Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
given much choice. I was now driving across the largest Indian reservation in America-a
Navajo reservation stretching for 150 miles from north to south and Z00 miles from east to
west-and most of the few cars along the highway were driven by Indians. Almost without
exception these were big old Detroit cars in dreadful condition, with all the trim gone
or flopping loosely, and with at least one mismatched door and important-looking pieces
hanging from the undercarriage, clattering on the highway, shooting out sparks or dense
smoke. They never seemed to be able to get over about forty miles an hour, but they were
always difficult to pass because of the way they drifted around on the highway.
Occasionally they would drift far off to the right, sometimes even kicking up desert dust,
and I would shoot past. Always it was the same sight: a car packed with Indian men and
boys and a driver drunk beyond repair, sitting there with a wet-dream look on his face-the
look of a man who is only barely conscious but having a splendid time nonetheless.
At Page, Arizona, home of the Glen Canyon Dam, I passed into Utah and almost immedi-
atelythelandscapeimproved.Thehillsgrewpurplishandredandthedeserttookonablush
of color. After a few miles, the sagebrush thickened and the hills became darker and more
angular. It all looked oddly familiar. Then I consulted my Mobil guidebook and discovered
that this was where all the Hollywood Westerns were made. More than a hundred film and
television companies had used Kanab, the next town down the road, as their headquarters
for location shooting.
This excited me, and when I got to Kanab, I stopped and went into a cafe to see if I could
find out more. A voice from the back called out that she would be just a minute, so I had a
look at the menu on the wall. It was the strangest menu I had ever seen. It was full of foods
I had never heard of: potato logs (“small, medium and family size”), cheese sticks for 89
cents, pizza pockets for $1.39, Oreo shakes for $1.25. The special offer was “8oz log, roll
and slaw, $7.49.” I decided I would have coffee. After a moment the woman who ran the
cafe came out wiping her hands on a towel. She told me some of the films and TV shows
that had been shot around Kanab: Duel at Diablo, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
“My Friend Flicka,” “The Rifleman,” some Clint Eastwood movies. I asked her whether
any Hollywood stars ever came in for some potato logs or cheese sticks. She shook her
head wistfully and said no. Somehow this didn't altogether surprise me.
I spent the night at Cedar City and in the morning drove to Bryce Canyon National Park,
whichwasinvisibleonaccountoffogandsnow,andthen,inasurlymood,toZionNation-
al Park, where it was like summer. This was very odd because the two parks are only about
forty miles apart, and yet they seemed to inhabit different continents as far as the weather
went. If I live forever I will not begin to understand the weather of the West.
