We began the day with a leisurely departure from Fredonia.  We planned on buying groceries in Kanab, but the only store was closed on Sundays.  We were going through Page (again) anyway, so we headed towards Gouldings in Monument Valley.

Since we were stopping in Page anyway for fuel, we went to the Walmart there for a few grocery items and, as often is the case, bought more than we needed.  We’ll wait for Steve before buying more food to accommodate his tastes.

We stopped on the way at a Jerky outlet that also sold gas, and explored the poor man’s “Wave” and cave, which is a short walk behind the station.

We also stopped to eat hot dogs from Walmart on the road.

Gouldings is a very interesting and growing complex on Navajo land here in Monument Valley.  It started as a trading post in 1924, but has grown into a sorta-tasteful South of the Border place with a lodge, grocery store, campground, museum created from the original trading post, swimming pools for both the RV camp where we are and at the lodge, and such. They also have a hidden Arch behind the campsite.

The history of Gouldings in an interesting tale. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Harry and Leone, aka “Mike,” Goulding went to Hollywood to see John Ford to pitch Monument Valley as the perfect setting for Western movies. The fist movie made there was Stagecoach, starring John Wayne, released in 1939.

They have a small movie theater where we watched a movie about Gouldings, and then went through the museum that largely presented the many movies shot here.

We could have watched John Ford’s Stagecoach after the movie about the Gouldings, but decided we could easily stream that whenever we liked.  Tom went for a ride in Polo to take pictures in evening light, while Scott stayed in Khan to write this blog and call his wife.