12 / 32
POLICE WORLD
Vol 60 No. 2, 2015
12
Article
A Monumental
Journey
of Discovery
After watching all the old John Ford movie westerns, which were filmed in
Monument Valley, it was always an ambition of John Elliott to visit this iconic American western location.
John describes his trip below.
T
hanks to the IPA I was put in touch with
Andy Karas, an ex Los Angeles and Las
Vegas police officer, who lives in Las
Vegas, just off the famous strip where from his
front yard you can see the big hotels such as
the Mandalay Bay. He very kindly offered me
accommodation at his home and to drive up to
Monument Valley - a total of 424 miles!
Andy met me at McCarran Airport and two days
later we had completed a 7 hour road journey
to Monument Valley and were settling in for
the night in a hotel in Kayenta - the nearest small
town to the valley. This part of the USA is largely
desert and mountains, and has very little in the
way of cities with just a scattering of a few small
towns.
Monument Valley is on the Arizona / Utah state
line and is characterised by a cluster of vast
sandstone buttes the largest reaching 1000 feet
high above the valley floor. It is part of the Navajo
Nation and has been defined for decades of what
film goers imagine the American west to be. It
is said to be the greatest outdoor museum in
the world and is one of the most photographed
places on earth.
To see it at its best, Andy and I booked
a tour with Goulding’s Tours and were
driven around the Valley by a local Navajo guide.
It is such an awe inspiring place that makes you
really think you are in the land of giants. The
landscape overwhelms you, not just by its beauty,
but by its sheer size and colour.
As part of the tour, our guide gave a
demonstration in making clothing and blankets
from home spun wool, while sitting in her ‘hogan’
- the name given to the traditional cone shaped
housing.
It was a privilege to visit Monument Valley and
see the wonderful sights that we have all seen
before but on the silver screen. I also enjoyed the
fact that in taking a tour I had contributed to the
well-being of the Navajo and their children for
whom a High School has been built near to the
site of Harry Goulding’s trading post.
On my return to Las Vegas with Andy he had a
surprise arranged for me. His son is in the Las
Vegas Police and he made it possible for me to go
out with Greg O’Conner, a Highway Patrolman.
It was a great experience to go out for 7 hours
with him on the freeways around Las Vegas. I
borrowed Andy’s body armour which was really
heavy. What impressed me most was how
diligent Greg was in carrying out his duties.
There were a number of offences like no seat
belts and using a mobile phone while driving.
He also dealt with the aftermath of an accident.
A number of stops were made on vehicles with
unsafe loads although some drivers were just
given advice. Every time we made a stop he was
on to his control checking the vehicle and driver.
It was never received your message, it was
always ‘copy’.
What really impressed me was how he entered
all the evidence into his onboard computer which
printed out the ‘citation’ on the spot - this was
then handed to the offenders with details how
to respond.
Thanks Greg for a great experience.
John Elliott
, Nottinghamshire branch
John Elliot and Andy Karas
The Navajo guide
Greg O’Connor
In 1928, Harry Goulding and his wife Leone
built a trading post to trade with the local
Navajo. When Harry heard that the famous
film director John Ford was looking for a
location to make a western film they took
photos of the Valley to him in Hollywood.
Ford fell in love with this area and made
his first western there called ‘Stagecoach’,
starring John Wayne in 1938.
The rest is history.