We had an uncharacteristically early start thanks to the bright sun and my need to get up and relieve myself. The view from the back doors was beautiful yet again so I was straight back in bed. Dan commanded me to lie in bed while he made breakfast. He already knew I’d be hungover from the bottle of wine I’d pretty much had to myself last night and he wasn’t wrong.
The pancakes, eggs and bacon were the perfect cure. Followed by an easy game of cards in which I won, I was ready to face the day. Colorado then! After a look at the Atlas, we hit the road.
I drove us out of the forest and we were heading north on Highway 89, a road well travelled for the both of us. After hitting Cameron’s Trading Post, the place where the Astro started coughing when I ran to Phoenix. I took it as a good omen that she was running fine so far. This was the first time I was really stretching her legs after replacing the fuel pump for the second time so I felt hopeful. Dan stayed always in my rear view mirror as we turned east through the Navajo Nation in north east Arizona. I listened to a few podcasts as I drove, catching up on NPR politics, BBC’s F1 and Startalk. By the time I was done with them I was out of service so I resorted to music. I learnt later that Dan behind me was also out of service and there was no radio stations to be had so he was stuck in silence.
Just before Tuba City, we were climbing a short hill and my “Service Engine Soon” light came on. Nooooooo!!! No running issues though, not a single cough. I nervously drove on until we got to Tuba City where I pulled in at a servo to use the bathroom and read my codes. I only had FIVE! Code 32, 33, 35, 42 and 44. If I did the recommended action in the Haynes manual for each, I would replace the EGR valve, MAP sensor, IAC valve, Ignition Control Module and Oxygen Sensor. Hmmm, something is obviously wrong with the electrical system? Having just put the car back together, I was in no mood, so I went to the bathroom, filled up with water then came back to the car. When I started it up again, there were no codes. Stay tuned…
We filled up with petrol and carried on in the north east direction. I was happy to get past Kayenta and back into new territory. Every time I’d passed this way before, I’d driven through Monument Valley, but this time we were heading for Four Corners, the place where Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico meet at a point. The rock formations were pretty and it was nice to be surrounded by green fields instead of yellow.
I was thankful to see the Four Corners, it felt like we’d been driving for hours (it had probably been only two) and I was keen for a food break. On my map, the Four Corners was labelled as a Monument so I hoped my annual parks pass would get us in, but the entrance made it obvious it was a Navajo Nation operated park which meant a fee. I wasn’t willing to pay since they’d likely be flogging art and jewellery and everyone would just be getting photos of having an arm and a leg in each state at one time. Instead, we parked outside the entrance and watched people driving in and our as I made us a salad. It was just what we felt like since it was so hot out. We’d descended from the altitude of Flagstaff and didn’t expect to get any relief until we were well into Colorado. We sat in the shade of Dan’s van as we ate.
Ready to get going again, Dan was excited to get into Cortez to buy some weed since it is legal for recreational use in that state. We drove only a few miles down the road when we crossed the San Juan River. I slowed down, seeing if there was a way to get down to it since we were desperate for a dip. One u-turn later, we drove down a dirt road and parked it right by the river. We walked back towards the bridge and underneath it, we got into the water. Cleo beat us to it, her fear of water obviously diminished by the heat, she was straight in to cool down. It was so refreshingly cold it stung but we loved it.
The current was strong, but the river was only waist deep at maximum so we both managed to struggle over to the pillar in the middle of the bridge and find some calm water in an eddy that had formed behind the big concrete pilon. We had the place to ourselves apart from the noise of cars and trucks going over the bridge. Cleo happily jumped around in the bushes as we stayed in the water. It was a nice change to be in fresh water having been swimming daily in salt water, then chlorine.
Before getting back to the bank, we fought the current to get to the pile of forest debris that was lodged in front of the pillar. There was a decent-sized branch sticking out from the pile so we grabbed on and let our bodies get pulled by the current. It was bloody hard to hold on, but it felt amazing to have all that fresh water rushing over our bodies. Easiest shower ever! We laughed uncontrollably as our bodies were pulled by the current until we finally let go and got our footing in the rocks. Dan managed to get back over to the bank but I struggled with the rocks hurting my baby feet. Instead of struggling across, Dan walked down the bank to where his car was parked and I let myself float down to him. The current petered off almost immediately and it was easy to get to the bank here.
