Finally - two nights blogging in a row. Again the day dawned clear and got progressively hotter, starting around 25 degrees first thing and reaching well above 50 by mid afternoon. Today's ride was bloody amazing! We set out from Moab well rested after two days of just cruising instead of the flat out A to B stuff we had endured earlier in the trip. First destination was The Needles, a part of Canyon Lands about 60 miles out of Moab.
There are many moments on this ride when I am struck by the solitary nature of riding through this country. You have these amazing roads to yourself and literally only see one or two other cars (or bikes) over a considerable amount of time. Riding to the Wairarapa will never do it again for Bo and I - we are ruined for life. This is the country they built Harley's for and you can see why. Big open roads with no need to change gear - just sit back and take in the scenery - and there is plenty of that!
After the Needles we headed out for Monument Valley. This is the land that John Wayne, Eastwood and many other cowboy movie greats made their own. To get there we took a road less travelled that had us (once again) in the most amazing country with no one for miles. If you look to the bottom left hand corner of the next shot you can see the road we were to travel on and get some idea of the scale, After about two hours of riding we ended up at the top of the mesa that this shot was taken from and found that the road went from tar seal to gravel. The interesting point was that this gravel road went down the side of the cliff face with no barriers and a sheer drop to the bottom.
As we approached there were about 10 Harley's parked at the end of the sealed road, festooned with US flags and a group of guys milling around looking at the road and clearly not keen to go down it. We rolled into this group, gave them a friendly wave and just kept going. We could hear them talking animatedly as they realised that one of the two that waved was a woman and they had just been seriously found wanting! Takes a Kiwi to show em! Here is what they were concerned about.
The road you see in the distance was where we were headed once down of the cliff face. We hit the bottom and high fives as it was a pretty exhilarating experience. I was proud of Bo, she did it like she had ridden roads like this for years and as soon as she got down said an f word that is common when people are tested and realise they passed when they thought they didn't have a shit show. She followed that word with "I need a beer" and we were off in search of it in that empty land pictured above.
Actually the beer arrived quicker than we thought it would when the road led us to a sleepy little Utah town called Mexican Hat (population 40). Now Mexican Hat derives it's name from a weird rock formation that actually does look like a Mexican hat. A Moab it is not. About six buildings surrounded by dirt and dust. What attracted my attention as we rode into this collection of shacks and rusted out cars was a big board with the words "Pizza - Beer" boldly painted on it. Now there was no one in sight and the building,looked derelict. None the less we pulled in and as we did so a dilapidated old golf cart meandered out of the shade with this old guy in it and he pulled up as we parked the bikes. "Where yo'all frum" he asked and we said New Zealand. He said "Damn - I's a bin waitin to meet a Noo Zeelanda ever since the Vitnim woar Met sum those Ozzies but never a Zeelanda. How yo'all doin, my name is Richard. What rung yo'all here" I said 'the need for a beer' and explained we were going to try and get one inside. He explained that we couldn't get a beer as Utah law required us to purchase a meal. We were obviously disappointed, but he then said he owned the place and whilst he could not sell us a beer he could give us one. With that he produced an iced cooler from the golf cart and began serving us beer in that hot dusty car park. He was one of life's genuine good bastards and typical of some of the people we have met in these out of the way places. When he heard we had ridden the gravel road he was astounded and proceeded to give us more beer. He was obviously impressed with Bo's efforts. Meanwhile no sign of the yanks we saw at the top. Hell those beers tasted good. You can see the golf cart and me in the centre of this shot.
This was a bitter sweet moment. The very cold beer on a hot dusty day, well earned after a pretty challenging ride was the sweet part. To be told that it would be the last beer we would be able to get for the next 24 hours was the bitter part as bot Bo and I had talked about hitting a local bar at Kayenta after riding Monument Valley. Turns out Monument Valley and the towns within it are part of the Navajo Nation and no alcohol can be served, purchased or drunk within the borders. Somewhat subdued by this news we headed for Monument Valley and then our overnight stay in Kayenta. Richard do offer to give us more beer but we still had a lot of riding to do and we couldn't carry it. Monument Valley was a disappointment after the Moab experience as we were both sad to see that the Indian owners had made some poor decisions about where they would place buildings and dwellings. It detracted from the overall grandeur of the place and probably the only time I have ever thought that our Resource Management Act might actually be worthwhile. Still this was another great piece of geography despite the man made eye sores that dotted the landscape as we rode through it. It is a shame really.
Despite the introduction of detracting buildings, you still get to ride these roads on your own and view the towering monuments in all their glory. Pretty amazing really. We arrived int he town of Kayenta, exhilarated and thirsty. We purchased some fruit, powerade and water and had a wee party. Tomorrow Vegas!
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