57.0 Monumental

A photo taken on Monument Valley is a must for a motorcyclist. We did it in 2014 and there is nothing in the rules that says that you can't do it more than once. Much of Northern Arizona is Navajo tribal land and now goes under the name of Navajo Nation. There is something about only being allowed on the land if accompanied by a Navajo, but clearly we crossed it in 2014 and now, again, ten years later. But there are small fences next to the road. So we are not sure as to what the status of the Nation means. It wasn't clear to us either how the well-known fast food and petrol outlets functioned - but there weren't that many of them anyway. Maybe the fence goes round them too?

There are not that many recognisable towns in the area. There are odd congregations of prefabs that reminded us of parts of Aboriginal Northern Australia, but not much else. We are not sure whether this represents an improved lifestyle for the Navajo or not? One notable exception was the Cameron Trading Post which was very much an oasis in the desert. We happened to stop there by chance - in need of a drink. A lovely historic building with great picture windows, Tiffany stained glass panels and pressed-tin ceilings (something we had seen for the first time in Mexico). The Trading Post was a Navajo business, now - restaurant, shop, motel. Our waitress explained to us about the Navajo being driven off their land in a forced march in the past and then, with the creation of the reservation, being allowed back. And a picture of her grandmother could be found at the back of the book for sale next door in the shop. It's a place we made a mental note about returning to one day.

There are very few accommodation options available close to Monument Valley - this might be something to do with it being on Navajo land. We believe that land belongs to the Navajo community as a whole and not individuals, so individuals don't have anything to raise loans against to start businesses. It was also too far for us to travel from Sedona to the other side of Monument Valley. It's not that there isn't any cheap motel accommodation available. There is. At least six or seven motels. In nearly all aspects they are cheap. Except cost-wise. It was our most expensive accommodation to date...

The trip out of Sedona was beautiful. We also did a loop round the crater of an extinct volcano; it last blew nearly a thousand years ago but everything is still blackened. Otherwise, apart from the Cameron Trading Post the day was a bit drab, a bit like the 'cheap' motel we stayed in.

Monument Valley was cloudy but still very impressive. We just rode through taking photographs. And rode back to take some more. And then turned around again. Unlike Forrest Gump we didn't decide to stop because we were tired.

In 2014 when we rode through we had stopped between Mexican Hat and Bluff at what has now become some very expensive accommodation - not a cheap/expensive motel. When we set off that morning we almost immediately passed a great looking cafe and made a mental note to ourselves that should we ever return... Well, it being Thursday, it was closed. Perhaps next time.

Our destination after riding through Monument Valley was Moab which is even more rocky than Monument Valley and we got a foretaste of that on the approach. Firstly a massive sandstone arch and then a snowman, or is it a teapot?

56.0 It's starting to feel a bit like... Red.

Sedona was a place recommended to us, so why not? The guide book said it was surrounded by rocks and these rocks generated vortexes (not vortices) and were the source of incredible energies. The route to Sedona had been enjoyable and we pootled along quite happily.

However on approaching Sedona we started to become aware of some of those great energies as the sky darkened significantly. This is nearly always a heads you win, tails we lose situation when riding a bike, especially in the heat. If we stop to put on the waterproofs then it certainly won't rain.  Although the temperatures have dropped, it's still in the 30°C's and we will overheat and get just as wet from sweat. If we don't put them on, it will certainly rain and we will get wet. We got to 2.5kms of our accommodation. We should have been more proactive. It was immediately too late. Never have we been so wet. Luckily there was a Laundromat with industrial sized dryers running off 'normal' energy where Paul spent a significant part of the evening. We are not convinced that the alternative energies and healing on offer in Sedona would have been anywhere near as efficient.

The following morning was bright sunny and hot, so we went exploring. We are now in red rock country and Sedona is surrounded by them. They all have names as you would suspect and we chose Cathedral over Coffee Pot and others. We climbed to the top of Cathedral Rock, which isn't actually the top but halfway up. But that's where the trail stopped and it was high enough for us and the views.

