Spectacular scenery

Yesterday morning we left our gun-toting motellier in Kingman, Arizona, and headed for the Grand Canyon. Most of the way we were on the I-40 (big interstate highway) which runs over the top of what used to be Route 66. A lot of the towns along the way have been bypassed by the I-40, but they all maintain slices of their heritage as service stops for travellers on the USA's old "main street." Most cafes have references to 66 and there are plenty of museums and information stops, which looks set to continue as we head further East. Seligman and Williams were both quaint little towns overflowing with 66 memorobilia and American flags. Williams alone had about 40 flags (2000 stars, 520 stripes) in a town around the size of Greytown. There were few 'genuine' American flags in the Indian reservation (most have a picture of an Indian added, or are replaced entirely with Navajo Nation flags).

The Grand Canyon was stunning and it's probably a waste of time trying to put it into words here. It's up to 18 miles across and up to 1.83 km deep. It's 277 miles long. It's huge, it's impressive, look at the photos. Even when you're standing there it still looks kind of 2D because of the distance. We had a great walk along the South Rim and got back into Tusayan (where Winston had been hanging out) around 5pm.

Some helpful advice from a ranger led us to pass through Tuba City and Kayenta situated in the Navajo reservation heading for Utah. Travelling in the evening was great, we saw the sunset on the desert, and drove in moonlight into Utah. We got to the start of Monument Valley quite late and the huge rock formations looked amazing against the blue/black sky. Our campground was just across the border and we swung in there just past 9, or so we thought. Apparently some parts of this area adhere to daylight savings time and others don't. Luckily, we managed to get in, park up and settle in (just after 10) at Gouldings RV park.

After a well deserved sleep in (sorry to those at work, we are thinking of you) we checked out and went into the Monument Valley park proper. The park is run by the Navajo and has some great information about the tribe, including an exhibit on how the 'Navajo Code' was used for secret communication in WWII. The rock formations are huge and like Grand Canyon are best seen in person. It's great driving through this area and Charlotte managed to get Winston up to 60mph.

We crossed into Colorado this afternoon. There are quite stark differences in scenery between the various states we've been to and this is no exception. Arizona was desert with small bushes, Utah had big rocks and red/pink sand, Colorado is much greener. Off in the distance are snow-capped mountains. We're staying at an RV park just across the road from Mesa Verde National Park, which we'll head into tomorrow.