Day Twenty Two

Had to say goodbye to the perfect cabin this morning, which wasn't easy. We could have easily stayed for another couple of years.

As if to say thank you, a couple of deer turned up to wave us off.

Oh dear, Oh dear

We headed back down to the town to fuel up and then we set off. It seemed to take an age to cover the first sixty or so miles due to traffic and road works, but eventually we started moving.

We travelled all the way to the edge of Colorado, in fact the edge of New Mexico, the edge of Utah and the edge of Arizona as well.

It was the Four Corners monument where the four states all convene. There is nothing there other than the monument and a few stalls selling tat. We stopped and had a look.

Monumental

We then sat in the car and ate our packed lunch we had prepared with our leftovers from the cabin.

We soon set sail again and only stopped once more very briefly before we reached our destination.

That stop was to use the facilities at a Burger King in Chinle. The plan was to walk in, use the toilets and walk out again as we didn't want to buy anything. As we parked up, Ann noticed some suspicious characters lurking about not far from the car park, for example, someone lying asleep in a doorway but also others more active. We thought about moving on as we had all the stuff in the car, but knew how unlikely we were to see another place to stop for another fifty odd miles.

We decided to be quick. The first part was fine, but as we left, some bloke wandered over to us and introduced himself. He was called Carlos. We didn't care. We ignored him and walked to the car. A quick glance over my shoulder showed that he was following us across the car park. We got in the car, locked the doors, started the engine and put it in reverse in about one second. He appeared by my door and started to talk, as I floored the accelerator and shot back, put in drive and burnt off.

He probably was harmless, just begging or something, but it being America where everybody is seemingly mental, we took no chances.

We carried on and eventually made it to our destination of Winslow, Arizona. We are staying here http://www.laposada.org/ . It is a hotel that was built in 1929, closed in 1957, gutted and used as offices for the Santa Fe Railway company before they left in 1994 and it was going to be demolished. The current owners bought it in 1997 and have gradually renovated it.

It is a very nice place, looks great at night from the outside, but it is a bit odd on the inside. The wife of the couple who own it is an artist and her crap artwork is all over the walls. Not really in keeping with a Mexican inspired building. It even has a museum of her work and a documentary about her playing on loop all day long. Talk about blowing your own trumpet.

Anyway, we checked in and then went out for dinner.

Back now, and ready for bed. Arizona is on Pacific time in the summer, so we have gained another hour today and are now eight hours behind the UK.

States Visited - 17