Day Nineteen - Wednesday, 9 July - Part I

Bill’s Road Book

Day 17: July 9, 333 miles, 7 hours (cars). Note 7 – 411 miles, 8 hours (RV)

US 160: 10 miles to Cortez - Jct 491 turn left; 20 miles - fork right, keep on 160; 18 miles – turn rough onto Hwy 41
Hwy 41: 10 miles to Utah Border
Hwy 262: 17 miles to Montezuma Creek: After 90 right, turn left on Hwy 163 (Trading Post road)
Hwy 163: 12 miles to Bluff – straight on, keep on Hwy 163; 20 miles to Mexican Hat; 20 miles to Arizona Border; 24 miles to Kayenta (Monument Pass, 5,200 feet)
Hwy 160: 42 miles to Jct Hwy 98, turn right onto Hwy 160
Hwy 98: 66 miles to Page – turn right;
US 89: 11 miles to Utah Border – turn right onto US 89; 8 miles to Cottonwood; 40 miles to Canyon Road (Turn Right past Big Water)

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Alternate route for RV:
Hwy 160: 64 miles to Kanab
Hwy 98: 18 miles to Mount Carmel – turn right.
US 89: 23 miles to Junction – turn right; 21 miles to Long Valley – 15 miles to Junction – turn right; Hillsdale – turn right

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Hwy 12: 15 miles to Cannonville, Bryce Canyon National Park – turn left into Ruby’s Inn

Note 7 Cottonwood Canyon Road

No, this is not Shelley’s house in Salt Lake City. It is a road on the map but then so was a road to Rainbow Arch that we tried to go down from Page on our last trip. We ended up in the middle of the Navajo Reservation. If it’s a dirt road we can send the cars down it to tell the people at Ruby’s that we will be late and we will have to take the RV another 70 miles around by road. Might be fun though!!

We had a fairly uneventful journey through southern Utah and a corner of Arizona. As in Texas, there is a lot of nothing in that part of Utah,



but eventually you find yourself in a landscape that is truly bizarre; I always feel as though I must be on the moon or something.



There are all manner of ridges



and swirls



and then there is Mexican Hat rock.



Some of the formations remind me of hands and fingers



others look like breasts.



I was frustrated with not being able to capture the amazing colour of Lake Powell. The contrast between the blue green water and the red stone formations always gets me.


With a stop for spot of dueling cameras,




we finally pulled into Ruby's Inn and found our parking spot in no time. Since were were nearing the end of the vacation, I made an enormous rice casserole, trying to use up the groceries, but no one else showed up for dinner. We had just finished washing dishes and putting everything away when one contingent of The Tourists arrived. The other was still MIA.