Day 7: Its goin down

Camping in Monument Valley was an amazing experience. Well, most of it. Watching the sunset, seeing the stars, watching the sunrise was something I've never experienced before. To be honest, this whole camping experience was new to me. I've never camped by myself so I was hoping I could figure out how to put up the tent. I woke up several times because it was really cold at night. It must have been about 5 degrees and I was freezing. I stayed in my sleeping bag until the sun came up and it warmed up.

I camped out in the Valley of the Gods which is a dirt road that runs between the big rock monuments. Filled with washboards, elevation changes, switchbacks, large rocks. It was quite challenging for a sportbike but it was done.







Next stop was the Grand Canyon. Although I knew it would be a sight to see, I was expecting a little more. The first few lookout points, I stopped and take pictures but after the first lookout point, every following one was about the same.



I was supposed to meet a fellow advrider down in Prescott Arizona so that was my next destination. I made sure to take highway 89A which is a scenic twisty canyon ride. Boy was that fun but as I descended lower into the mountains, it got a lot hotter. It came to the point where I wanted to take off my sweater. A pullout point was ahead and I took that opportunity. Unfortunately, I didnt notice that the pavement was about 6 inches higher than the gravel until it was too late. The result:






I was okay but was more about the damage that could potentially end my trip early. Luckily, my frame sliders and the jerry can hanging off the side of my bike took the impact and my bike was unscathed for the most part.

Eventually I made it to a town called Jerome where I met up with winterhk from advrider. We gave our introductions and talked about my trip while waiting for other advriders outside of the Haunted Hamburger. There had been 2 girls from inside the restaurant who had been watching us. As soon as we noticed, one of them walked up to us and gave us her number. Her name was Nikki and she was a cutie. Unfortunately, I was leaving the state the next day so I didnt take the opportunity to return her call. Maybe I should drop a line, just to make things interesting. What do you say? ;)