Happy Peaceful November 17th, 2011,
The mystical (& only terrifying) aspects of my trip to Sedona were just beginning. When I left the kiva and Madalyn, I felt incredibly peaceful and ready for the last part of my drive on Hwy 191, connecting to 160 W, eager to see the beauty I've heard so much about in the town of Sedona. That was not to be, at least for the time being. While I was driving on H191S heading toward the Junction of 191/160, the sun had set entirely leaving me to reflect in the darkness, the drama that unfolds everyday in the red sand stone deserts. The dramatic colors of the sun rising and setting reflecting every imaginable shade of red/yellow and orange on the soft red rocks is a scene that takes my heart away. It's the most amazing play there is. Every show is different and every act is as free as the wind. One of my favorite authors; Edward Abbey, describes the grandeur better than I ever could.
What happened next, is truly unknown. All I can say is this, on 191, my headlights reflected on the sign right in front of me with an arrow pointing to the left heading toward "4 corners" and to the right heading to "Kayenta" (where I needed to go). I believe it was around 6:00-6:30pm, because I had just left the museum at 5:15, and had not been driving very long. The next thing I know, suddenly there is a big black dog standing right in the middle of my lane forcing me into total awareness and forcing me to make an abrupt movement into the other lane, to avoid hitting the entity that appeared out of nowhere. My only thought was "oh sh_t" and I instantly glanced into my rear view mirror and noticed glaring bright lights which I figured was a big pickup truck behind me.
The thing was, the truck did nothing to avoid hitting the dog and kept driving in a straight motion. My heart was racing a million miles an hour and then my inner voice instantly told me, that black dog was warning me to not go any farther. Somehow, I just knew it! I also noticed the quality of the road was now in very bad condition compared to a regular highway. Then I glanced at my dash. My clock said 10:00pm!!!! I had lost approximately 6 hours of my life and precious time on my journey. Worse yet, was the fact I had NO idea where I was or even what direction I was driving in. I was also very disoriented and had a very high pitch ring in my right ear.
In a moment of blind panic, I searched for any sign along the highway for a name of a location or even a mile post marker and town as an indication to my direction. To my horror, someone had taken black spray paint and "x"ed out every single marker and location on both sides of the road, further sending me into an inner feeling of panic. I did not know what to do, so I kept on driving. Finally, a little gas station appeared on the left hand side of the road, with the parking lot full of Navajos, either sitting in their trucks or hanging around the outside of the building. I was a little apprehensive about a white woman appearing out of nowhere late at night on the reservation needing help, but I did not care. I had no choice.I was truly lost. Before I even got out of my little green car, I took a compass out of my backpack (since I refuse to have a cell phone or a GPS, since in my opinion they make people helpless and even more disconnected) and oriented myself to North. (In all my years and hundreds of thousands of miles of driving, I have never experienced anything like this.) I was heading southeast. As I sat quietly trying to figure out what happened, with the strange lighting of the gas station glowing through my windows, I clasped my powerful bear necklace between my hands and asked for protection and strength. I also had on a jacket with a Native American design on its back which I was thankful for. When I walked into the door, I sensed a bit of surprise by the (please go to next post above)
