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Well we are now in Colorado, a sleepy little place called Grand Junction where we spent the night (after looking round Arches National Park, so I'm an uneducated fool, but it just looked like a pile of old stones to me). We drove from Arches up Highway 128 along the Colorado river, through a ghost town called Cisco (with one shack in it).
We went to the Mesa Mall last night, after booking tonights stay at a Holiday Inn (Montrose) for nothing thanks to points. So to celebrate we went to Red Lobster (Lorna had Steak and Lobster tail and I had Lobster tail and Crabs (the edible kind)).
We finally went to the pictures to see a film called Waiting, which is a one joke movie about waiters, but in future, we will never complain about the food to a waiter. There is a scene in it where some foreigners pretend not to speak English to avoid paying a tip, which we were laughing at, but the whole cinema was dead quite (think we gave the game away there that we were English).
So today a little wander around and then off further eastward avoiding the snow. looks like its another KOA Camping Kabin tonight.
So far we have driven in to a dead end, down a railway track, pulled out with seconds to spare with a 10 ton truck bearing down on us and this time down a one way street, if we survive it will be a miracle. But the GPS is spot on, door to door directions.
Ta Ta for now.
Craig is celebrating that we now have access to alcohol and no more indian ruins!
Lorna drove us in to and around the 17mile trail of Monument Valley, visiting the 3 Sisters and Totum Pole (as seen in the Eiger Sanction). Very much off road driving, but not bad.
We are now on our way to Monticello for an overnight stay before heading up to Moab and Arches National Park.
Severe weather warnings for Colorado today, 18inches of snow and some Interstate closures (should be fun trying to pitch a tent up there.
Bye for now.
Since leaving Bonito campground we have been travelling through Indian country visiting the Hopi Cultural centre (cool place & v friendly), Walpi village (although we could not go in due to a womens ceremony taking place) and on through Navajo country to stay with Howard Smith at his Hogan (see picture on the Things to Do page). We walked down into the Canyon De Chelly with Howard's nephew, Benjamin Yazzie (really nice gentleman) and learnt lots about the Navajo way of life and saw Spiderrock. We also experienced our first bad weather when coming back up out of the canyon - a major thunder and lightening storm with hailstones the size of ping pong balls (they really hurt when you only have shorts and a tee shirt on!!). By the time we had walked back up the canyon and across a rockflat and through a (now muddy) field we were covered in thick red sandy mud, drenched through to the bone and well, lets not describe the state of our trainers...
So, back at the Hogan we lit a good fire in the wood burning stove and spent the evening drying out and drinking hot liquids(no alcohol unfortunately since it is illegal on Navajo land). A really big thanks to Howard and Benjamin for making us feel so welcome, and hello to Kim (drop us an email).
Off to go bore Craig now with a visit to John Wayne's cabin in Monument Valley (yeehaw!)
Well now we are in breezy Flagstaff. Weather a little cooler up here at 7000ft above sea level. We arrived last night at Bonito Campground to the tail end of a hurricane (now just a gale force wind - reminded us of Denholme!), and pitcjed the tent in the middle of the strongest gusts. Luckily the tent survived, and we even managed to cook tea whilst fighting off the wasps, flies and other bugs that also fancied spaghetti bolognese. Had a wander around Sunset Crater today(very beautiful and eerie scenery), Wupatki (Craig very bored looking at old ruins) and have now arrived in Flagstaff for the afternoon since we plan to visit the Lowell Observatory this evening to view the night sky. The skies are amazing in the US, we have seen shooting stars, satellites travelling across the skyline and endless nights of star riddled skies, very different to the small smattering we can see from the UK. We might even learn some names of the constelations this evening!.
Tommorrow we'll leave Bonito and travel on through the Hopi Mesas (hopefully finding accomodation when we get there). For now we are planning to find somwhere local to sit, grab a beer and have some more food!
When we finish here we have a gentle drive to a motel (yes a real bed that you dont need to inflate each day).
No set plans from now on, just take each day as we fancy and see what comes up. We are planning to visit the Sunset Crater and Lowell Observatory along the way.
8 days camping done so far (ooo I feel like a veteran now).
Weather is still fantastic here, high 80s most days, down to freezing most nights. I have seen shooting stars every night and satellites going overhead (cant see that in the UK because of all the cloud).
Oh well the dryer beckons now, so we will sign of for now.
We will write soon.
Thats a round trip of 6 miles dropping 3000 ft and then climbing it again, all told it was 4hours 45 mins top to bottom and back again with 6 litres of fluids drank.
Last night here so break camp tomorrow and then off to Cameron Trading Post towards the Hopi Mesa.
The Canyon is spectacular from the top and the bottom.
Off for food and rest now.
ps - Dennys do HUGE breakfasts!
We set off from Beatty to Boulder City (managed to get a hair cut although I have never had a vacuum cleaner run over my head to remove the hair before). Stopped over night at Lake Mead and the state park (how many more tent pegs can I smash and these were solid 1/2 inch thick pegs too). We went to the Hoover Dam and on the tour (cannot recommend the tour at all, so disorganised and so little to be shown, 5 minutes in the power room and then you are back up again). We stood on the Nevada/ Arizona border bang smack in the middle of the Dam.
And today we set off for the Grand Canyon, driving down the historic Route 66, yee Haa.
We are both having loads of fun and have driven about 2,500 miles so far. Over to Lorna now for a few words...Well, having left Nevada we are now in part of the true Cowboy & Indian country. Already seen plenty of the Navajo Nation flag alongside the american one. Looking forward to Route 66 and sampling original 50's and 60's soda fountains in the old rest stops along the route. Tonight we are visiting the alternative canyon - an underground one which should be fun, and cannot be any worse than the Hoover Dam tour. Scenery so far in Nevada & Arizona looks pretty similar, so we'll see what the Grand Canyon brings in a few days = and it's mighty hot here - 90+
So, after this little update, through the kind use of the little library pcs here, we are off to visit the mining museum up on the hill over the town and see where Tonopah started - then off we'll head south again to do a full circle around Area 51, through Scotty's Corner, Beatty and some others whose name escapes me passing Death Valley and back through Las Vegas (not stopping this time tho!) on down to the Hoover Dam eventually.