Day 5 -- Tusayan, Arizona to Monument Valley, Utah -- 180 miles

This morning it was 40 degrees in Tusayan, Arizona, just outside the southern entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. It made me glad that I left the heater in the RV set to 60 degrees last night. Still, when I stepped outside the rig to see how wet the evening rain and gotten the entryway rug that I had thoughtlessly left outside, I was pleasantly surprised at how warm the air felt. The rug was soggy, but that was no big deal. I had a plastic tub to hold it until it could be dried out. The sun was shining, which has been something of a rarity in the last four days, the birds were chirping away enthusiastically, and I looked forward to hitting the road.

Our plans today called for re-entering the Grand Canyon Park via the southern approach, but keeping to Route 64 as it formed a right angle and headed for the eastern entrance to the park. Although the canyon beckoned just beyond our RV windows, we only stopped once to view the canyon in the morning light. There I got into a fascinating conversation with a fellow photographer who had perched himself on the edge of the canyon wall, outside the safety fence, and was busily snapping shots with a 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 Rollicord film camera. This is the type of old fashioned camera your father or even grandfather might have used. The Rollicord shoots perfectly square photos and was one of the cameras of choice a half century ago for sophisticated photographers.

At the sight of the chap's camera I completely forgot about the grand canyon -- is that possible? -- and spent the next fifteen minutes talking photography with him. He even let me take a photo of the camera so you could see what I'm talking about. This guy, though proficient in digital shooting and had a digital camera in his backpack, has decided to take up the hobby of film shooting once again so as to, as he put it, make himself slow down and consider his every shot more carefully. After all, the Rollicord produces only twelve shots per roll. Sometimes I wish I'd do some film shooting, especially since I have at least fifty rolls in my fridge, but digital is just so convenient.

After exiting the park we cruised east on Route 64 until we intersected Arizona Route 89 north. Then we motored north on Route 89 until we intersected Arizona Route 160. Our plan was to travel the northward-trending arc of Route 160 until it crossed the New Mexico state line. At least that was the plan. But something very important got in the way of our plans: the sky! Yes, the sky was so incredibly beautiful today that I kept pulling off the highway into any convenient driveway, weed patch, or semi-level turnout and dashing off into the brush to shoot the sky. Concetta kept telling me to be careful opening the door since we were often parked so close to the road that she feared a passing 18-wheeler would take the door off and send me flying a hundred yards down the highway. Fortunately that didn't happen, but my constant photo ops definitely slowed our progress a bit

So it was that when we reached the town of Kayenta on Route 160 and were nowhere close to the New Mexico state line we decided, quite on the spur of the moment, to turn north on Arizona Route 163 which promised a nice RV park just twenty some odd miles up the road. At first we didn't realize that we had just chosen the route into Monument Valley, that oh so revered territory of director John Ford, actor John Wayne, and film classics like Stagecoach and about a zillion other black and white westerns from the 1950s. But as we headed north into this most sacred of places of western lore, we started coming across the beginnings of the famous Monument Valley buttes and mesas. I just couldn't believe it. Though I have seen most of Wayne's westerns like Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Searchers, I had never plotted a course to the filming locations on one of our vacations. Just an oversight, I guess. Even films like Back to the Future III, How the West Was Won, and Forest Gump shot footage in Monument Valley. Okay, enough said. I was definitely in heaven and managed to pull over another half dozen times before we'd gone the twenty miles to camp.

The camp turned out to be very pricey, but very well maintained unlike last night's rather shabby park. We got a great spot, almost level, and couldn't be happier. We're situated in a sort of "bowl" with rust-red sandstone cliffs on all sides except the canyon entrance. There are paved streets, easy hookups, and each space comes complete with a picnic table and stand-type barbecue. You can sign up for tours here at the park office and they will pick you up and carry you around the valley pointing out key locations. One tour even comes very, very early so you can see sunrise on the valley. Concetta and I will probably skip the guided tours and just wander around on our own.

Our destination tomorrow is -- well, who knows? Maybe north toward Durango, Colorado, or east into New Mexico. We'll just have to study the map and decide. Personally, I like not knowing and serendipity is my very favorite thing. So until tomorrow, we wish you Happy Traveling.