Wednesday, May 23, 2018

t: Tony Hillerman and the Little Colorado After reading one of my favorite authors, Tony Hillerman’s Skeleton Man, it stirred up a very unique memory of mine. Why do I emphasize Interstate 40 in my game WannaBtruckers? Well. there are many reason besides my love for 18 wheelers. I shall begin with this: It is approximately close to the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, and the confluence of the Colorado and the Little Colorado Rivers. You will use I40, but other roads, hiking, and rafting will have to be used too, including the Hopi Salt Trail, owned by the Navajo Nation Ever since my first rafting trip in 1976, this confluence has been in my mind. The first time my family rafted down the Colorado, we wanted my father-in-law. Dr. Maurice Strieby, to go with us. He was born in Colorado and became an inventor for Bell Labs. He was famous for his inventions but was very humble and would be embarrassed that I even mentioned this. To make this short, Hillerman’s book SKELETON MAN centers around the Hopi Salt Trail down to the Little Colorado. I can’t do the site justice, but it is breath taking, a turquoise blue with many layered pools and waterfalls that no architect could ever duplicate. If you can, take the trip. We did it by rafting. This scene inspired me to do a whole series of Southwest Art—and was in the Governor Bent’s Gallery in Taos. Ironic because Gov Bent was a mountain man from Charleston, West Virginia and I am from Morgantown.