Jan 29, 2011 thru Jan 31, 2011

Saturday night in Tuba City, AZ, January 29, 2011
Well Wow! Who would think that I'd make it to Tuba City??? And nary a tuba in sight!

 

There is a Navajo dance, but I'm all hooked up and it's dark out there (almost) so I can't go...native... in my red leather dress. Wouldn't want to insult anyone, anyway. The gold boots would just be too TOO far out there.

I've seen a few of these:

and probably should have taken pictures of the yellow diamond signs with cow, horse, mountain lion, elk, man but can't always snap photos while driving!  Bad habit.

I managed 3 pen/ink/watercolor sketches today,

Grand Canyon... squint real hard...

gotta rotate the monitor and squint again



 They all look the same. 





a nap, a short hike, lots of photos, and a stop at most of the pull-outs heading east along the south rim of the canyon. I decided to move along since I found the idea of painting unpleasant, to say the least. Too complicated, too big, too touristy, too windy, too challenging. Usually I'm up for challenges, but I'm FINALLY "on vacation" and I just didn't feel like it. So there! :0b

Got a picture of the local KFC with a JAMMED parkinglot! and a LINE of cars in the take-away lane! Haven't seen a scene like that since Vallejo!

I'm heading for Monument Valley.

 I'll definitely paint there. But here in Tuba City (heh heh ... the name just makes me laugh) I pulled into a motel RV park for less than $30 for the night and feel safe and have water and electricity. The heater is a great blessing; I'll put on the hot water heater and have a shower in the morning. Gotta haul all the stuff out that's being stored in the shower area like a box of dishes, more clothes, folding chair, window screens, stuff like that. The light works!!! So I'll be able to see myself! hahahahaha! [never did do that shower]

Too bad there's no WiFi tonight, but I'll use this evening time to organize my gas receipts, figure out mileage, etc. Just paid the most for gas in Cameron... $3.11/gal at a Shell station and Indian store, post office and motel. Otherwise it was Conoco @ $3.18. Not sure yet where the next stop will be, but I feel good, like I'm having an adventure, like I'm safe here, rather than out there in the red rock Indian reservation flats with no trees to hide behind and where anyone might just drive up and check me out. Not a good plan. This is bettah.
SaturdaY NIGHT IN TUBA CITY! Hahahahaha! And I just took pictures of myself as I dressed for my new lifestyle. Tights, gold boots, denim skirt, BELT, versatile camisole, sweater or other top, topped with my denim smock... or the white one. I didn't wear the denim in Michael's class, so this is a completely different personna from the student I left behind in Sedona.
With my cowboy hat kinda modified to look less cowboy and more Indiana Jones... and some tasteful jewelry... but fun stuff.... What do you think? Be honest, now, please...

Well, you can't see the boots... but I ended up wearing my Uggs and not the gold cowboy boots. 

I might have blundered Friday night at the Canyon with the first hasty gestural pastel [but I'm keeping it under glassine but unpacked so I can keep looking at it veiled] but hahahaha the people looking were all Japanese tourists except that one woman, and I probably felt I'd never see any of them ever again so SO WHAT? Something is better than nothing, isn't it?
As I embark on the inspired artist personnae [brrrrr... cooling down now almost 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night in TUBA CITY, AZ! And the heater just kicked on!!! fum pa pum pum pum ... :0)] I feel like Whimsy Walls is coming back. Gosh! Have I decided already? Take my murals on the road?
WhimsyWalls on Wheels. Maybe that pastel is the start of my CARTOONS!!!!!

I just realized this is the first time I've been utterly alone. Nobody knows me, I'm a bazillion miles from ANYONE I KNOW! Wow. What an experience THAT is!!!

And I can sleep till whenever and do anything I want to do! What FREEDOM! I can't believe it! It's AMAZING! WOW! Yippee! Woohoo!!! Gosh! I can stop and paint somewhere beautiful and spend as many hours there as I want with no demands and no deadlines and aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. I can relax.
So I guess I'll go do something instead of sitting here spilling my thoughts into the DELL bfn.

I lit a couple of tea candles, I burned some Nag Chamfa, made a cup of tea, and I redecorated myself! What fun I'm finally having!
Morning. New day. Beautiful sunrise in the trailer park!

 I'm up, had 2 soft boiled eggs, back to my nest for my computer update, with hot pressed coffee, and I'm cozy. Since I'm heading EAST, I thought it might be good to let the sun come up higher than the horizon before I set out. I can empty the bilge and scrub up before I re-pack the hose and the big black electrical cord and hit the road.
The more I think of mobile murals... WhimsyWalls on Wheels is a pretty good idea. I'll see (when I find WiFi) if that's available for a website!
Monument Valley was incredible.

