2000-10-03 - 22:54:48

We awoke early and headed out, driving west ot California and pausing for a brief first stop in Prewitt, New Mexico where Moxie had spent tome in the summer of her youth. From Grants through Gallup NM as we drank in the surrounding countryside on the edge of the Navajo Rreservation, we recieved a solemn education on the second class treatment of the Navajos. The hogans, the trailors, and the tourist billboars told a story of poverty and cultural repression we had not experienced before. Still, we drove on.

In Gallup we stopped for lunch and marveled at the artistry of native jewelry in local shops, and then the spirit of mardi gras descended upon us at a store that sold only beads and we went bead-crazy, buying string after string of gems and beads for future jewelry making of our own.

After Gallup we stopped again at the petrified Forrest National Park, wehere we saw the magnificent paintd desert and an endless sea of dismembered trees truned to stone. It seemed a strange and beautiful cemeterry of sorts. By nightfall we had arrived at the grand canyon, where we camped for the night. Stella, who was an accomplished camper, instructed Moxie, the camping virgin, int he ways of camping. We built a fire, roasted hot dogs over open flames, drank beer and more of the Jack bought in Abilene, and looked at the stars. We pitched a tent too and survived a rainstorm in it.