I’m not going to write too much about where I’ve been the last few days as I’d rather save it for a detailed trip report. Suffice it to say that I’m actually in another country within our country – the Navajo Nation.

Things are a little different here. Dinner tonight will be sans wine, as liquor isn’t sold within the Nation’s boundaries, which extend west-east roughly from Flagstaff into New Mexico and Colorado, and north-south from Utah to Interstate 40. And the time is an hour later than the rest of Arizona.

As you’d expect, the scenery is spectacular. Nothing for miles except buttes, bluffs and an endless sea of scrubby grasses. It’s the rainy season here, and you can see the storm clouds racing toward you from the horizon. We were inside Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay) this afternoon, and thunder boomed through the crevasses like a lion’s roar. Mother Nature, she be here.

Tomorrow we head early to Monument Valley. And then? We’re not really sure. For once, I’ve thrown away the guidebook (reluctantly) and we’re taking what comes. If that means a night in an overpriced Holiday Inn room with cinderblock walls that looks more like a basement dungeon than a decent place to stay…..well, I’m dealing.