The Great Indian Fry Bread Road Trip. Part One.

A mirage on I-40

                                       
                                                             

   Welcome to where?  

                                                           


 
   This man ate a 72 ounce steak. We thought he was going to have a heart attack.

You never know when you'll find a research gem. This is a collection of pre-WW1 barbed wire. As in, 1860's barbed wire used in ranches in Arizona...

Buffalo at a rest stop in Oklahoma. His nose was 8 inches across.

Almost to Bosque Redondo. Or as the Navajo call it, "Hweeldi".

The field where General Sherman, Barboncito and Manuelito signed the treaty in 1868 that freed the Navajo and allowed them to be escorted home, with gifts and supplies.

An artist's rendition of the Long Walk, January 1864.

Map of the various routes that the Army herded the Navajo toward the Bosque.

Some of the completely unfertile land that the Army expected the Navajo to turn into lush farmland.

A memorial from visiting Navajos to their ancestors.

Imagine crossing this, in Winter, on foot and for 450 miles. While they walked, the Army ALLOWED the enemies of the Navajo, and also any Spanish settlers who wanted to, to steal women and children for slaves. Less people to take care of made for less trouble along the way.

Window Rock, Arizona.

 Me and Miss Rena at church. No, I wasn't being pinched, even though it may appear so. She was a sweetheart.

Jesus and His sheep.

Me and Helen Yazzie. Her great-grandparents hid from the Army and survived the Walk.

The sisters who made it all possible, Karen Antone, and Kathy Antone Barber.

Where my heroine meets her prince.

The hills above Sedona.

"Second and third level chief pattern" Navajo blankets at the Heard Museum in Phoenix.

I started teasing these two that they were from the BigHair Tribe of Oklahoma.

Melting alive and being blinded by the Arizona sun at the Heard Museum.

Why can't my husband study THESE kinds of trees???

Playing a fun game of "who drove the farthest?"

Cactus. Hello pain.

My ranch outside Flagstaff. Okay, not *mine*. But kinda.

Johannah, Lucinda and the always poorly behaved and very much loved Helen Yazzie. My Navajo sisters.