Through the Window to the Land of the Empty Mind

After lunch, I drove to the nearby Navajo Tribal Park to inspect the actual "Window Rock" that the town is named after. The formation is located in a natural amphitheater. It's easy to see why the tribal capital was placed here. It was obviously the focus of ceremonial activity over the centuries.

Then I drove back west, away from the state line. I spent a half hour at the historic Hubbel Trading Post National Historic Site. I always stop at such places. As I drive into the parking lot, I joke to myself whether there will another big telescope here.

But the joke is on me. In the visitor center I learn that the Hubbel who ran the trading post is from the same family as the famous scientist after whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named.

Inside the trading post is an actual store, run by Indians, selling modern goods, such as snacks and crafts. I buy some Navajo tea as a gift for my parents, since I'm going to see them in a few weeks. I always save gift buying until late in the trip, since I don't want things to break or spoil, or simply take up space for months on end.

West of there I gas up at a convenience store. I go inside to buy a bottle of protein drink to mix with the powdered vitamin supplements that I take. There are no such drinks in the refrigerator case. The shelves are half empty. It's not as bad as the place I saw in the Omaha Indian Reservation in Nebraska, where the shelves were more bare than full, but there are still plenty of empty spaces for goods that aren't stocked. I can't help compare it unfavorably to the general store at the historic site.

In the late afternoon, I reach my main destination for the day---the Canyon de Chelly National Monument. I drive along the rim road along the south side of the canyon, stopping for several views, including the most prominent one at Spider Rock.

It's a nice view, although it can't compare to the Grand Canyon. One could compare it to the innermost gorge of the Grand Canyon---the gorge within a canyon within a canyon.

I had thought about doing some hiking there, but it turns out that since this on Indian land, and considered sacred, that there is no hiking permitted except on organized tours. This is partly to protect the ruins of the Anasazi, the ancient cliff dwellers who had abandoned the site even before the Navajo arrived.

I also consider camping at the private Navajo campground on the canyon rim, since it is the weekend and I don't need the Wi-Fi until Monday, but it the sun is still high in the sky and I am not ready to call it a day.

Besides the campground looks unappealing. Moreover there is a huge bank of storm clouds off to the west. There is a Best Western and a Holiday Inn the town nearby, but I decide to drive onward to take advantage of the extended daylight of Spring.

About a half hour north on the main U.S. highway, a smaller road cuts off to the west, through the mesa country. I follow it. The afternoon sun is golden on the red rock formations on the open range. It is Good Road like I have not had in a while. The only interruption is a heard of cattle that decide to cross in front of me, forcing me to wait for a couple minutes until they are done.

My mind is emptied with each passing mile. That feeling I had when I first came to Arizona a month before, the beautiful high of newness and pristine adventure, is long gone. Like I said, I didn't expect it to last. It never does.

Instead I simply feel a peaceful calm of perfect equilibrium, with no thoughts of the future or the past.  Troubles of all kind seem a million miles away. Maybe this is the real goal of travel, this kind of mind balance.