August 10, 2006 Stuck!

August 10, 2006 Stuck!
What a day! I visited Gooseneck State Park, a five minute picture stop, the longest engendered meander in the world? Then went to “Valley of the Gods”, billed as a miniature Monument Valley, 17 miles of dirt road with weird formations, okay for two wheel drive. Well, I only saw the first 6 or 7 miles. Then I got stuck. It had rained recently and my back bumper hit and my tires spun. There is only one road and I was blocking it. It is not much traveled. About half an hour later, a car of French tourists came by. Phillipe took my AAA information and headed back, no cell phones work in that area. In the next two hours, four other cars with French people came by , all had to turn around and go back, except one in a Hummer managed to go around me. A Californian from Philo, Calif came by to see if he could help. He had been told the road was blocked, nice of him but I needed more. About 5:30, Frank Montella, my new hero, arrived. He dug out the back hitch and had me back on the road in about half an hour. A nice “dirty old man” that’s what he called himself when he got off the ground from attaching my RV to the tow. He lifted me out and I followed him back out to the road. So I spent the afternoon in the desert, reading Janet Evanovich in the Valley of the Gods, with my RV stuck in the middle of the road. Not bad, I had food, water and a toilet. It was peaceful, around 90, Curly and I sat in the shade. Took the highway to an RV park just outside Monument Valley. I wanted hookups for a nice long shower and electricity for air conditioning,. Still no phone service but wifi here. There is a light rain this morning. Feels good!