If you follow this, you know I am perfectly capable of writing reviews here of perfectly terrible motels. When I find a great one, you'll read about it here too. We discovered a great place to stay on this trip: Navajoland in Tuba City, AZ. In the same way everything went wrong with our stay at the Motel 6 in Albuquerque on Coors Road, everything went perfectly well with this stay. And better.
We'd had to be flexible on this trip. The original plan for Day one had been to include spending time in Wupatki at the Wupatki pueblo and visitor's center. But everybody was tired by then. Steve's back had experienced enough hours in the car, and Rich still remembered a visit from years ago. Consensus was get to the motel and relax! Both had been patient enough for me to take the dozens of pictures of Wukoki that I needed. The last couple of trips here I hadn't been in shape to walk to the pueblo, much less climb the stairs and wander around the top once I made the hike there. Previous photos were fading, or just taken from a distance and full of people, a nudge to memory rather than a real representation of it. I was proud of not just making the hike but conquering the stairs, particularly with no railings for all but the top steps. There was no safety fallback should I wobble. By the time I as ready to leave, nobody else was around, nobody watching from the car far away. It was slow, mildly terrifying when I let imagination run, but I made it, all on my own. This place still had a gift for me!
We all recognized this would be the last trip there. They'd been patient with my needs. It was time to go.
Good as the motel would turn out to the, the roads to it were as bad... for Steve. It was a perfect example of not caring to do a good job because... Indian country. I asked Steve whether I was being paranoid about thinking that, but he confirmed I was exactly on point. He'd lived there many years before, and his father worked for a road construction company in jobs that took the family all over most of the western US. Steve had heard the conversations and knew the politics behind what got done... and didn't. Particularly in Arizona. So we all welcomed pulling in to the motel to check in.
They were busy. I was lucky enough to walk into the office mere seconds ahead of a bus full of customers. Two people were checking everybody in, quickly and smoothly. They'd had my reservation on file, the details of our needs were perfect. I was handed three tickets for a free breakfast at the attached restaurant next door, which I had to turn down. We wouldn't be there that late. There was an eclipse to go see in the morning. When I explained that to the young woman checking me in, she asked why anybody would come all the way out there to see one. I took her seriously enough to take a minute to answer, including that I'd never seen one, this one was close enough to get to, and we all found this part of the country beautiful.
She was young, and I can see her point. When I was that age, something different from where I was had deep appeal. My "everyday" was old, boring enough to be chafing, and different was exotic, more so when I didn't really have other choices of where to be. Plus the beauty of this part of the country is a harsh beauty, water such a scarcity that life is threatened daily as a backdrop and must always be taken into consideration. We always travel with water in the car in Arizona, even around home, but especially way out here.
But the line was long behind me, so we quickly finished the check-in process, drove to our closest door, and began to settle in. This is another time where Rich proved invaluable. I was tired, Steve in pain and needing nothing more than to lie down. So Rich hauled in what was needed, making multiple trips to and from the car, the ice machine, and the fenced doggie park with the dog.
Yes, I said doggie park! It was filled with all sorts of equipment for a dog so trained to climb up, jump through, run around. It's the only one I've seen that isn't just a fence and bare ground. grass or no. It's also well respected enough that clean-up bags were provided, and a container was bolted down so it couldn't be tipped over by large pooch or person. Our dog keeps a pouch of rolled poo bags attached to her leash, so we're always prepared. We usually have to haul the knotted bag of goodies with us to a different location though.
This wasn't the only extra on this site. There is a small exercise building across from the front desk, a museum for Navajo culture and history on a different side, and a Trading Post with high quality goods inside, including Navajo rugs and weavings worth well over my budget. We were too tired to peruse them, but I recognized the Trading Post from a visit years ago when I was still actively collecting pueblo pottery.
By this time Steve was too tired and in too much pain to do anything but stretch out on the bed. Wonder of wonders, it was comfortable! He could feel his back relaxing, pain subsiding, and in about an hour he was up in a chair - they had two! - interacting with Rich, and reading his Kindle. Only Rich had been hungry for supper as lunch was large and late. Snacks had been packed or bought on the way, granola bars packed. We were in for the night!
A large mini-fridge kept all our water bottles cold, and its freezer actually refroze the ones we used as packed ice to keep the other bottles cold. There was a dresser next to it the combination holding up a huge TV with large drawers which actually got use... for pillows. Steve had reminded me (bless him!) that I complained about not having my own pillow for sleeping on while traveling, so this time I had it. Clean pillows sat in the dresser drawers, replaced on the bed by mine, while I luxuriated on a bed of perfect softness, perfect height instead of "fashionably high" making it possible to just plot down gently without having to tr to crawl across the bed and shift positions all night.
I'd set the wall mounted heater/AC for heat. It was going to be a cold night, especially for people like us still adjusted to highs hovering in the three digits. The machine responded instantly, kept us comfortable all night. The variety of things needing a recharge were plugged into the abundance of sockets, the dog was relaxed from having a companion in the back set with her who spent most of the trip petting her so went immediately to her good and water dishes when offered. No more wait-a-couple-days routine for her.
By the time I heard her crunching kibble, I was in my PJs and in bed. We never bothered with the TV except as a place to leave the room key for when somebody had to head out. We needed to get sleep. Everybody's alarm was set for 5AM home time, or 6AM local time since the Reservation straddles 4 states and keeps daylight savings time changes with the other three states instead of never changing like the rest of AZ. They were a Nation and chose to act like it. I was tired enough I let the guys figure out the changes. I'd done it all at home before we left, knowing how far we had to go before when the eclipse started, including planning for heavy traffic and a stop for breakfast once we arrived where we planned to watch it from. Right them my brain refused to function on a mathematical "problem". The guy's phones had changed after cell tower contact. Mine hadn't. They could deal with it all. I was gone for the night.
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