Day 22, Tues 9/29 Kayenta to Teec Nos Pos: Our Most Unusual Campsite

Another gorgeous day with 73 miles to ride. We were a little unsure of enjoying the distance today, but with more beautiful scenery, a mostly-downhill for 40 miles, "tourist" clouds to keep the sun from scorching us, and good roads, we had an easy morning. The final third of the ride brought worse road conditions, and later side/headwinds especially strong the last 10 miles. The pretty Chinle Wash is pictured above. We stopped for a break at a trading post after 30 miles.


While on the road this day, Martha celebrated 10,000 miles on her odometer, 1138 of those miles on this trip!

The plan was to camp at Teec Nos Pos, a trading post about 5 miles west of the AZ/NM border. There is nothing else for many miles and we had previously contacted the owner who said that it would be ok. We were anticipating a pretty bleak campsite, in back of the store, in the dirt, with perhaps no shade, probably wind, maybe the use of a bathroom...but there were no other options. Were we in for a big surprise. Upon arrival, the owner, John McCullough, took us out back to the corral area and suggested we lay our heads down in a horse stall. No kidding! Actually the stalls have not been used for some time, and had clean sawdust for the floor. So Kit and Bill decided they just had to spend the night in the manger, and Bill tested it out at naptime.


Kit and Martha drove to the nearby Chapter House, a community center, for a wonderful and as always, a much-needed shower, at a cost of $1 each. Afterward we had to head into the Trading Post to see what offerings there were. As it turns out John grew up in Farmington, knows the friends we plan on staying with the next night, spent years in the North Sea with the Merchant Marine, and owned the post only for 15 years. We thoroughly enjoyed talking with him, as he did hearing about our bike trip. The trading post was the real thing, still catering to the locals with groceries, clothes, weaving supplies, goats, hay; and in many cases trading with them for handmade rugs, baskets, jewelry, kachinas and pottery to sell to the tourists.



The goods offered in the "rug room" were fantastic. The selection was huge, and of fine quality, some museum pieces. We did shop; we aren't saying the cost, but it was the most expensive campsite we have ever been had.