Thursday 7th June

The Kokopelli Inn. Not a brilliant night’s sleep. Quite noisy until late and then again early. Bed not the most comfortable. Breakfast in the lobby was quite simple - only cereals, toast etc available but enough to keep us going. Anne had a long chat on the phone with Joan who has been beset with problems with Caz (now back on route to Oz) and with Kirsty. Joan & Colin are now booked for Australia on 20th June. It may be quite awkward when they get there.

Set off for Monument Valley around 9.30am. A completely straight run on the 163 for about 45 miles. Stopped in Mexican Hat. Although this is a tiny town it had a Shell station with a full 7/11 shop, so we filled the car and bought some more water.

After the pay station for the Valley we went straight to the Visitor Centre and had a coffee. We were a little bit annoyed with ourselves - we’d somehow become convinced that there were almost no services in MV but the Visitor Centre had quite a good restaurant and a good range of ready-made sandwiches, so we needn’t have carried yesterday’s ones with us.

After a quick look at the Museum we set off on the drive. We did the whole scenic loop and went to all the view points, taking in all the famous scenes. The driving was a tiny bit awkward in places. Sometimes you were on a 6 inch layer of sand on the road surface. Sometimes on gravel and sometimes on bare rock. You needed to keep your eye on the road all the time in case of unexpected dips, bumps, holes, etc. It took us a good two hours to go round the 17 mile drive.

Back at the Visitor Centre we were lucky to grab one of the only two picnic tables and were able to eat our sandwiches and drink our apple juice just before the full sun got onto them. A bit strange having to hold onto everything to stop it blowing away in the strong wind while still struggling to stay in the shade. By this time it was about 36c.

We set off back thinking of getting back early and doing a few things before going out to eat but then we saw the sign for the Valley of the Gods. There was virtually no information other than a sign. We went in on the unpaved road which made the MV loop look like a brand new motorway. It was extremely scary driving with sharp summits, very steep gradients and very sharp bends. We weren’t quite sure what to do so after a little while we put the hotel into the satnav and it suggested we carry on. This turned out to mean another 14 miles of quite scary driving. Fortunately we worked out how to use the special settings on the 4wd on the car. After creeping along at 15mph maximum and frequently coming to a stop, we emerged back on the 163 further away from Bluff than when we’d started. On the plus side we saw some fantastic scenery and were virtually on our own the whole way. It was only as we reached the end of the drive that three cars came along going in the opposite direction.

Back at the motel we had a much needed cup of tea. Les went to see whether there was a car wash nearby as the car was absolutely covered in sand and dust. The lady on Reception said there was no car wash but if Les came back in 5 minutes she would’ve moved her truck and he could use the hose that was watering the lawn. When he returned Les found that she hadn’t moved her truck because the keys were locked inside. Having hosed the car down Les was able to return to Reception with one of our wire coat hangers and was able to unlock the truck through the window. Les felt better as this was a favour returned and the lady was really pleased.

In the evening we ate at Dukes - the restaurant at the Desert Rose Resort. Interestingly the restaurant is ‘dry’ and we saw a few people leave when they realised this. Very nice food however in a nice setting. Anne was able to have Mahi Mahi and Les had salmon - both with mashed potatoes and asparagus and both very nice.

The motel wifi was painfully slow so we couldn’t send any emails with photos attached, nor could we live stream any UK TV, so we watched a downloaded episode of Scotland from the Sky.