The sun is dead

We got on the road a bit earlier than normal yesterday, leaving Mesa Verde for the Utah/Arizona desert, and we’re lucky we did. By noon we had made it to the area we were wanting to boondock for the next week but it was already packed with people looking for a good place to take in the annular eclipse.

Luckily we were able to wedge ourselves into a spot about 2 miles down a less than ideal dirt road. I’m glad we found a spot when we did because I’m not sure I would have wanted to go any further down that road. There were a couple spots where having 4-wheel drive in the truck saved us from getting seriously stuck.

Most of our boondocking so far has been just us and nature. There hasn’t normally been another person in sight. This is very much not that. We’re in a small pullout with about 9 others. But everyone is super friendly and we’ve been calling this spot our little cul-de-sac neighborhood.

And boy, even with the neighbors, the views aren’t bad at all…

This area is known as the Valley of the Gods and it’s a sacred place in Navajo territory. According to Navajo mythology, the rock formations and spires contain the spirits of Navajo warriors.

It was also a perfect location for the eclipse this morning.

The Navajo word for eclipse (jóhonaa’éí daaztsą́) translates to “the sun is dead”. I’m not sure the sun died, but the eclipse sure took our breath away.

We have a feeling the crowds will clear out by the end of the weekend now that the eclipse is over and we’re hoping we’ll be more or less on our own for the rest of the week.

We’re planning to drive into Monument Valley after work one night this week to take in the views at sunset. And then we’ll be on the road again next Friday heading south into Arizona with a quick stop at Petrified Forest National Park on our way down to Tucson.