Cañon de Chelly

So Santa Fe ended up good. Money in my pocket, some great meals in my belly, courtesy of Harry's, Mucho Gusto, Rio Chama, Tune Up, Jambo and elsewhere. Yucks, friends, gelt.

Found a hipster coffee shop that was cool, Ikonic. Not the trust fund kid coffee shop, of course every imaginable demographic now has their own place to brew.

It was time to head home. But not before I see my lawyer, rabbi, pedal steeler, swing bandleader buddy John Feldman in Albuquerque.

I reckon John knows more about early twentieth Century swing music than anyone else in the whole dang world. A genius and I don't use the term very often.

Played me a lovely passage on this incredibly rare guitar. John has a picture in one of the most recent editions of Fretboard Journal. Much like Barry, I wish we lived closer. Seldom meet anyone of his mental capacity, not to mention the coolest studio on the planet.

And then I was off. Or was I? At the last second, somewhere past Tohajali, I got the idea that I was driving to Chinle or at least the 264 to cut across the Hopi reservation. One of my favorite roads, much more beauty and dignity than the interstate. Anyhow I ended up at Canyon de Chelly and went north instead of south and got Antelope, Mummy and Massacre Viewpoints.

Now I had been there before of course, many times in fact, first during what I like to call, the epoch of the awful wife. Who got in touch with a friend of mine recently and told him that I wasn't such a bad egg but she was worried about me at the time because I liked high end audio and computers and we all know about the terrible dangers of electromagnetic radiation.

If only I had known, a tin foil body armor and hat assemblage would have been so much cheaper than my divorce. Oh well, live and learn.

Anyway I had a cheap dime store epiphany at Canyon de Chelly. You might visit a place, once , twice a few times but you don't always know a place. You miss shit. I did. Discovered things at the emerging place of Spider Grandmother that I never remember seeing before.

Met a nice navajo family from Crown Point. Hiked my ass off.

And finally made it to Spider Rock. Took lots of pictures, then again the next morning. Such a wonderful place. Largely had it to myself, just a few tourists and natives.

(to be continued...)