ninety seven

THE BIG CITY

The Navajo Nation was a wide open place with few places to buy anything but jewelry. I don't understand why there wasn't a small store selling cold drinks and ice cream. 

Another surprise was the that the towns on my map turned out to be a few houses. There were no rest stops or gas stations for miles and miles. I started the day with a full three gallons of water which was what I thought would be plenty. 

Sunset was only a few hours away and the town I had planned to replenish my water supply was only a horse corral and an abandoned trailer. I could not count on any water for the next twenty miles so I had to find a private house or flag down a car. 

A few miles later I found this cluster of houses. This was the largest housing development I had seen for days. There were about fifteen small houses. There were no grassy lawns but each had a nice new pick up truck out front. 

I had no idea who lived in these modest houses, but the trucks didn't seem to fit. I knocked on a few doors until a nice young woman came out of a house across the street and asked if she could help. 

She was a tall woman dressed in business clothing. I asked if I could fill my water bottles and she said yes. 

I stood at the door of this twelve hundred square foot house and was amazed at the interior. There was a wide screen TV, Mac computer, a large library, and leather furniture. They had oil paintings on the wall with proper lighting and an esspresso machine in the kitchen. I talked a few minutes and commented about their beautiful home. 

She explained that limited water prevented having a lawn or swimming pool so the spent their money on the inside and nice trucks. 

I thanked her for her kindness and headed down the road.

I did notice that people didn't seem to be surprised I was riding a bike. A Native American friend explained to me that how I got there didn't matter because I was there. I guess that makes sense.