AZ - Day 10 (PD)

Once we were away from the motel the plan was to get breakfast and also get a picture of Joe & Aggie's in daylight. Sadly someone had parked blocking a large chunk of the mural on the wall so we couldn't get a clear shot of the whole thing.

The other side of the parking lot had a Holbrook mural.

Fuelling the car took $36 and the range on the onboard computer went from 56 miles to 505. When we picked it up the average mpg was showing 19.5. Sticking roughly to speed limits (sometimes you have to floor it!!) and we now have it showing over 33mpg to the titchy US gallon.

The trains we had heard so much about weren't too bad. They ran all night but apart from few hoots, the earplugs weren't needed.

We headed up R66 to the freeway and headed east and had breakfast at the Hopi Travel centre. We opted for the BK. The breakfast croissant was filling.

Here we turned left onto SR77 into the Navajo Nation and headed north east to Chinle and the Canyons de Chelly.

We stopped for a coffee break at Denny's near the park entrance.

Through the oblong window

After Claire stepped in to assist some French tourists in the visitor centre, we took the south rim.

People live off the road and there are wild horses walking about.

Each overlook gives views of the canyon walls and the river below. Temperatures are lower this far north, around 95F. On the news we saw Phoenix had a record for 3rd June of 113F.

We opted to miss the north rim as we had to get to Kayenta, some 80 miles away and fit in Monument Valley as well.

The drive north west on Indian 59 was very pleasant. Kayenta itself is hardly holiday central. A Navajo town full of wooden buildings and a few hotels for the tourists. The Wetherill Inn is motel style with two storeys.

We had room 112 and could park outside which is a boon.

Luggage dumped we headed north for the 20 drive to Utah. The entrance to Monument Valley is about 200 yards past the state line.

We took loads of pictures of the red rock formations.