Dan wanted to do the same float down the river, so we went back to the bridge and I watched as he and Cleo went for a float down the river. A family came to enjoy the water under the bridge just as I gathered our things and walked back to our cars. I assured them the water was nice and cold. We didn’t stay much longer since we discovered terrible mozzies among the trees where our cars were parked. Without drying off, we got back in our machines and got back onto the highway.
We were in Colorado now and the drive into Cortez was pretty. The sky was lit up with the first clouds we’d seen in weeks, a nice change from what we’d gotten used to in Phoenix. This was another section of road I’d done before with Jon, but the landscape seemed entirely different thanks to the heat and sunny weather. Half an hour late, we came into town. I let Dan take over navigation at this point because he was keen to find a dispensary. We stopped at LivWell, a small shop in a busy carpark. We walked in and showed our IDs in the lobby. You have to be 21 to even enter a dispensary and this one was behind a closed door. My Aussie license wasn’t good enough so I sat in the lobby while Dan disappeared behind the door. The place reeked of weed, but in a good way. In the five minutes I sat outside, probably a dozen people came and went – it was a raging business. Dan came out with a small bag in his hand and a huge smile on his face. He’d bought himself a ¼ ounce for $40 and a pipe for $8 thanks to the July 4th specials.
Next, we went around the corner to Walmart to stock up. Dan couldn’t contain himself, he had to have a puff of his new weed before we went in. He was just so excited! Walmart didn’t have a water container to replace my broken one, but I stocked up on groceries anyway, almost enough to fill all my milk crates. It was 6:30pm by the time we were done so we had a freecampsites.net meeting in Dan’s van while I munched on an apple. I was keen for a camp because I felt like we’d done a lot of driving and Dan was happy with that. We drove only eight miles out of town to a National Forest road.
The road had a number of campsites off it, but they were all small and not very flat. Site 7 however was just the ticket. We had a great view of the peaks of Mesa Verde behind us and were a good distance away from the road. Even had a big fire ring with plenty of firewood to sustain us for the night. As soon as we’d parked up, Dan got out the Frisbee he’d bought at Walmart. Disc gold had reminded him it was a favourite past time while at camp or hanging out in a park and so he’d picked one up. This disc was much easier to manage than the ones we’d been throwing in Flag.
We threw back and forth, beers in hand, with music going from the roof of my car. A few people drove past us, some even driving part way into our camp before realising it was occupied. I had a feeling we had the pick of the lot. Excited about all the new food stocks, I got started on a dinner of sausage curry with rice. I realised as I got it going that it was the first time I’d cooked out of my van in over a month! It felt good to be home again. Dan helped with the cooking and half an hour later, just as the sun was setting, we had a hot sausage curry in our hands.
We put our chairs out in the field to watch the setting sun. Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect, it was a beautiful orange sunset bordered by the black silhouettes of trees.
Dinner finished and the sun gone, Dan got a fire going just as the air started to cool off a little. We kept the music going as we sat by the flames, me catching up on my blogging while Dan enjoyed his weed. It was another perfect night under the stars, especially when we got onto a great Spotify playlist, headed up by Crowded House. It turned out to be some of the best Australian music I liked listening to, which meant Dan got a bit of education. When I finished blogging, I looked up at the sky for only a minute before spotting a bright satellite moving fast across the stars.
When we heard a “Pop! Pop-pop! Pop-pop!” in the distance, we got up and moved away from the fire to investigate. Cleo was out of the car, scared of the noises she was hearing and rightly so because they were firework noises! She retreated back into the car once she saw that we were ok and we watched the distance bursts of coloured light over the town of Cortez. It was a nice end to the day. Happy Independence America! How many years is it anyway?
Dan was falling asleep by the fire a short time later so we called it and packed into his van for another night with the doors open, the bright moon shining in.
