I took the Valley Drive in Monument Valley, a 17 miles scenic loop around the mesas and buttes. It’s a dirt road, very bumpy: you can’t drive faster than 15 miles per hour, unless you have a 4WD SUV, which I don’t… The car ended up covered with orange/red dust. It was nice to see those strange geological structures. However, the nicest and most characteristic ones were those I showed you yesterday: the Mittens and the Merrick butte. It took about two hours to make the complete loop.
Monument Valley is located on the Navajo territory. So when you pay there, they add Navajo taxes instead of state (Utah) taxes. My hotel, The View, was located inside the Navajo territory. All the people working there have Indians origins, and they sell native Indians stuff. Nice but expensive. The hotel was brand new; it only opened a few months ago, they were still adding plants and lights in the garden.
After that, I left Monument Valley and drove west along Highway 163. It’s a characteristic long straight strip of highway with Monument Valley in the background. You most certainly have already seen that, as it’s a classic poster picture! Then, it took about three hours to cover the 170 miles to Moab, gateway to Arches National Park (NP). I saw different landscapes and mountains covered with snow.
I drove through very small towns like Blanding, Monticello, Bluff… These are made of a few blocks along a single main road. Moab is the nicest little town I’ve seen since this morning: it is clearly made for tourists visiting Arches NP and Canyonlands NP, and for amateurs of ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) trails.
Clearly, people in these areas drive jeeps, pickups or huge trucks with oversized suspensions. Cars like sedans are seldom here. It’s another side of the USA I discover now, very far from what I saw in California: I’m arriving here in the Midwest and the mentality is totally different (“cow-boy” mentality)!!!
It’s the Easter Jeep Safari this week in Moab. I’ve seen lots of jeeps with oversized suspensions and large wheels, extreme ATV’s! There is a meeting here: I see on the local TV channel a summary of the event. It’s crazy to see what you can do with such vehicles: it’s like the trials competitions for motorcycles. These ATV’s climb on huge rocks, on nearly vertical paths, it’s unbelievable you can do that with a car! Just have a look on this website if you’re interested: http://www.centralpt.com/pageview.aspx?id=16382
It’s starting to be very crowded: it’s the Easter weekend and many people come here with their (huge) trailers! Hereafter, some pictures of Moab and its huge cars!!
