Monument Valley

While waiting for my tax sticker to arrive I am studying my map once more, I see that by going off in the wrong direction for some distance I could visit “Monument Valley” the place we have all seen in every cowboy film ever made.

Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast and iconic sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1000 feet above the valley floor. It is located on the southern border of Utah with northern Arizona.

The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation Reservation.

To see the valley you can be driven the 17 mile, 2-3 hour journey over dirt roads and dry river beds by a Navajo driver.

Just after starting the tour you will be invited into a Hogan, a wood framed and mud covered circular house, just looks like an igloo built of mud, this is the type of house the older Navajos prefer to live in, warmer in winter and cooler in summer, the door opening always points to the east, to catch the first rays of sun.

As the tour winds its way around the huge red pillars, some with large holes worn in them by wind and blown sand, some pinnacles so tall and slender you feel if you gave them a push they would fall over.

To see this vast area for real is amazing, as far as the eye can see in every direction, tall pillars rising out of a flat red plateau.

Arizona: The Grand Canyon State

Arizona borders New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and California. The Capital City is Phoenix. It is the sixth largest State in the area. 


Arizona is noted for its desert climate, exceptionally hot summers, and mild winters, but the high country in the north features pine forests and mountain ranges with cooler weather than the lower desert. 


Arizona’s two main features are of course The Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater. 


Arizona has an average rainfall of 12.7 inches per year. 


Arizona is home to the largest stand in the world of Ponderosa Pine, some of the oldest trees in the world. 

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Once more moving south, this time heading for Kanab, a one-night stop and on again to Page in Arizona, still trying to work out how long it will take me to get to Temecula without missing interesting places, I keep seeing places on the map I would like to see or have heard about, I love reading maps.


Page is a fairly modern town, built to house the workforce employed to build the Glen Canyon dam, nothing of interest here, but I need to stay for a few days. My road tax runs out within a few days, I have applied for it and paid for it, but they can only send it to John's address as I don’t have an address, so I am staying here awaiting my new tax arriving by post from John, post in America is not fast, “Pony Express” was much faster.


While staying here I discover there is a "slot canyon" just a few miles up the road, Antelope Canyon,what is a slot canyon one asks, I wind up my trusty bus and set off to find out. Antelope Canyon is the most visited and most photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest.


It is located on Navajo land so access must be by a Navajo guide, as it turns out you are driven along a dry river bed in a 4x4 driven by a Navajo driver. The Navajo name for Antelope Canyon is Tse’Bighanilini, which means “the place where water runs through rocks” On entering the canyon you are at once amazed at the beautifully smooth coloured walls, shades of pink and orange, in places sunlight filters down through surface openings high above lighting the small narrow canyon in a pink glow.For most of the quarter mile you can touch both sides with outstretched hand’s.


This was a new experience for me, I had never heard of a slot canyon but I enjoyed my afternoon very much, another memorable experience.

Zion National Park

Not far away as the crow flies is my next destination, Zion National Park, another canyon of interest.

I forgot to mention the short drive down route 9 from Bryce Canyon to Zion Canyon, before arriving at Zion, the road goes through a long tunnel, the Zion, Mount Carmel tunnel, I did not give it much thought 'till I got to the tunnel, it is a normal, circular tunnel that allows one lane of cars in each direction.

My problem was my height, I am 12 feet to the top of my roof mounted air conditioning units and the tunnel is 13 feet high at its highest point, meaning all oncoming traffic must be stopped to allow me to carefully drive down the centre of the road, moving a little off centre could be very expensive, I could lose two air conditioning units, not a good idea. I had to pay for the road closure.

Having got through intact, I am now faced with a corkscrew road running down the face of the mountain, little protection along the edge, certainly none that would stop 10 tons, each hairpin requiring full lock and taking it all very gently. After that and other adventurous drives, I would now take my bus anywhere without giving it a second thought, I feel I am now a fairly seasoned driver of large vehicles.

Zion National Park is a canyon 15 miles long and up to a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan coloured Navajo Sandstone by the north fork of the Virgin River. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and the Mojave Desert

The road into Zion Canyon is 6 miles long, the only vehicles allowed on the road are the free shuttle buses, the road ends at the “Temple of Simawava” (the coyote god of the Paiute Indians). At the temple the canyon narrows and a foot trail continues to the mouth of the Zion narrows, a gorge as narrow as 20 feet.

The canyon is a haven for serious rock climbers, the many polished granite rock faces of “Alter of Sacrifice” “Angels Landing” and the “Great White Throne”.

Wildlife living in the canyon consist of a number of Mule Deer, so named because of the huge mule like ears and small groups of wild Turkeys.

Bryce Canyon National Park

On the road again, a night stop at Fillmore and another in Panguich, heading for Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce Canyon is located in south-western Utah.

Despite its name, it is not actually a canyon, but rather a giant natural amphitheatre created by erosion.

The red/orange and white colours of the rocks provide spectacular views for visitors, the rim road varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level.

The Bryce area was settled by Morman pioneers in the 1850s and named after Ebenezer Bryce a Scottish immigrant, the area covers 35,835 acres.

Archaeological surveys show that people have lived in the area for at least 10,000 years, the two most recent were the Anasazi followed by the Paiute Indians.

