it). Realizing we would never hear the end of it from dad if we didn't stop, we dutifully took the exit.

This is one fabulous place, and now we tell everyone passing through KC they simply have to stop to see the treasures of the Steamboat Arabia, which went down in 1856 after being punctured by a log ("snag") sticking up out of the bottom of the river. It sank in a few minutes with a complete load of goods destined for general stores upriver. In 1987-89 the Hawley family located and excavated the wreck and its cargo. The results are on display at the museum as though it were an 1850s Walmart. It is truly unbelievable. To visit the informative Steamboat Arabia Museum website, click here.

 

Here is an example of some of the things that were recovered, nearly all in pristine condition.

We continued on through Oklahoma and Texas to Blanco, in the Texas Hill Country, where Renee's family lives.

While there, I finally located some dinosaur footprints along the Blanco River that I have been looking for for the last dozen years. The Blanco County News asked me to write an article about the tracks, which I managed to do before leaving town and it was published a couple of weeks later. You can read that article if you like.

Dance troupe on the Paseo del Rio

In San Antonio we walked the Paseo del Rio, had dinner at a great Tex-Mex restaurant, and then took up our spots on the bank of the river in anticipation of the show as we watched the boats full of tourists troll by.

The heat stoked up while we were in San Antone, but it was nothing like what we encountered in Fort Stockton, TX, where it hit 115º F whilst we were looking for a place to eat lunch and touring the neat old stage stop.

When we got to Carlsbad it was 118º. The next day we had sense enough to descend into the caverns. We later learned it was 120º outside. Cool as could be underground, however, where it stays at 56º year-round (except down in the bowels of the place in the restaurant where it is a degree or two warmer). We really enjoyed the Caverns, so much that I read Nevada Barr's murder mystery Blind Descent, which takes place in a vast remote area of the caverns called Lechuguilla, when we got back home. We actually found ourselves not wanting to go back to the surface, it was so mysterious and peaceful.

It continued hotter 'n blazes as we made our way up New Mexico, stopping at the hilarious UFO Museum in Roswell, where I swear they were making fun of themselves.

Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe

Late on a Sunday afternoon we got to Santa Fe, which is truly a marvel despite the thick hordes of tourists and the intense campaign to part visitors with their hard-earned cash. We have to tell you not to go there on a Monday, however. Everything (just about) is closed on Monday in Santa Fe and maybe everywhere in New Mexico. We still had fun wandering about and eating in the La Fonda Hotel.

We visited Taos next and ate in the Lemon Tree Restaurnant, where we sat outside and enjoyed some very exotic New Mexican cuisine. The high point was traveling north of the city to Taos Pueblo, where we took a tour conducted by a native youth and worked our way through all the crafts shops, buying some bread and a native drum.

The next day we toured Bandelier National Monument and passed several pueblos. We stopped at Santa Clara Pueblo, which was rather quiet and deserted, but we found it interesting nevertheless.

 

For some reason, I was concerned about our being able to get ourselves to Chaco Culture National Historic Park. We had been advised not to miss this place, even though it is a bit daunting to reach. You have to bump over 18 miles of unpaved roads that are reportedly impassible when wet. Naturally, we were eyeing the rain clouds with a rather jaundiced eye. But it didn't rain and it was well worth the trip.

Fajada Butte at Chaco Canyon

We then hightailed it up into Colorado, to Durango. I timed it so I was listening to a Tony Hillerman mystery in the Jim Chee series. It was fun to be seeing the scenery he was descibing. After a brief stop in Durango for some ice cream and a walking-driving tour of town, we turned west toward Mesa Verde National Park.

That was a particularly beautiful drive, past mountains with alpine meadows and grazing cattle. As with Chaco, this was a camping stop. We went first to the far-afield Wetherill Mesa sites off to the southwest and really enjoyed Long House. Then we made our way back to the Far View Visitor Center for the circuit to Chapin Mesa, where we saw the famous Cliff Palace ruins. Visitors climb all over the place to get to these sites, which makes it all the more rewarding.

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park

Then we were off to Cortez, Colorado, the Four Corners (where we could see mysterious Shiprock on the far horizon, so prominent in the Hillerman novel I was listening to), and at last to the famous Canyon de Chelly in northwestern Arizona. Here we were completing our visit to Anasazi ruins which began with Bandelier and continued with Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde.

We were totally exhausted by this time, having been on the road almost two weeks already. This was the 3rd of July and we scheduled so tightly that we intended to be in Moab, Utah, the following afternoon for the fireworks. We were going to camp but instead collapsed in a nearby motel room at the Thunderbird Motel. Somewhat refreshed, we set off on the South Rim drive since that features the only place one can descend into the canyon without a guide. It was overcast and threatening, but we still had good views down into the magnificent red rock canyon. At White House overlook, we started our trek down to the canyon floor. Not far along it started to sprinkle and the wind picked up, blowing sand into Renee's eyes, from which it took her awhile to recover.

But recover she did and we continued on down to the bottom, with it raining ever harder. Shades of flash floods now ran through our brains (and we were later told that this was the first rain they had had all year! And we picked that very day. Go figure.). The ruin was in a spectacular setting, tho, as you can see by the picture at above left. There were petroglyphs all over the face of the cliff as well.

Next day it was off to Monument Valley in northern Arizona on the way to Utah.We were definitely deep in red rock country. After a nice breakfast stop in Kayenta we headed north. As we approached Monument Valley I suddenly let out a whoop as I recognized off to the right of the highway the very rock spire on the cover of the book I had with me, Bluefeather Fellini. Sure enough, there it was in all its glory. When we got to the visitor's center we learned that it was one of the "Mittens," the Left one to be exact (I think...).

Monument Valley, Arizona, showing the Mittens at left and center.

From there we slogged on into Utah through some ruggedly scenic land, wishing we could veer off to Bryce Canyon, Zion, Capitol Reef, but had to leave that for another day. We passed the odd balanced rock at Mexican Hat and reached Moab more or less on time in the afternoon of July 4th.

We still had time that afternoon, as planned, to tour Arches National Park. The lighting was the most beautiful I've ever seen anywhere that day and I even had the good fortune to have Fuji Velvia slide film in my camera, so I had a field day. This is Balanced Rock, right next to where Edward Abbey had his trailer when he was a park ranger here. You can see the moon shining to its right.

We managed to see several arches, including a distant view of the famous Delicate Arch. It is indeed beautiful country.

 

All photographs and text on this site are copyright © by Larry Lynch 1998-99.

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