Here We DuranGo

Pleep is very excited to be heading to Durango. He dialed in Willie Nelson to help get him in the mood for hanging with the cowboy poets who are all gathering there for the annual Cowboy Poet Fest. Delete was very happy because not long after we turned north out of Flagstaff he finally spotted a few relatives - antelopes. We had to listen to Pleep sing Home, Home On The Range for the next 50 miles.

We headed through the Navajo, Hopi & Apache Reservations towards Colorado. The first stop was just after our turn onto AZ 160, northwest from the Grand Canyon, to see dinosaur tracks. There are 200 million-year old dinosaur tracks along a riverbed in Moenkopi, AZ, 5 miles west of Tuba City. It is part of the Navajo reservation. The tracks are spread over a couple of acres of mottled rock surface; some have been outlined in chalk in case you have trouble seeing them. The Navajo guides pour water into others so that they are easily seen.

A Navajo named Henry greeted us and took us on a hike around the site. The hike itself is easy and beautiful, with awesome views of the Hamblin Ridge, Tuba Butte, and the vast benchlands that stretch to the south. You can walk where dinosaurs once walked, putting your feet in their prints.

The tracks were formed in the early Jurassic period. Several different types of dinosaurs are represented by their tracks, but all of them were carnivores. The ichnogenera include Eubrontes and Grallator. Fossil footprints, also called trace fossils, are classified not according to what animal created them, but rather by their form, since its impossible to know for sure if two unrelated animals made similar tracks. Based on the age of the rocks and the fossils of carnivorous dinosaurs in the area, its likely that animals such as Coelophysis kayentakatae and Dilophosaurus wetherilli made the tracks at the Tuba City site, as well as the other Dinosaur Canyon trackways.

The area was originally a large lake where the dinosauers came to drink, lay their eggs, etc. The meteor that hit and created Meteor Crater wiped out the entire population and created all the fossilized tracks, remains, eggs, etc. It is the same meteor site that was featured in the Jeff Bridges movie Starman. Pleep had a great time checking out all the tracks and fossils. His favoite thing was the fossilized dinosaur head.

The drive along AZ 160 is spectacular. We were on the south end of Monument Valley. A lot of the westerns were filmed throughout this area. There is not much to do here except look at the scenery. The Indians have developed a couple of small areas that provide fuel, food and limited lodging.

We took a small detour (100 yards) off 16o to stop at the Four Corners Monument. It is run by the Navajo and Hopi Indians. It marks the place where the four western states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico) meet. Pleep insisted we stop so that he could lay on the spot and count all 4 states in one experience. He laid right on the marker to cover the 4 states. He pushed Delete over so that Delete only covered Colorado and New Mexico. Delete liked the drive around the monument where it took us about 30 seconds to hit all 4 states in the car. This stop had the most people we saw all day.

We pulled into Durango around 4 p.m. mountain time. The Strater Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in Durango and is one of the main places for the cowboys in town attending the poet fest. There were a lot of cowboys in the lobby and even more in the Diamond Belle Saloon. Pleep was craning his neck around to take it all in and started talking about needing a cowboy hat and a six shooter. I think we convinced him six shots were a better idea for a monkey.

Ed, Pleep and Delete studied the local guides to decide what to do for the evening. The, we left Pleep and Delete in charge of tonight's post while we explored Main Street. There are a lot of great microbrew pubs, bars, saloons, and restaurants. We started at The Office right here in the hotel for happy hour. The Diamond Belle Saloon here was still jammed so we wandered up the street finally landing at Carver's Brewpub. Their beers were exceptional and the pub food was great. We stuck our head in the Irish Embassy Pub and Derailed Saloon. These are on the list for tomorrow along with a number of other places.

Pleep and Delete also handled our text messages. We were very sorry to hear the Parkers were stuck at LAX (again) trying to get to Chicago for the ND - Washington game. Ida is clearly cursed when trying to get to Chicago regardless of the time of year or reason.