Oh, man! I LOVED working up on the rez! 4 Corners, Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni tribes. The people are awesome, their culture and traditions.....Amazing place! I had 5 years of transporting and setting up mobile homes all over that area. I have never felt so comfortable or at home in those surroundings. Many times, when we finished up a set, the Medicine Man would come and bless the house. It was such an honor be allowed there for the ceremony. I was the only "girl" on the crew and eventually I ran my own crew, all men.
We were usually doing what we called "Suicide Runs", basically running the new units from the factories in Chandler and Litchfield Park, up to Tuba City, where the main sales lot was, back to back, drive to the home site, drop the unit and start putting it together. We had 2 transporters (running during daylight w/the loads and dead heading it back to the factories) and 3 crews, each crew at a different site. We'd crash out at the site when we got too tired to do anymore, usually under generator powered halogen lights working til 3:00-4:00 in the morning. (Most of the sites didn't have electricity within 20 miles or more) Longest stretch I did w/o a break to go home was 14 days...........my 2 kids met me at the door with the hose and told me to come in the laundry room door, :floorlaugh:
I started putting red dots on all the places we set homes on a map: Kayenta, Kykotsmovi (K-Town), Black Mesa, First, 2nd and 3rd Mesa's, Keam's Canyon, Many Farms, Gray Mountain, Ganado, Mexican Hat, Chinle, St. Micheals, Hotevilla, Lukachukai, Ft. Defiance.......red dots everywhere!
I had an inkling about "shape shifters" as a teenager, Carlos Casteneda's books were a must read. We had an experience one night about 10 miles outside of Shungopovi, we had stopped work and were making our "dinner" on a propane camping stove. (Loved it that the guys would cook!) Patrick was watching the chicken cook and I had some fresh corn rolled up in tin foil, Steve was out collecting the tools that got scattered a bit when the 2nd crew had come and pillaged our service truck. :facepalm:
Then, there was these eyes, caught by our propane camp lights....fiery gold, just staring down at Steve's backside, not more than 20 feet away. Like, WTF? We're a good 5 miles from any dwelling and there weren't any sheep on the mesa.
Peeps, never go out in the boonies without a firearm, or 2, take a memo if you need to...
In a matter of less than 45 seconds, I'm eating Patrick's dust as he hauled a$$ to the service truck to get his 9mm, and trying to whisper "hey, DUDE" to get Steve's attention, Steve straightens up and out of the darkness slinks the biggest, growling coyote any of us had ever seen, teeth bared, BIG yellow fangs, and it drops down in a crouch....you could just see it's fur ripple as it was tightening it's haunches to spring forward, it's coat was just weird, like the tips had been dipped in silver highlights and each hair was it's own living organism...........no, folks, my usage of illicit substances had been over for a good 5 years, this was no flashback........and Patrick took his shot.
There was this scream, not a howl, or yelp, this blood curdling scream, not quite human, definitely NOT coyote, and it was gone. We found a faint blood trail, but nothing that was significant, and NO WAY were we going to follow anything THAT big, in the dark, wounded and pi$$ed off to no end. Needless to say, we did NOT sleep under the stars that night, no, we hunkered down in the double wide with the doors locked and windows latched tight....
Next morning, finished the shingles on the ridge line and we pack up, drive the 10 miles back into Shungopovi, and stop at a little store to grab some Sun Chips and beef jerky (Breakfast of Champions). One of the Rez police was talking to the store owner.........
One of the locals who lived about 5 miles out had to be taken to Tuba City and on into Flagstaff. Somehow he had gotten himself shot in the shoulder the night before and the Flagstaff Medical Center had removed a 9mm slug. The store owner laughed and said something about it could have been the man's wife, but they hadn't ever come in to buy 9mm ammo.
And I will never forget this. The rez police said "He was probably just out stealing chickens again and got caught in someone's crosshairs. Doubt he'll be using all fours for a while" And then he winked at the store owner and they both had a huge belly laugh.
Steve dropped the Sun Chips, my hands were frozen trying to get cash out of my wallet, Patrick could have been knocked over with a feather, all 6'2 of him...and I'll bet we turned into the whitest white folk these 2 had ever seen.
:hiding:
Did I mention that they have the best damn mutton on fry bread up there?
That's the experience of why I have a different respect for coyotes........
fftobed:
Btw, there's a really cool site that tracks how much you've saved by quitting and shows the health benefits after the first hours, days weeks etc. of not smoking. I'll try and find it for you. I'm going tonight to stock up on (mostly) healthy snacks to keep busy. Sunflower seeds were my thing last time. My tongue went numb from all the salt tho! Lol.