COLORADO RIVER AND LITTLE COLORADO RIVERS' CONFLUENCE

COLORADO RIVER AND LITTLE COLORADO RIVERS' CONFLUENCE

Painting of the "Grand Canyon" by Lorraine Strieby,  Copyrighted

After reading one of my favorite authors, Tony Hillerman’s Skeleton Man, it stirred

up a very unique memory of mine. 

Why do I emphasize Interstate 40 in my game WannaBtruckers?  Well. there are many  reason besides my love for 18 wheelers.   I shall begin with this:   It is approximately close to the Grand 
Canyon, Lake Powell, and the confluence of the Colorado

and the Little Colorado Rivers.   You will use I40,  but other roads, hiking,

and rafting will have to be used too, including the  Hopi Salt Trail,

owned by the Navajo Nation.  (if you travel the I-40 each child should have the boardgame
WannaBtruckers, sold on Amazon).

Ever since my first rafting trip in 1976, this confluence has been in my mind.

The first time my family rafted down the Colorado, we wanted my father-in-law.

Dr. Maurice Strieby, to go with us.   He was born in Colorado and became an inventor

for Bell Labs.  He was famous for his inventions but was very humble and would

be embarrassed that I even mentioned this. 

To make this short, Hillerman’s book SKELETON MAN centers around the Hopi

Salt Trail down to the Little Colorado.  I can’t do the site justice, but it is breath taking,

a turquoise blue with many layered pools and waterfalls that no architect could ever

duplicate.  If you can, take the trip. We did it by rafting.  This scene inspired me to

do a whole series of Southwest Art—and was in the Governor Bent’s Gallery

in Taos.  Ironic because Gov Bent was a mountain man from Charleston, West

Virginia, and I am from Morgantown.  He was the first governor of New Mexico.

Painting by Lorraine Strieby, The Grand Canyon, copyrighted