Day 1 (25th July) - I did not mention the destination for the day till now, but our immediate target at hand was a place called Kayenta in Arizona, around 440 miles from our Tucumcari night halt. Opening the door of our hotel room to grace the sunlight, I was amazed to see the scenery amidst which we had decided to shack up. Situated on the famous "Route 66", also, made moreso by the movie "Cars", this small town was a beauty. However, we didn't have much time to keep on adoring it. Savoured the lovely breakfast Mc-Donalds had to offer, namely Egg McMuffin (Egg, ham and ofcourse the Muffin) alongwith hot tea. The I-40West, that we held onto since Amarillo, is intertwined with Route 66, offering similar levels of scenic spots. Very soon we were driving through Albuquerque, from where we were pretty much being made aware of the environment that will surround us for the next few days. After driving for 240 miles we stop at the Lovely SkyCity Casino at Acoma, a famous stop on the route 66, for tanking up (the last we did was at Amarillo), as well as some stretching out.
Some pictures en-route
The Truck is emerging from the route 66
However, we couldn't afford the luxury of giving ourselves a lot of time to relax, because, not only were we fighting the Sunset at 7:37 pm local time at destination, but also a predicted cloud cover at 5pm at the same place. So very soon, although it did not seem like it, we were blasting down state road 60 towards Kayenta after having left I-40 at a place called Gallup.
On this trip, I had decided to rely totally on the services of the Beltronics RX65 radar detector. If I had to make this trip, there was no way I could do that at the Interstate speed limits. Generally I dont lay blind trust on the detector, but this time, I decided to go only by its alarms. Whatever consequences...Dekha Jaaye ga. The probability of that happening anyway was also too bleak. It was also a reason for choosing a Merc based Sedan.
While driving thus, I was thinking of a lot of things to write, but all that erased from my memory due to another stretch that came later in the trip. (To come up later in some post)
Here are some more snaps of this particular stretch
The Radar detector only triggered once and by quarter to 3 we were at Kayenta. We had seen glimpses of the Monument Valley we were going to see that evening on the journey before that. But.... hey? They said cloud cover at 5pm not 4pm? Clouds, you dont have the right to be here at this time.
Some opening glances of the area
Unfortunately they (clouds) did not budge. We drove to the Monument valley, 25miles (US63) north of Kayenta, although quite dumbstuck by the natural monuments. Quite irritated by the fact that the clouds would take away the real photo potential of the place. Sunlight really brings out the redness of the place.
On the way
The visitor point being the "NAVAJO Nation visitor point" also the start point for the scenic 17 mile drive thru dirt roads around the monuments mites and Mesa's.
So here is the Monument valley.
Apart from seeing this place and snapping it, there were other agenda's in mind, driving on the red dirt. They have a lot of these 4x4 tours of this place (that does not require 4x4 usage) and they stick to the 15mph limit. But on certain stretches you do get an opening in front, when there is no one. Moreover there are a few of these back roads where no one goes. There, the 300 was put thru a lot of sideways action. The characteristic numbnes of the steering of the W210 platform had gone away, it was infact comfortable on the ripples and rocks, before a turn you could actually swing the car around easily. Scandinavian Flick or Pendulum turns were quite finely mastered on this. Infact I had the pleasure of seeing hte faces of the passengers of an oncoming jeep, when I passed them sideways across a turn and go into the next turn sliding sideways the other way. (Some of them might have said: "well thats outrageous!", although some pretty ones were all smiles)
My wife remarked "ki hochche?" (whats happenning?), my daughter said "abar koro" (Do it again). Initially I wasn't on the brakes at all, but later realised the brakes actually dramatize the goings on (when coupled with the hard turning in after the turn away), by giving the ability to approach with more speed (although I am sure I was exiting slower). The car was changing its colour.
All this while, almost parallel to having fun with the car, I was cursing the clouds and looks like the Sun God decided to listen. It actually showed itself for a couple of minutes. It was a quick decision to drive back to the visitor point to take the photographs of the main scenery then.
Soon it was time to retire for the day. We have had fun that day.
To be Continued...