149 miles today, 2,513.7 miles total

We headed west from Albuquerque in gusty winds 20-30 MPH & stopped by El Malpais National Monument to see the ancient lava flows from multiple volcanoes erupting in the ancient past. You can see one of the black lava fields in our m, b & t picture. We made a picnic lunch at the continental divide…7,275 feet…next to a low-tech covered wagon adjacent to ours!?! We arrived to visit Jonathan & Anna Newman, teachers at Rehoboth Christian School, elevation 6,500 feet, established ~ 1903. There is a tribute there to the Navajo Code Talkers, who literally turned the tide of World War II. The Navajo language remained an undecipherable code of an unwritten language of extreme compexity.  We have had wonderful fellowship with Jonathan & Anna hiking Pyramid Rock and enjoying her homecooked dinner. They were gracious to put us up for the night. m, b & t (aka the NewMillermans)

I have been to the end of the earth, I have been to the end of the waters, I have been to the end of the sky, I have been to the end of the mountains, I have found none that are not my friends.”–Navajo Proverb

“In the American Southwest, I began a lifelong love affair with a pile of rock.” — Edward Abbey

The Navajo Beauty Way Ceremony