Wild West 2013: Day 6 - Grand Canyon to Monument Valley Pt. 2

OK, I guess I better fess up, though I don't think anyone noticed. At the briefing this morning we were almost ready to go when I suddenly realised I had left my crash helmet in the room, along with the key card! DOH! Not quite on the scale of Dud's cable lock though ;-)

Helmet retrieved we took a run a few hundred meters up the road, to get some gas (that's petrol to the civilised readers amongst you). Then we all headed into The Grand Canyon National Park. Now, I've seen this part of the canyon before and also the bit over the Vegas side but it never ceases to be anything other than toadalee orsum! Dean had led us round to a viewing point, before letting us of the leash, our instructions to meet him Carol and the truck with Larry & Marcelee at Desert View. We didn't have long, so Dud and I set of at a leisurely pace to the rendezvous point. There was just enough time to take a few snaps and buy some postcards, before we hit the road again, heading for our lunch stop, at Cameron Trading Post.

CTP as I've just dubbed it, (being too lazy to write the whole name, yet have just written more to explain why I called it CTP) is a Navajo Indian restaurant/souvenir shop. It's quite a size and as you'd expect sells a lot of traditional Navajo stuff.

We made our way through the shop to the restaurant. Dean had suggested we might like to try the local cusine. No, not Burger King but something called a Navajo Taco. He also suggested we might like to share a small one, as they are, let's say, generous for the UK appetite. Dud and I did as suggested and half was plenty big enough. It is pretty much, chilli and beans, with cheese and salsa, loaded onto something they call frybread. A bit like a flat bread but maybe a bit lighter. Washed down with a raspberry iced tea, it was very tasty.

Most of the ladies were gagging to buy some bits and pieces and someone suggested I should buy Cath a trinket of some description. Checking the time, I texted her, to ask if she had anything in mind she might like as a gift. I was pretty sure that, as on most occasions, she wouldn't read my text for about 2 days and I'd be off the hook. Well, guess what?

We left CTP to start the next leg of the journey to Monument Valley. The heat was upon us again but we musn't grumble, I expect it's struggling to get near 60 degrees back home, let alone 90-100.

Man, this place is freakin' orsum dudes! You can see, I'm starting to pick up the language. Digressing for a moment, I don't think I mentioned Carol has just retired from teaching. I believe she said she used to teach English. beleive me honey, what you guys talk over here ain't English ;-) Anyways, to keep Carol's brain from turning to mush, I'm trying to give her little tasks or pose questions to her. It was her who gave me the stat about the wind farm at Palm Springs. Today, I asked her what exactly was a corn dog. An easy one I know but still she came up trumps, bless her. Good job, Carol.

Dud, Dean & Carol at the Grand Canyon

Back to the ride though. As we neared a place called Tuba City, the landscape changed so dramatically, it had to be seen to be believed. The rocks were a quite bright pink, the colours made all the more vivid by the brilliance of the sun. It was quite stunning. As we progressed eastwards, the pinks disappeared, to be replaced by these deep red rocks. It really is a beautiful, if seemingly inhospitable part of the country.

We had a quick refreshment break, at a Burger King but a BK with a difference. Quite remarkably and unusually, the restaurant houses a small, a very small museum, dedicated to Navajo who gave their service to the US during World War II, in particular, the Code Talkers, who ancient native language could not be deciphered by the Japanese. Facinating.

From there we had another fuel stop, then rode the last 20 or some miles into Monument Valley to our beds for the night at Gouldings Trading Post.

Monument Valley is the stereotypical Wild West film set, with these massive deep red rock structures sticking up into the brilliant blue cloudless sky. The thing is though, this is THE film set for many of the westerns made during the thirties/forties/fifties. The likes of John Ford used this natural backdrop to maximum effect, whilst shooting their movies and the GTP houses a small museum, showing the movies made and the stars who came, such as John Wayne.