Day 8: Monuments to Grand Canyon
The day began with an open window and a voice
saying come look at the pussy in my bed. Those Gigabees are such
scamps. We breakfasted with the Navajos again and our classic Navajo
beauty of a waitress got in trouble with her mother for mis-ordering
our omelettes.
After breakfast we packed up and left the San Juan
Inn and Mexican Hat, crossing the San Juan River to enter the Navajo
Nation en route to Monument Valley. We paid the 
couple buck entry
fee so we could drive the scenic route through the Valley. The
Gigabees began to complain, as was their pattern. 'Are going to
drive the entire scenic drive?'
they whined. The scenic drive is 7 miles. With the whining Gigabees
placated we set off to drive through Monument Valley. What a bumpy
road. After a few stops at scenic points the Gigabees seemed to get
in the spirit of our drive through John Ford/John Wayne Country. It
can be annoying with some people have trouble enjoying the moment,
fleeting as it is. You may never be this way again. It is always
mystifying how some people can drain the energy out of a special
moment in time. We won't name names.
After we left Monument Valley we stopped the road
side stands which line the entry to the park. Durango bought a ring.
In Kayenta Big Ed had another Ugly German incident at a Texaco
station and a drunk in the parking lot tried to con Durango out of
some money. We ate at Burger King where once more Lulu ordered food
and then looked at it and refused to eat it leaving it for the
vulture/buzzard-like Simp Twins.
A few miles out of Kayenta we turned right at the
junction for the road to Page, a junction clearly spelled out in
every pre-trip Durango mailing. And yet we were barely on our new
road when the Gigabees headlights began once more flashing the
warning that they were having another panic attack. Upon stopping to
consult we learned they were concerned that we were taking a detour
to Page because of a Page bike store Jack had mentioned. Durango
thought to himself that they had become delusional as it is highly
unlikely that Durango would take a detour for so frivolous a reason,
particularly on a day which Durango had made clear we were on a
tight time schedule to make it to Grand Canyon by 5pm.
As it turned out we did end up wasting time in a
damn bike store in Page. Enough time was wasted that Durango could
feel his blood pressure begin to rise. Lulu argued that Jack asked
for so little. Yeah right. Jack asks for the moon about a dozen
times a day. And even Durango found himself mollifying Jack's
outrageous demands, and so Jack got his 10 minutes in the bike
store.
We eventually left Page and passed through a gap
in the High Mesa opening to a huge view of the Kaibab Plateau, the
land of the Grand Canyon spreading forever before us. We crossed
Navajo Bridge onto the Arizona Strip. We stopped at Ghost Dwellers,
a strange locale where years before the honeymooning D'angleys had
overnighted with their harem of eunuchs. We passed the Vermillion
Cliffs and began our steep ascent up the Kaibab Plateau.
The miles to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
melted quickly. We parked outside the Grand Canyon Lodge and went in
for a quick check in. After we got our cabin keys we took a cursory
glance and quick photos of the Grand Canyon. We could look at it
more in the morning we thought. This was the Gigabees first visit to
the Grand Canyon.
We found our cabins. Lulu and Wanda seemed to like
their Log Cabins. Some unseemly hugging took place. After quickly
settling in we walked back to the main lodge in time to hear the
name 'Durango' summon us to our dinner reservation. The Gigabees
sent their food back to the kitchen, claiming it was cold. Durango
did not like his lame noodle 
dinner. After dinner we went outside
into the freezing night air, to the overlook and watched the lights
twinkling on the other side of the canyon, at the South Rim. It
would be the last time we would see the South Rim.
We went shopping at the Lodge's stores. Lulu,
Homer, Jack and Wanda caused an incident with a charming old codger
named Mort. Durango found Mort absolutely harmless, but the
aforementioned took umbrage at some totally innocent alleged
rudeness committed by the sweet old peddler. To this day Durango
does not know what actually happened. However, it is known that at
this peddler's store the L-H-J-W quartet did buy a trinket with a
Bobcat on it and gave it to Durango, a symbol of their gratitude for
bravely defending them during the Bobcat Attack on the houseboat.
We were all tired. Time to go to our Log Cabins
and sleep. But the Gigabees were unable to snooze because of loud
talking in an adjacent cabin. No, it was not Homer. Unlike previous
times there was no Shiloh Inn for them to escape to. Eventually
everything quieted down and even the high maintenance Gigabees fell
asleep. For a short while.
And then the wind began to howl with a piercing
shriek you only hear in the movies. And then something began pelting
the windows with extreme prejudice. Snow. In blizzard form, blowing
horizontal. Lots of it. Morning should make for a
very interesting Day 9.
