Day 79 - The Searchers

A landmark day today, passing the 10 000 mile mark (whoop whoop). A familiar four hour drive, this time heading straight into the desert.

The mountains made way for hills, which made way for shrubs, which made way for dirt. It was fascinating to see the terrain change so quickly. There was one thing we wanted to see on the way and that was the Four Corners where New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah meet. It was a little off track from our route and when we got there we were disappointed to find that it was closed. We were not the only ones surprised that it was closed as other drivers were at the entrance double checking that it was indeed closed. We didn't think to check as it was Thanksgiving yesterday, but it turns out that it is Family Day today. Fair enough. We got back in the car and continued to our destination, Monument Valley.

As we approached the familiar looking monuments they can't fail to impress. Out of a seemingly desolate environment, these huge monoliths have a great deal of character. Due to their size it seemed to take an age before we were near to them. The monuments themselves are in Navajo territory and today we passed them as near as we could. We would be getting a lot nearer tomorrow as we had a three hour tour planned.

For the rest of day, we checked into our hotel room and put our feet up for a bit. We also had a balcony with a sublime view of the monuments that we ensured we admired. We then decided to stretch our legs and pop to a local store that seemed much closer than it actually was. It was good exercise and resulted in aquiring another memento from the trip. When we got back to the hotel I noticed a two dollar bill in my wallet! At first I thought I had been done by the oldest trick in the how to fool a tourist handbook. It looked genuine enough. A look online and it turned out they are legal tender with only about 1.5 million in circulation, thereby turning them into something of a party piece with many Americans unaware of their existence. I then got carried away thinking it was incredibly rare due to the year it was circulated but that turned out to be a misnomer and it is still worth a total of two dollars. Either way, a cool addition to the mementos and sorry America, you've only got 1,499,999 two dollar notes left. With all this excitement, a quiet evening ahead was needed.

Song of the Day:
The Proclaimers - 500 miles (closest to a song about 10 000 miles!)Read more