Tuesday March 18

It was pretty cold again when I woke up. Had a quick
cup of coffee, packed up and zipped over to Starbucks
in Camp Verde for more coffee, internet access and
warmth.

I had lunch in Pine, AZ with two of the people who run
the Workamper News web site. They happened to be in
the area and I have had some emailing with Jaime who
moderates the forums. Good conversation and lots of
pics with everyone and the Toaster.

Pine was settled in the 1870's by Mormons, who are
known for keeping excellent records and genealogies.
There are scrapbooks and histories of all the founding
families. The story is that they were sent there by
the elders in Salt Lake City to spread the word to new
areas. But I think they chose a pretty out of the
way place to practice polygamy without getting
hassled. The histories in the little museum (which is
quite good) are quite explicit about the many wives of
the first male settlers. The woman at the museum
entrance desk is a Catholic from Cleveland who said
that the Mormons still run the town. I bet there are
some great stories there.

Decided to bypass the Grand Canyon as overnight temps
continue to be in the teens. Drove north out of
Flagstaff through the Navaho reservation. Beautiful
red cliffs ran along the road for 50 miles. And
little clusters of very small houses and shanties,
nice pickup trucks among junked vehicles, lots of
corrals for horses and lots of horse trailers.

The approach to Page, AZ and Lake Powell is through a
pass in the red cliffs. The first glimpse looks like
someone flooded the moon. Eerie topography and no
vegetation. I'm in a National Recreation Area
campground on the Utah side of Glen Canyon Dam. There
is a marina here filled with 2 story houseboats.
Fortunately, there is very little activity this early
in the year on the lake and I'm hoping to take a few
day kayak expedition to see some out of the way
canyons.

Stopped in Walmart to use the bathroom and most of the
shoppers were Native Americans.

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