 But I was disappointed that the pictures you see of M.V. are the ONLY monuments there! I would have thought the first ones were appetizers, but, alas, that was it.

They were awesome, for sure, and I did one quick pastel

and a watercolor.
Love this feeling of not having "responsibility" just now. Opened a bottle of wine and got out the rice crackers. I'll wash my face with a hot washcloth (I have propane!!! so will heat water in a pot) and slather on the lotion because it's so dry out here, and crawl into the sack for a few hours of reading and then sleep...Oh oh... I hear a car. O please keep going.... oh ok it did. whew. deep breath.
OK. enough rice crackers. Talk about boring! Yikes. I guess I was hungry when I bought these. Not even any wasabi peas thrown into this mix for variety!

Last night I sauted some chicken breast and have that for protein this evening, with the other half tomato I got in Sedona. It's a delicious tomato. I'm happy, comfy, and satisfied. The east window is uncovered so the dawn will fill my CoCo with light and maybe I'll be able to do some morning painting from not too far from here. There are mesa's around but I (here comes another vehicle... kept going) had to pass them up to find a level place to park for the night. Sure hope it's ok to stay here. If it'snot, I'm sure someone will let me know. Fear not. WASP spray is close at hand to fend off the Protestants!


Sunday Evening, January 30, 2011
No WiFi all day.

Bumfudge AZ on 191, heading to Canyon de Cheilly.
Oh glorious day, callou callay! I'm chortling! I painted Mexican Hat


and hung out near the San Juan river there for a few hours this afternoon, saw a coyote running along a ridge; considered staying over, but got bored, I guess, waiting for the light to change, and left around 4 and it is now 6:14 and I'm stopped on a school bus road, it's almost pitch black dark; lots of clouds with a little sky peeking out (or it was before dark) so I don't know if it'll rain tonight or not and I didn't want to be on a road where I might get stuck, like where I wanted to be in the Valley of the Gods.

OMG What a beautiful place. I couldn't go down the road because the sign said IMPASSABLE WHEN WET and there was a small creek



crossing the road about 6' wide and danged if I didn't wish for my all -wheel-drive vehicle. This ain't it... so I had to take whatever photos I could from the highway. A very beautiful looking place, from what I could see, and it would be a fabulous place to hang out for a few days, but since I'd heard it "might" snow tonight in Grand Canyon and I'm not THAT far afield, I thought I'd better not risk getting bogged in for weeks on end! :0b

It seems like I've come a long way from Tuba City, but I guess it's not because I still have a half tank of gas. I've been driving about 45 mph most of the day, pulling over for the few people who are also on the road and who needed to pass me. It's been quite deserted. I've seen 2 cab-over-type truck campers, and no other rv rigs on the road at all. When i started my journey, I was tallying roadkill. After 2 days of that (coyote, rabbit, raccoon, birds, skunk, etc) I decided to look for LIVE animals and have seen many birds of prey, mostly hawks. and the eagle... and I've been looking for California Condors but have only seen some ravens. I'll put up pictures of this one wiseacre Raven who hung out at one of the view points to the Canyon. Funny bird. Someone would drive up and he'd hop along the stone wall about lined up near the driver's window. The AZ ravens make really different sounds from the CA Mendocino ravens... no clicking or popping sounds, and their CAW sounds like someone shreiking in pain. Not pleasant. No wonder people shoot 'em out here!

Enough for now. End of 2 weeks on the road. Happy, healthy, holding same weight, feeling great. Excited to be on the road. You can text me... 707 367-3985 (DOPE YUK) but no phone calls unless it's emergency. Thanks. Texting is 1/2 a unit, rather than TWO units/1 (everything is ROAMING out here).
Be good!
xoxo suzi

Monday, Jan 31, 2011  It was snowing all the way from my side-road stop last night until Gallop, and I started to slide out and pulled over while on my way to Hwy 191. A nice Navajo ranger stopped immediately to help and followed me 10 miles to the 191 turnoff.  Then it REALLY started to snow and I got all the way to Gallup and decided to stay over here.  Of course, now that I paid the KOA my $38 to stay 24 hours, it has stopped snowing.  I'm resting.  It's good.  I can swim in the LaQuinta pool next door.  I'll go to Albuquerque tomorrow.  Couldn't get to Canyon de Chelly because of the snow.  I tried. 

Sorry if some of the above is messed up.    nap time! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz