The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • K3

SUNDAY K3 THE FRESNO BEE THE FRESNO BEE FRI PRERUN 3 Printed 13:01 Logical Page is THE FRESNO HIGH REZOLUTION Southwest Indian country is a place to stop and learn about native cultures. By Stephen Trimble Universal Press Syndicate unset brought the wall of traditional kachinadolls to life, row after row of carved spirit-messengers warmly lighted through the west window in Janice and Joseph gallery, perched on the rim of Second Mesa at Hopi Indian Reservation. When the golden glow faded, I took my leave and drove across the top of the mesa toward my room at the Hopi Cultural Center. To the west, that sunglow admired on the kachina dolls now precisely haloed the San Fran- cisco Peaks, home to the holy beings of the Hopi portrayed by the carved dolls. Entranced, I pulled over on a dirt track to watch the drama of the sunset play itself out behind the sacred mountain, saffron and mauve clouds built from contrails scrawling indecipherable messages across the darkening sky.

I lingered for the last shift of color, for I was done driving for the day, barely a minute from my room and dinner. Travelers can zip through Southwest Indian country from Gallup, N.M., to Flagstaff, in half a day, but they miss a lot. Larger towns offer comfort and cuisine. But overnighting in the heart of at a Pueblo inn or Navajo bed-and-breakfast hogan, creates the opportunity to linger over sunsets, meet people and accept serendipitous invitations, find your way beyond the pavement, or have a second chance if you miss a scheduled tour or a potter gone to town. You will be there when the sun, moon and stars arc horizon to horizon over the golden sandstone and painted badlands truly loor of the as writer Willa Cather put it.

At the Hopi Reservation, an hour north of Inter- state 40 at Winslow, the only lodging is the venerable Hopi Cultural Center, housing a restaurant, motel and museum. Staying here allows you to breakfast on sweet, nutty, blue corn pancakes or cornf lakes and to dine at night on spicy lamb and hominy stew or a buffalo burger wrapped in blue corn fry bread. See REZ, Page K5 A mid all the uproar overthe skyrocketing cost ofgasoline and the impact of that development on travel, one subject has been strangely absent from discussion: Amtrak. It is as if the entire nation is mortified, embar- rassed and made silent by the fact that just a year or so ago, it was being suggested that public funding for Amtrak be cut to zero. The single-most energy-efficient means of transportation in all the nation was being marked for virtual elimination.

Yet no prominent figure in recent days has suggested that strengthening, expanding and improving Amtrak would go far toward softening our gasoline crisis. If millions of motorists were to switch from automobiles to the train, we would save many hundreds of millions of barrels of oil each year. Very few other means would be as effective in lessening our reliance on imported oil. One reason the oil crisis is not as acute in Europe is the widespread availability of train transportation. Between virtually every city of Europe, large and small, there is frequent train service used by tens of millions of Europeans for both business and leisure travel.

The east coast of Florida presents a dramatic example. From Miami in the south to Jacksonville in the north, a highway named I-95 is jammed each day by tens of thousands of cars caught in slow-moving traffic jams and wasting millions of gallons of gasoline. No passenger corridor in the nation is in greater need of adequate, efficient rail transportation to lessen the use of passenger cars. Yet, in an effort led by Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida recently cancelled plans to construct a major new line for high-speed rail along that route.

The chance to transfer massive numbers of people from gas-wasting individual travel to energy- efficient mass-volume travel was consciously eliminated. In schools, in the public press and over every form of electronic communication, we should be making the point that train transportation is the single-most energy-efficient means of transportation known today. We should be strengthening Amtrak rather than starving it. We should be improving present rail lines, upgrading rail stock, constructing new lines, introducing high-speed rail, expanding service in every way. We should be spending several billions of dollars a year in subsidizing Amtrak, just as we spend many more billions of dollars a year in subsidizing the highways and the air-traffic system.

Nothing would do more to lessen our reliance on the diminishing resource of gasoline. The disparity in treatment between gas-wasting highways and gas-saving railroads is a major scandal. Arthur Frommer has been writing about travel for more than 40 years. Questions and comments should be addressed to him at King Features Syndi- cate, 888 Seventh New York, NY 10019. Amtrak needs to be supported If you go Hopi: The Hopi Cultural Center Restaurant and Inn has 33 rooms and is open all year.

In summer, rates are $90 for one person weekdays, $95 weekends, plus $5 per additional person. In winter, rates are $65 for one person weekdays, $70 week- ends, plus $5 per additional person. For more info, call (928) 734-2401 or go to www.hopiculturalcenter.com. Zuni: The Inn at Halona has eight rooms and is open all year. Base rate is $79 per room (double occupancy) for a single night.

For more info, call (800) 752-3278 or go to www.halona.com. Navajo: Clarissa Williams of Two White Rocks Navajo Hospitality hosts visitors at her family hogan, especially in summer, about 20 miles west of Window Rock, Ariz. Rates are $150 per night for the first person, $20 each for a second and third person, $10 for kids. A fourth person raises the rate an additional $150. For more info, call (505) 879-2457 or e-mail Williams at born into the world again when you leave this door.

a time for gratitude; a special moment, your Harold Simpson, Navajo who built a hogan for his family Tombstone mayor kicks up some dust The mayor of Tombstone, is rustling up some controversy. In an attempt to make the city look more like it did in its gun-fighting glory days, Mayor Andree DeJournett decided to cap the asphalt on a three-block stretch of a historic street with dirt and gravel. His decision has created some bad blood among store owners and residents. a said Maureen Jenkins, who has owned Bronco Trading for 15 years. oil and the dirt and the dust we have any of these problems when we had the Still, tourists seem to like the gravel.

Yellowstone River segment A conservation group is calling an 80-mile stretch of the Yellowstone River in Park County, the second endangered in the United States because of development and bank stabilization projects. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle quoted the organi- zation American Rivers as saying that development in the Upper Yellowstone lood plain poses a risk to new homes and the wild quality of the waterway. The other rivers making the 2006 list are, beginning with the most endangered: the Pajaro River in Califor- nia; Willamette River in Oregon; Salmon Trout River in Michigan; Shenandoah River in Virginia and West Virginia; Boise River in Idaho; Caloosahatchee River in Florida; Bristol Bay Watershed in Arkansas; San Jacinto River in Texas; and the Verde River in Arizona. Indiana wants tourists Indiana tourism officials have replaced the old tourism slogan with one they hope has more horsepower to attract visitors. The state is using Your in television, radio and magazine advertisements intended to lure visitors and attract tourist dollars.

going to position Indiana as a top destination in the Midwest, we need to revamp how we draw those Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman said. The old slogan was retired in December after eight years. State officials said focus groups connected the slogan to both the motor sports industry and a reference to rejuvenation.

Geoquiz What desert covers all or parts of 10 African countries? (Answer below.) Top 10: Europe on a budget The most affordable European cities, from Smarter Travel.com: Tallinn, Estonia Krakow, Poland Dubrovnik, Croatia Istanbul, Turkey Ljubljana, Slovenia Kiev, Ukraine Brugge, Belgium Kosice, Slovakia Sarajevo, Bosnia Gdansk, Poland Geoquiz answer Sahara IN BRIEF Bee news services Harold Simpson stands outside his Navajo family hogan, which visitors can rent for overnight stays in Monument Valley. PHOTOS BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE Hornos, the adobe ovens that Zuni use to cook bread, can be found near sacred Corn Mountain, a large mesa that is considered of cultural significance to the Zuni. Overnight stays at inns and hogans on the reservation allow visitors to meet and talk with local artists. Here, Jake Koopee works on his Hopi pottery. fresnobee.com the fresno bee TRAVEL sunday, may 21, 2006 page K3.