Driving through Monument Valley and the desert

10.05.2009

At about 6 a.m., I couldn't take it anymore, so I got up and started putting our stuff back in the car. Sylvain threw it all out last night to make room for him to sleep (he was the last one in). Feeling like total crap, we go back and look at some more Grand Canyon. It all looks the same to me.

We kept driving and driving, stopping in the middle of nowhere for a breakfast burrito on an Indian reserve. Monument Valley was not too far away. The terrain in Arizona is just incredible. One minute, you're driving in the middle of a flat desert, the next, you're in the middle of some incredible red rock formations. We had to pull over and capture the moment.

We get back in the car and drive some more, my head is pounding and I sleep a little bit. I'm dehydrated, sleep deprived, too hot, and probably suffering from some form of mild altitude sickness. I can't decide whether to keep my eyes open, taking in every bit of landscape that I can, or make myself feel better by having a little snooze. I end up doing the former. Everything is just so incredible and unbelievable, that I force myself to stay awake until we get to Denver.

We stop for dinner somewhere outside of Denver, I am not hungry but I get a slushy that makes my head feel marginally better than it did before.

It's 10:30 when we finally get there, and Ally is waiting for us with her roommates giant Great Dane standing at the door. We are Ally's first Couchsurfers, so I try and talk with her a little bit, but my head feels like it's going to EXPLODE, so I go immediately to sleep in the basement, after figuring out what our plan is for Denver. Ally says we should be able to stay an extra night, so we plan on taking her out tomorrow to the country bar. The one with line dancing and a mechanical bull... YES!

Sylvain in the truck