Wednesday

We had no wiFi,cell service or dish tv last night, so this post is a little late. We left Cortez Co in the morning in the cool..had sweatshirts and wind breakers on. We stopped for a mid morning breakfast and met 25 bikers from France. They had a ball checking out the cars and asking questions, taking lots of photos. By noon it was warm and we were in t shirts again.
We drove thru Monument Valley, down the dirt/gravel 5 mph switchback road. We placed our "Goodguys Rod & Custom" decal on the sign at the top of the decent. While driving thru a construction zone with fresh gravel I caught 2 rocks to the windshield, I now have 2 nice nickle size chips there! We drove onto AZ, about 5PM we stopped for a quick break and to check the clouds boiling above us and to put on the windbreakers again. In about 5 minutes all hell broke loose, wind, blowing sand/gravel, we took cover temporarily under the gas station canopy. We checked inside, they had 2 rooms left! We quickly took them. The wind just kept getting worse. We found shelter for the cars in a shed used by a river boat excursion company. We headed to the local bar/cafe for some beers and dinner.While walking and running to the cafe, we were pelted by stinging sand and gravel blown on us. We watched 3 SUV's loose their back glass...., blown in. Two portapottys blew over and went scooting across the highway.......empty thankfully. Shingles were blowing off the roofs....we just set there and drank beer and watched the action. Finally at 8PM, 3 hours later, the wind and gravel stopped. It was totally calm, clear skies, untill about midnight, then more wind, rain and noise. What a night!