😳 Tuba City, AZ 😳
While planning our route from Utah to Arizona, I discovered this museum on the map! I know the Navajo Code Talkers helped win World War II & I wanted to learn more about their heroic efforts. As of May 2021, there are only 4 Code Talkers alive & I hoped to pay my respects, by visiting the museum.
Museum: https://g.co/kgs/m3ZP5t
To my great disappointment, I wasn’t able to visit inside the museum because it’s now closed on the weekends. 🥺 Everything I read said it was closed on Sundays, but open on Saturdays. It was directly on our route, so I took a chance, despite not reaching anyone by phone. There’s some interesting signage outside, so it wasn’t an entirely wasted trip.
Unfortunately, this became the scariest 18 hours of our trip, including being lost in the desert!
I decided it was too far & too late by then to continue driving to our next destination, so I tried to find somewhere to settle in for the night. When I say this city is scary, it’s scary! 😬 I think it might be a COVID disaster area at the moment because EVERONE/EVERYWHERE was wearing a mask! A majority of businesses were closed early or permanently. Many homes are boarded up, too.
The obvious poverty & devastation is even more sad, considering Tuba City is the Navajo Indian Reservation’s largest community, located in Northeastern Arizona. It’s about 50 miles from the eastern entrance to Grand Canyon National Park. Most of Tuba City’s residents are Navajo, with a small Hopi minority.
I found the 24 hour McDonald’s, with the hope it would be a safe, well-lit spot to nap in the car for a few hours. Wrong! It closed early & didn’t reopen until 6am. It was well lit, but deserted, except for the patrol car that constantly drove through all night, with it’s spotlight on. I’m grateful it didn’t stop to question me, but it still felt very unnerving.
Neither Maddie nor I slept more than a few minutes at a time, all night. Between the howling coyotes & multiple barking dogs all around us, we were basically hiding out in the car. 🥴
As soon as McDonald’s opened, I got some breakfast at the drive-thru & ate it in the car. While sitting there, I quickly discovered the source of the barking dogs! This was just a few of the stray dogs that ran by us! There were easily a dozen dogs in this pack, but there were several groups of them, of all different shapes & sizes. It broke my heart… 💔
Moving on…………
Where's Wendy? Livin' in the Edge! 
WOW Wendy 🐾😬
That is sad and unnerving. Please stay safe.
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Wendy, I’m going to do another post soon about what I saw in New Mexico & in Utah. When COVID hit the reservations, it caused major devastation, mostly because of their poor healthcare system. To prevent additional damage, they’re in lockdown, like prisoners. It’s horrendous. 🥺
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