Red Rock country will be about photos not ramblings for the next few installments.

This just about marked our 8 months on the road with just over 32,000km covered. We have harked on about not having had any/much rain on our trip. It's no longer the case... 

55.0 Land of the free?

It was a long ride to the border in Mexico so we had not planned to venture too far before stopping on the States side. Our stop was in Bisbee. We think Bisbee is quite unique and quite clearly sees itself as one of the most hippiest and coolest places on the planet. Brighton, you are nowhere. Bisbee was a copper mining town a long time ago. You see the opencast mines as you arrive. Now there are custom cars and bikes everywhere, Harleys of course. There are brightly painted clapperboard houses. There are Art Deco buildings and art galleries. There are shops selling all sorts of things (except food!!). There was even a sign proclaiming that Bisbee had the best year round climate of anywhere in the world and, at night, it was quite pleasant. However Paul doesn't have enough hair for what here is the almost obligatory pony tail and he isn't allowed a beard either. Françoise has also never been that keen on wearing hotpants. So we don't really fit in. 

We had felt it coming in Mexico. We knew that it was likely to be worse in the States. When we went into our room, in whatever accommodation we were staying in Mexico, there was always a little envelope with the name of the cleaner on it asking for a tip. Paul found this exceptionally annoying especially when we were only staying one night as the cleaner had not done anything above what is expected in preparing the room and we would have left before she, or he, prepared it for the following guest. After all, what was the tip supposed to be for? Restaurants were something else. If you didn't check the 'cuenta', it was quite likely that a tip had been added. And we are not talking about 10%. When paying by card, 'suggested' amounts of 23%, 25% and sometimes 30% were offered. As well as 'custom' amounts for us perhaps less generous 'customers'. It was manageable in Mexico as, more often than not, the sums were smaller. But we are now in the States and it is no longer the Land of the Free, more like the Land of the Free plus 25%. With this sort of escalation it will soon be a case of visiting a restaurant to give a tip and having some food on the side.

Gunfight at the OK Corral? Wyatt Earp? Doc Holliday? Tombstone? Been there, done that - at least a reenactment! Tombstone was only a short ride from Bisbee and we just had to stop for photos. And a drink in Big Nosed Kate's Saloon. She was Doc Holliday's girl back in the day.

Tombstone was on the way to Tucson where we had planned a service for the bike. It hit 45°C here when we arrived. And with the bike at the garage we had to walk everywhere. Where we are staying is next to an Interstate and railway line and it is not that picturesque. Luckily there is a 24hr American diner next to our motel. On our first visit we chose from the front of the menu. On our second, it was from the over 55 section at the back of the menu; cheaper and smaller plates. On our third we shared an over 55 plate. We have seen a young couple having seven full size plates between them. It's a different world.

Our motel is a long way from downtown Tucson so with the bike being fettled elsewhere, we took the free bus downtown. This is not Bisbee. It is a strange place and not somewhere we would ever like to live. It's not just the heat but everything is so spaced out and split by six lane highways that seem to go on forever. It is very difficult to imagine communities as we know them existing here. All shops are 'out of town' and only accessible by car - they have to be really, as there is no town to speak of just sprawl with no identifying features. Tucson city centre itself was very underwhelming.

Luckily there are cacti. Tucson culture seems to be about cacti, cacti of all kinds: barrel, saguaro, organ pipe and many more. Françoise never really liked them until we started the trip and saw them in the wild in Argentina.

We eventually got our bike back from the dealer and were able to do a short ride around the western Saguaro National Park - to see more cacti. Heading North from Tucson we missed the 2" of rain that fell late afternoon. Our stopover was in nowheresville again, Globe, in a 'vintage' motel. Partially refurbished, so only two roaches spotted. Nothing left on the floor that night. The town was once an important one, as was the whole of the area due to massive copper mining. The mining activities don't look completely dormant and with the pressure to move away from hydrocarbons they could become very important again and maybe our historic motel will then have a complete refurbishment?