September 30, 2024 - Today, we only had a two-hour drive to the Monument Valley KOA just across the Arizona border into Utah. Since it was just a two-hour drive, we readied the RV and then took the truck to the Carl Hayden Visitor Center to walk across the bridge over the Colorado River. We took tons of photos, and then returned to the RV and hooked up for the drive to Monument Valley. We did encounter some isolated rainstorms and higher winds along the way, but nothing dangerous. Set up was easy and we are very close to the monuments. 

The young lady in the office of the KOA gave us a couple recommendations on where to go. She also set us up for a guided tour of Monument Valley beginning at 8:00 am tomorrow. We were looking forward to that. The cost was $150 for two of us.

We decided that we would take a drive to Mexican Hat and then on to Goosenecks State Park. The road was all paved and in very good condition. I had no idea what the draw would be for "Goosenecks" State Park. When we arrived, we paid the $5.00 per car fee and drove a short distance to a viewing point. ON the other side of the view was something that I had not expected. There were a series of meander loops on the San Juan River right in front of us. To be exact, they are called an "entrenched river meander" and they are very unique. A river flowed over a flat plain, and, over time, the terrain rose up and the river maintained its course and cut into the ground through erosion. What we have is meander loops like Horseshoe Bend, but there are three of them. The are not red, but more of a brownish-white and they are, in my opinion, only about 75% as high as Horseshoe Bend, but darned impressive. Also, the three meanders take six miles for the river water to cover two miles "as the bird flies." Be sure to see the photos on this one. It was well worth the effort to get there.

We then decided to drive to Natural Bridges National Monument. This was another 40 miles away and it was beginning to get late in the day. We would have to hurry to get there, see the large arches, and then get back before nightfall. What we had not anticipated was that about five miles from Goosenecks State Park, the paved road turns to dirt and begins a harrowing climb up the vertical escarpment for an elevation change of over 1,000 feet in less than three miles. Lots of switch-backs, no guard rails, narrow sections for two vehicles, and very steep drop-offs. Needless to say, Lisa, who is afraid of heights, was not a happy camper. We went slowly and worked our way up the mountain stopping occasionally to photograph the magnificent views. We worked our way to the top where the road again turned to pavement and a 60 mph speed limit. It was mostly straight from there. We drove for another 40 minutes and arrived at Natural Bridges National Monument. There is an eight-mile looped road in the park that takes you to the three separate arches. We began the drive on the loop and exceeded the 25 mph speed limit by quite a lot. Luckily, the rangers were gone for the day and there were only three other vehicles there. We stopped at each arch, walked to the viewpoints, took some photos and then moved on. We were concerned that we would have to descend the dirt road in the dark, and I wanted to avoid that. We got some photos, but all the shots were looking west with the Sun in our faces and lots of shadowing on the arches. We did get some photos though. We reached the park exit at sunset, and we still had 25 miles to go to get to the dirt road. We arrived at the zig-zags with just enough visibility to see the road. There was a car that had just pulled out in front of us as we began the descent, but after a short distance, they pulled over to let us go by. I think that they had not come up this road and were very concerned about what lay ahead. They followed us down the hill. Once we reached the bottom of the dirt portion, we hit the pavement again and the rest of the ride was done in the dark. We were both tired and hungry when we go back to the RV. It was time to relax. Lisa did a great job of handling the steep drop-offs without panicking. Now, for an early wakeup for a guided tour of Monument Valley in the morning.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 - The first day of October and we have a guided tour of Monument Valley beginning at 8:00 am. We were picked up by a young Navajo/Apache woman driving a small flatbed truck with seats mounted to the bed. It was somewhat rudimentary, but efficient. We had seatbelts and we rode in the open air. Our guide's name is "Comasheena" which is a name that her mother made up for her. There was no speaker system, so she would drive us to a location and then talk to us before letting us roam to take photos. The good thing about the guided tour is that we could access parts of the Navajo land that others cannot. We all had to pay an additional $8 to access the monument. Comasheena was extremely nice and took us to many cool parts of the monument. She spoke to us about the history of the places and what their names were. At one arch, she played a drum for us and sang. It was very nicely done. This particular arch was also shaped like and amphitheater, so the acoustics were excellent. Comasheena also showed us a couple cool techniques for taking photos with our IPhones. The entire tour took three hours, and we were able to get a close-up look at the monuments and then some looks into the Navajo culture. It was a good tour and worth the $75 per person.

Wednesday, October 2, 2024 - Today we drive to the Winslow area to see the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest.