Trip Day 9
Our second day of travel to Las Vegas had the same 15 (on a scale of 1 to 10) weather.
Oh well, somebody has to have good weather! Again, no winds, so that made the driving a very pleasurable experience.
We did not rush out of the Walmart of Page, we had all day to make a five-hour trip, so it was nice to be able to not go crazy. Luckily for me, there was a large motorhome sized manual spray carwash right across the street. We were unable to get the rig washed before we left Texas and again in Durango.
Technically it makes no difference if the motorhome is clean or dirty.
Psychologically it makes a TON of difference to me!
We are already at a disadvantage when it comes to “looks” as compared to the others…. They rarely get used, some even sit in covered storage and look brandy-new no matter how old they are! This may be petty, but I can’t help it. Maybe it’s a “guy” thing, but it feels SOOOOOO much better when we can drive around not looking like the Beverly Hillbillies!
So, all sparkly and fueled up we continued westward.
But first we needed to go North, then South, then North again, and then finally kind of Southwest until we hit Nevada. The reason for this is that the road that we chose (there are not many to choose from) did all of that meandering all by itself! We dipped above and below the Utah/ Arizona border several times, which, if you really wanted to, it could drive you crazy because the two states follow different time-zoney things.
Arizona does not follow the Daylight Savings Time format.
Except the Navajo Nation Reservation that does!
So, If you travel through the Rez, then the State , then cross into Utah, then dip back down into Arizona, then go back up into Utah, then……
I’m sure you get the idea, but that is exactly what did!
Wisely we just kept the clocks set to Pacific Daylight Time.
Next up……
Have you ever heard of Pipe Spring, Arizona?
(No…. not Radiator Springs from the Pixar movie Cars )
Pipe Spring, Arizona was on our way and is the home to one of our smallest and least known National Monuments.
This Monument keeps the multi-faceted story of the struggle amongst, and between, the Paiute Nation, the Mormons, and the United States Government from being lost. This is another National Monument that is run in cooperation with the local Tribe (the Kaibab band of Paiutes) as was the Navajo National Monument from the previous day.
Unfortunately, the story here follows the usual path of how the Native Americans were treated by the new settlers that were compressing their homeland and hunting grounds.
Not to make light of these struggles, but rather to simplify the root of them, I will explain the basic ideological difference between the Native Americans and the Settlers..
Native Americans did not have any concept of ownership of any natural resources. Water, land, game, etc. were all things that were shared.
Not owned.
So, when the settlers came and wanted to make treaties about using the land, or whatever else they needed, the local tribes said, “Sure, there’s plenty.”
The Settlers thought that they were negotiating for the ownership of these resources.
Now we’ve got a problem!
Add in the issues of how the Settlers, (Mormon or otherwise) and how they thought that the Native American’s were not “Civilized” and therefore beneath them socially, et al, we find that the vast majority of the White folks had no respect for the peoples who had inhabited these areas for the last thousand years or so.
Double problem.
Augment this with the conflict between the US Government and the Mormons, mainly over Polygamy, but also involving the Mormon’s control over local commerce, we now have the proverbial kettle boiling over.
This is illustrated no where better than at Pipe Spring where there is, guess what?
A natural spring!
Something that in this semi-arid expanse of desert, is quite useful for basic survival.
Along come the Mormons out of Salt Lake City, sent by none other than Brigham Young, to settle this and other lands further South. They come upon the spring and actually build a fort over the source of the spring, depriving the locals of most of its use.
Bigger problem!
As you can imagine, there were issues, but the major outcome of this and other situations like it was the gradual demise of the Tribes and their natural way of life.
Enter the Park Service back in 1923 and a visit to the area by Stephen T. Mather, the first NPS Director, who thankfully understood the significance of what had transpired here over the years and decided to purchase the now privately owned Pipe Spring Ranch from its owners and fold it into the National Park Service registry.
These are the kinds of things that make driving around the back roads of our great Country so satisfying. The ability to stumble across these little hidden gems of our history make this trip that much more enjoyable.
Sure, we can’t wait to get to Big Sur and the California Coast, but I’m not so sure that the impact of that will leave the same lasting imprint as the story of the struggles of those who preceded us.