The kids put the tent up themselves while I ran back into Chinle
to buy ice.
Alan helped by pounding in stakes with a rock.
Jim and Mary Ann found us and kept us company for bread
and marshmallows.
THe next day we met up with lots of Hubbells for lunch at Window Rock.
Geno Bahe gave us a brief synopsis of the Hubbell Trading Posts
and their history.
The window rock from which the town takes its name.
Then on to the Trading Post after lunch.
Margie had arranged for a large tent for the evening meal at the
Trading Post. The wind was pretty fierce, though, and kept
blowing out the side poles and generally stressing people out.
Jerry Yellowhair, one of the Navajo Hubbell cousins, and family members.
Since the wind made being outside uncomfortable, the kids found a
spot in the visitor center and built a card house.
Lisa helped Roger earn his Junior Ranger certificate. He had to answer
a bunch of questions about the trading post.
The wind brought down this branch on the entrance drive.
The girls helped move the grill to the leeward side of the
visitor center, in hopes that it might be possible to
use it there. However, it still wasn't deemed safe and the
hamburgers were eventually cooked, a dozen at a time,
indoors in pans on a stove.
Ganado Wash, just a stroll from the Trading Post.
Vanessa was scared to be in the big tent while the wind whipped
it around, until this cat distracted her.
Crazy Alan poses by the backyard of the Trading Post.
The girls also took down the tent and packed it up. Our only
problem was that the wind bent a tentpole. Wendy, Jenny, and I
managed to splint it with a couple of sticks and a lot of duct tape,
so we were still able to use the tent.
Then the girls figured out how to fit everything back in the bin.
There were several dogs wandering around the campground. This one
slept by the side of our tent and then made himself at home
right by the car.
After packing up, we went over to the hotel where Wendy and Steve
had invited us to go swimming with them.
Lisa was happy to use the wi-fi internet connection while we swam.
After swimming, we joined some of the Hubbells back at the campground
picnic area for lunch. When I went to start up the car, it made an
awful noise and the steering became extremely difficult. A slow circuit
of the campground convinced me that I could limp it a couple of miles to
the nearest gas station. Fortunately, Wendy and Steve were still
with us, so they followed us. Lifting the hood, we discovered that
the fan belt had come off and was lying curled up between engine parts.
A very helpful young man, Jefferson, tried putting it back on for us,
but it was still very loose. He looked some more and pointed out
that there were a couple of bolts missing. So I called AAA road
service and we had the car towed to the only auto repair place in town.
In order to tow the car, we had to remove the box and rack.
Thank goodness Jenny knew all the right procedures and was willing to
crawl under the bumper to unfasten the connection. I asked
the Chevron Station people for permission to leave the box in their
parking lot for a couple of hours so there it sat until we were able
to retrieve it later.
Arriving at the repair shop, we discovered that they didn't have
the proper belt in stock. The nearest one was in Window Rock, 75 miles
away. They agreed to go ahead and fix the bolts, one of which had
disappeared completely and the other of which had sheared off, so they had
to drill out the remainder, and then install new ones. These bolts
hold the power steering pump in place, which in turn is part of the
mounting of the fan belt. Meanwhile, everyone piled into Steve's
rental car, a Ford Expedition, and we dropped Wendy and all the kids
at the local Burger King which has a play place. Then Steve drove
me to Window Rock to pick up a new belt. On the way back, we were
pulled over by a Reservation Police officer for speeding, but she
let us off with an admonition to 'Slow Down' after Steve apologized
and explained the situation. We made it back to Chinle just a couple
minutes after the repair shop was supposed to close at 6pm. I called
them from the road as we were coming in to town so they waited the
extra minutes. In all the confusion, I had forgotten to leave my
keys with them. But the mechanics had remembered that I planned to
drop the kids at Burger King, so they went there, got Lisa's set of
car keys, and then they scrounged the town and actually found the right
belt. By the time we got back, they had reassembled the car and it
was good to go. I was so happy to have it taken care of, I didn't
even mind the crazy trip to Window Rock. We took time to eat a bite
at Burger King ourselves and then put the rack and bin back on the
car. Then off to Albuquerque, only 6 hours later than planned.
Margie and Paul had beds ready for us in their rental house when we
rolled in a midnight, so we didn't have to pitch our tent.