Thursday, November 3, 2011

Canyon de Chelly to Grants, New Mexico

Wednesday morning we headed to the White House Ruins along the South Rim Drive. This is the only location that you can walk down to the ruins unsupervised. We knew it was a bit of a walk but headed out anyway - 3 mile round trip. It was a nice walk down into the canyon - albeit a very cool day. The sun was shining but the wind was cold.


View of the White House Ruins from the Parking lot.



View down into the Canyon from the pathway.

You can walk up fairly close to the ruins but there is a fence keeping you from going right up to them. Much different from the Gila Cliff Dwelling we visited back in 2006 where you can walk right up to the ruins. We spoke with one of the jewelry sellers - bought a necklace and bracelet and headed back up. A bit of a struggle back up but we finally made and very happy to see our tailer. 






After a quick lunch we headed back out on the road with New Mexico our destination - not sure how far we would make it.

We headed south on 191 to Ganado and then east along 264 to Window Rock. We listen to a great Navajo Station out of WR - KTNN am 660. We were hoping to stop in and get a sticker or something - but we couldn't see it on the main strip and with all the traffic decided not to hunt around for it.

Instead we continued east on the 264 towards Gallup. Just outside of Gallup we filled our tank with the cheapest gas price to date $3.079/gallon. Once in Gallup we got on I40 continuing east. By dinner time we were in Grants and so decided to stay at the Walmart there.

It was a very cold night - down to 18F = -7C - and wouldn't you know it our propane ran out in the middle of the night. We were warm enough sleeping but it was a cool -5C when we woke up. Thankfully Derek went to Walmart and bought a tank. When we left home we realized both of our tanks were outdated and needed replacing. We bought one in Canada for $60 - holding off buying the second until south. We had been procrastinating about buying the second one thinking we still had sometime - guess not. Oh well we survived the night - hopefully the coldest we will see for a few months. The tank - filled - cost $20. What a difference!

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