We took about half a day to meander our way to the
Valley of the Gods via Monument Valley.
It was pretty obvious how both got their
names!
The road into Monument Valley is long and mostly
straight. A bit of a contrast to the Grand Canyon, but gradually, the
landscape alters and becomes more exciting. We are talking Buttes and
Mesas, they are the components of scenery hereabouts.
It was hot enough to produce a mirage of the non
oasis variety.
Some day time turbulence produces
magnificent skies.
One is tempted to say that this is where we spent a
night, but I know you won't believe me.
This was
just a gas stop.
The 'monuments' begin to appear out of the horizon.
and pretty impressive they are too.
Another great sky, they must be so
interesting if you live in the area and like skyscapes as I do.
We are in amongst them now, it's Indian territory and
native Indians do live here and do not appreciate intrusive photography.
After all that cross country stuff, our 2006 Pontiac
looked more like something out of the 1930's dustbowl of Oklahoma!
A few hours later and we are motoring
into our second great find of this tour: The Valley of the Gods.
This is comfort and ambience in solitude. Well, three
bedrooms and Gary and Claire to look after the hosting bit.
Claire admits to being a bit of a Luddite and prefers
guests to phone to make a reservation. Gary is a master of self
sufficiency.
Our king size bed is in a cool basement area at the
foot of a romantic spiral staircase.
The view from the veranda just emphasises the
glorious isolation, we are ten miles from the nearest community.
Sitting here with a glass of wine watching the sun goes
down is just soooo therapeutic.
Gary's self steering solar arrays track old Sol and
store energy in some enormous submarine batteries in his shed.
There are also some state of the art heat exchangers that
heat water to be stored in an insulated underground water tank.
There is also a small wind generator providing 400
watts of power on windy days.
Breakfast is tasty and welcome to the seven guests.
three American dentists (don't mention President Bush) a couple from
Solihull and us from South Wales. We had a great evening together
laughing and chatting.
