This morning we sadly left Saint George, Utah. We had a fabulous time with Todd and James and got our puppy time in as well with Moby and Maddie …..apparently they miss us as much as we miss them!
I also forgot to mention that Teddy now has a travel companion as well. We picked him up on the Extraterrestial Highway. We refer to him as ET, ExtraTerry. This was in honour of our friend Terry Love who we lost in 2020. He was a huge fan of SciFi and somehow I think he would have had a great deal of fun during that part of the trip. I believe he is travelling with us in spirit
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ET
You can see the road in the valley that we rode on once we came down off this mountain…look for the beige line on the green. |
We headed out on Highway 15 taking exit 16 to Hurricane and then 59S. This part of the route is where we entered Arizona for the second time this trip! At Fredonia we took Route 89A S to Marble Canyon where we had lunch.
The morning ride took us through some beautiful canyons and open valleys. At times when we stood at the top of a summit we could see the road we would be taking miles below us. The elevation on the ride went from 3500 to 7000 ft.
We stopped to take pictures overlooking the Grand Staircase. The Grand Staircase is a sequence of rock layers that go from Bryce Canyon National Park through Zion National Park and into the Grand Canyon.
As we continued along this route we found ourselves riding along the Vermillion Cliffs which were a deep red in the sun. They remained at a distance until we rounded one hill and found ourselves at the base of these cliffs. The next thing we know we are climbing up around and through another set of cliffs/mountains.
We stopped in Marble Canyon for lunch at the Marble Canyon Trading Post.
Larry had a grilled cheese worthy of mention in the blog….2 types of cheese, green chili relish between two slices of homemade sourdough bread. He allowed me a couple of bites while I chomped down on a salad (which was equally worthy of mention). This stop also had some jewelry and I was able to purchase a pair of earrings to go with my tour turquoise pendant that I bought back in 2016.
After lunch we headed along the cliffs again and it was one of those times that we could see the road turn up ahead and we knew what it meant….the climb! As we rode back and forth climbing up the red rocks, we came to a turn out where we could look back on the road in the valley that took us from Marble Canyon to here. We could see for miles, and we could see the canyons that seem to be the baby “Grand Canyons”. There were some vendors here as well so I got myself a silver ring. There is meaning attached to this particular ring and it involves a life journey, which seemed appropriate for now and for years to come.
It is hard to describe all that we have seen today other than the landscape was always changing but the colors of the mountain rock also changed….red to white, red to the left of us and white to the right, at one point there was even black mountains. And then there were trees, and the sage. It is really hard to capture and we made a conscience decision to be as much in the moment as possible. Many of these changes were found along 89N to 98E and then to 160E as we move closer and closer to Monument Valley. As we arrived in Kayenta, AZ for the night, we could see a small snapshot of what is to come.
Monument Valley is a bucket list for me and I am looking forward to checking it out. We missed our opportunity to see it when we flew to Arizona and rented bikes many years ago. It was March. Snow and cold were the deciding factor but we had always planned to come back. Tomorrow we ride back into Utah again but only for a short distance….Looking forward to seeing the Monuments.
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