South through Arizona

Off I headed again and I chose back roads again with lots of small towns.

Turned out this was through Indian reservation areas (Navajo and Hopi). The drive was long and the landscape was mostly empty except for sage as far as you could see. There were a few stretches that they didn´t even bother with fences (not much open country left in the US). The land is very dull without the colour of Utah.
The land is also very high and the air was very cold again. I had my grip heaters turned on high the whole day and could not warm up. My hands and feet were tingling for the next two days after this ride from slight cold damage.
The Indian towns sadly reminded me of native towns in Canada and Australia and New Zealand. They are basically a lost and broken people and it is extremely sad to see such a proud society in disarray. In these towns the people seem to own quite nice trucks but live in very dilapidated houses with refuse strewn everywhere. The only business activity I detected were the almost constant array of roadside stall selling simple hand assembled jewelery and a few Indian trinkets¨. There were also the constant reminders of a struggling society with helpful roadside signs reading ¨Respect and honor your partner¨, ¨There´s no excuse for abuse¨, and ¨Don´t drink and drive¨- very sad...  I can´t say I have the faintest idea of how to fix the problems but I recognize that it is not really their fault.

Anyway, I rode on South and into Apache country - keeping my eyes peeled of course!