Bluff to Monument Valley (79 km)

Early morning we took Jim´s Ford truck, loaded Franks bike and Nero (that´s how we named our dog) into the truck and drove to Cortez, where it just had rained. On our way, in Montezuma Creek, we stopped at the very gas station were we first met Nero. Katrin bought him a big bag of food, which she pourred on the ground. Nero jumped on it, hungry as always, and while he was eating, we drove off. He was so busy eating, we think he didn´t realized that we very leaving him. Both of us were sad, Nero was a fine dog and we wished, we could have taken him along with us.
In Cortez, a rather small town is a surprisingly big bikeshop. A new chain was quickly installed and we headed back to Bluff into the sunshine. When we passed the gas station again, we saw Nero laying on the ground, head up and waiting for us to come back! Again, we felt bad and sad.

Up´s and down´s on Route 163

In Bluff the bikes were quickly ready and late, at 1 pm we left, having arround 80 km road ahead. That was tight, as the sun goes down at 5 pm and then it becomes very quick dark and cold. The scenery once again was more than fantastic. But we hadn´t anticipated the hills on the way. They were really an exhausting challenge, combined with some headwind. We arrived at the Monument Valley just when the sun had gone down and in the hotel in complete darkness and a bit frozen. It is amazing, how quick the temperature drops here in the desert. In the afternoon we were driving partly with T-Shirts, at night we had to put on all we have. 

Almost in Monument Valley, last sunshine