Saturday, July 5 - Day 9: Escaping The Phoenix Heat

I left Lindsey's this morning around 7:30 and it was already 90 degrees and the humidity was 36% - so much for the dry heat!  Typically the humidity is around 10% but there was a little rain the day before.

My route today went east/southeast from Phoenix to Clifton which is near the New Mexico border.  From there, highway 191 provided 100 miles of wonderful mountain driving.  This has to be one of the longer stretches of continuous "fun" roads.  I did have some rain near the end of this road and also a few other times later in the day; however, the rain always lasted less than 5 minutes so I drove through it without putting on the rain gear.  Here is the Google Maps satellite view of the road.  One of the sites just north of Clifton is a large copper mine.   If you look at the Google Map satellite image, you can see the large area near Clifton that is a different color; that is the large open pit mine.

For the remainder of the day I continued northward toward the Utah boarder.  I made it as far as Monument Valley which is right on the border.  It has large rock formations that stand out like monuments.  It was getting late and starting to rain when I got here so I only got a few pictures this evening.  I am hoping to get more in the morning.

I am staying at a campground that is right in the valley.  I got a campsite with a great view out my tent window.

I met a guy at the campground, I think is name was Joe.  He was also traveling on motorcycle; he is from Upstate New York, near Lake Placid.  He teaches electrical trades to the people at a correctional institution. He travels on motorcycle for much of the summer.  His "school break" varies from year to year depending on state funding but typically he gets about 5 weeks or more off during the summer.  During this same time, his wife who is a retired Doctor of Speech Therapy travels all over the US teaching Speech Theory teachers.  So, during his time off and while his wife is travelling, he travels the US on his motorcycle.  What a deal!  He says they have this arrangement during the summer and then have "normal husband/wife" time during the rest of the year.

Tomorrow's journey will take me further into Utah and then to 4 Corners (only place where 4 states join together: Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado) then up the Million Dollar Highway (550) in Colorado.

Here is track of my route today.