On my first day I set off to drive the remarkable 18 miles of twisty road leading to Rainbow Point, the end of the road and a height of 9105 feet. Stopping regularly to look in wonder at thousands of pink fingers sticking up, only photographs can show the beauty.

This was a surprise in more ways than one, firstly I expected a canyon where you drive along looking up, this was a canyon where you drive along looking down.

Although it is now the middle of October, the weather is sunny and warm with a lovely blue sky.

The RV site at Bryce Canyon was great, it was big but all trees with trailers and motor homes all tucked away out of sight of each other. The entrance to the RV Park was by way of Ruby’s Inn, a hotel/restaurant/shop/gas station/bike hire/helicopter booking office for flights over this amazing canyon, also eating out again, wonderful.

The next morning I set out to see the parts I had not seen the day before, it was dull and cloudy, not what I am now used to, anyway, I set forth along the ridge road, within half an hour it started to snow quite heavily, apart from not seeing the views, I did not know how my bus would handle conditions like that, furthermore I did not know where I could get turned around, I am up on a ridge, no car parks, no side streets or wide open spaces here, anyway I managed and tit toed back on snow covered roads to my cosy little space, I did not mention, Bryce Canyon stands at a height of 9115 feet, no wonder I had snow.

I enjoyed my visit to Bryce Canyon, I have never seen anything like it before.

The Motorhome

When I bought the motor home the man responsible for walking me round everything and explaining 101 things I needed to know finished up saying he thought it was a good buy, and with some TLC would look great.

Obviously I was so excited with my purchase I did not notice the faded look.The vehicle had lain outdoors for two years in the sun without being used, there was no rust or damage, just tired looking paint.

Once I was living in it, which was within a matter of days of buying it, I set about getting it clean.

The bodywork was aluminium and fibreglass with a “Gel Coat” finish according to the handbook.

Having lots of spare time and always lovely weather I would spend a couple of hours on one particular area, I used a polish called “Gel Coat” which worked wonders, after a few weeks I had a 10 year old motor home I was proud of.

Below is the finished result, my pride and joy.

Provo & A Repair Job

After four nights in Salt Lake City, I continue south for a short distance to Provo, backed by the Uinta range and fronted by Utah Lake it is a pleasant town sitting astride interstate 15, the same interstate that runs through the middle of Temecula, my second home.

I must mention two things about this very small site in Provo, firstly, a small but fast flowing river flows through the site, it has the standard handful of ducks happily quacking about, not uncommon.

Next morning, when I opened the blinds, I could not believe what I saw, every duck in the whole of Utah must have been there, it looked like a duck convention. I am told the owner has been giving them breakfast for years, this you must see.

The other notable event was on my return from the yellow rose expedition into Provo, a JCB had dug up the entrance roadway to the RV site, I drove very slowly over the rough ground following the hand signals of one of the workmen, only to suddenly hear a grating crunch. On parking on my spot, I got out to have a look, my heart sank, one of the below floor level locker doors had been buckled and scraped, my immaculate vehicle that I had so carefully driven for thousands of miles was now damaged.

The outcome of this was I got hold of the site foreman, explained what had happened, he came over to see the damage and agreed to pay for the repairs as and when I decided to have them done. That was OK, but with this being my home, and being on the move all the time it was difficult to imagine how, when and where.

He then said if I was not in a rush, could I go back up to Salt Lake City, he would contact the coach builder their company use, and have it repaired the next day. As I have said before, they are nice people.

The next day, with the help of my sat-nav I found the coach builder who was going to do the job, they started right away, they spent all day sanding, filling and mixing the paint making a pretty good job, I was happy to see my bus looking a million dollars again.

By the time the job was done it was 5pm, I booked back into the KOA site I had been staying on the night before in Salt Lake City, too late to go anywhere else.

Utah: The Beehive State

Utah, the name is derived from the Ute Indian language meaning “people of the mountains” The Capital and largest city is Salt Lake City, 80% of the population are centred around the city, vast expanses of the State are nearly uninhabited. 

Utah is known for being one of the most religiously homogeneous states in the Union, Brigham Young and the first band of Mormon pioneers came to Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

Beginning in the early 1900s, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah became known for its natural beauty. 

Another landmark is Monument Valley, in Navajo nation territory. Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada bound Utah. The Bonneville Salt Flats were once part of the ancient lake of the same name.

My first stop in Utah was in, or to be more precise, outside Brigham City, this I will remember is where I received a call to say I now had another "little monkey," Jen had given birth to Drew, so I had to trundle my bus in to the centre and find a florist, Jen's favourite yellow roses were duly organised.

Brigham City is all very clean and organised, all grey granite, a bit cold and uninviting I thought, two nights here will suffice.

The next obvious stop will be Salt Lake City, if it is on my route, I must see it. I get booked into a huge, very well run, KOA site, again seeing guided tours advertised, I booked one.

Next day it was off again, this time someone else was driving, quite a novelty, the tour was very interesting, obviously taking in the Mormon Temple and the Tabernacle and everything to do with it, nobody asked or tried to convert me, they were all extremely polite. Salt Lake City is very clean and tidy, the locals obviously take a pride in their city.