The Plan

Things don’t always go as planned. Not that we plan often. But after our exhausting house sit in Albuquerque, the idea was to spend a couple of days at a quiet, free campground in El Malpais National Monument, drive to Canyon de Chelly to spend a day hiking and sightseeing, move to the Hopi Reservation in Navajo Nation for an affordable tour and a free night at the Cultural Center, and visit the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. That park opens on May 15^th every year and—reputedly—has smaller crowds than the well-trotted South Rim. Our temporary end destination would be Kanab, Utah to volunteer at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for two weeks. (Click on or hover over the photos to read the captions.)

Panorama from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Albuquerque, NM

But… two important packages—to fix an engine problem in Zesty—refused to arrive as scheduled, before our departure from Albuquerque. Mark did all he could to reroute them to Kanab. Everything seemed in order; we left for some rest in El Malpais, an hour and a half west of the city. Luckily, we picked up a cell signal with AT&T there (we never did with our previous carrier T-Mobile). After a cold yet peaceful night, both packages were to be delivered at our pet sitting address, that Saturday. In awful weather, we returned to the house. The USPS parcel had arrived by 11am, but we waited for the UPS package until 4:30pm; it was the last stop on his route! We drove until 7:30pm to make a little bit of headway in the right direction and “urban camped” in Gallup, NM. Detour: three hours.

Campsite El Malpais NM

Stormy weather

Free night in the parking lot of Cracker Barrel in Gallup, NM – not the quietest place

Lessons learned: Don’t believe everything is in order, until it actually is! And, don’t venture too far away if packages are “in transit”.

Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Canyon de Shay), AZ

One of the most rewarding experiences of having no expectations is arriving at a new destination and being awed. We rekindled with that feeling we discovered in Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks last year, in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Navajo Nation, Arizona. This park is free! Staring into the canyon the first time, we found vertical walls, branched off side canyons, a meandering river, and a lush valley.

Canyon de Chelly NM