11/29/19: Monument Valley and the Wind from Hell

We woke up to find that it had snowed overnight and it was still coming down. It was a dry snow and it wasn’t freezing so it was ok. My big fear was that our plan to hit Monument Valley would be screwed up. This has been on my list for a long time and I was worried that the dirt road would be too muddy and they wouldn’t allow us in.  We walked over to the office for some coffee rather than brew it in our room and we also took our oatmeal over to use their hot water. Once done eating there we walked back, packed up and hit the road. It was snowy on the way but nothing too bad but the wind was really picking up. That was worse than the snow. My Jeep has mud tires which have been pretty poor in the rain and snow so far so I drove extra cautiously.

Woke up to snow on the ground.

This was taken just before Joyce yelled at me to get back in my lane.

Once at Monument Valley we paid the $20 entrance fee and then hit the visitor center to check things out. Which basically means to pee. I asked the lady at the booth how the road was and she said we’d have no trouble at all in the Jeep. My fears about them closing the road were false thankfully. Once back in the car we hit the dirt road and drove the road through Monument Valley which is basically a loop on a well graded dirt road. We saw a guy in a Camaro out there so road conditions were not an issue at all despite the rain. And the snow. There were sections that required you to pick a good line if you were in a passenger car but, being in a Jeep, I picked the worst lines. We started off in the sun and wind and along the 15 mile route we had things change to heavy snow with very strong winds and then back to sunshine with the same very strong winds. So along the way the visibility changed as well. Most of the time we could see clearly but there were times the scenery was in a heavy mist. At the John Ford Point stop there was a place serving food so we stopped and got an Indian Fry Bread along with a Navajo Taco. One would have been enough but both were pretty tasty. We ordered outside but were told they had seating inside so we grabbed that opportunity to get out of the brutal wind. Monument Valley has been on my list for a long time and it did not disappoint. I would go back again for sure if I am in the area.

The Valley Road as seen from the visitor’s center.

The Jeep is glad it’s here instead of the Sportsmobile.

Joyce at John Ford Point

The Valley Road.

 

The sun is out but the wind was insane. High 30’s temps with very strong winds.

Glamour shot.

The lighting changes by the moment in Monument Valley.

Another shot from the visitor’s center. This time on the way out.

I’m about to teach that Fry bread the meaning of the word respect.

Once out of Monument Valley we hit the road with Page, AZ being our destination for the night. The wind never let up but the weather definitely got worse. As night fell the snow came and on the 160 we got nailed. It was coming down extremely hard and with the high winds it made visibility extremely poor. It was a white knuckle drive until we hit the 98 which took us to Page. There was still snow on the ground but I could at least see at that point. I never had any issues with traction despite temperatures getting as low as 24 degrees and despite the fact that the mud tires they spec’d on the Jeep are pretty poor in rain and snow. We likely had 20 miles of very poor conditions but the Jeep handled it well and I never had to drop it into 4×4. We made it into Page safely around 7 and, once checked in, decided to have our last dinner on the road at El Tapatio. This was Joyce’s choice and I had no influence on the choice being a Mexican food eatery. The food was good there. I got some mole chicken and Joyce had some healthy style tacos served with lettuce as the “tortillas”. The margaritas were good as well. I finished my blue margarita and the pretty much drank all of Joyce’s Cadillac margarita since she only drank a bit. Good thing I’m a seasoned pro. After dinner we went back to the hotel and called it a day. It was definitely a day with a lot of variety!

The hot sauce has no relation to the restaurant.

 

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