Miata across America, Round 2 - Trip report

I started this over in the Trips, Adventures, and Get-togethers subforum, but I get the feeling there's not much traffic over there, and there were a bunch of preliminary planning posts in the thread, so I'm starting over here and going straight into the photos.

Before I get started with the photo dump, an admission: I took far fewer photos this time. I'm not sure why, really; it was a different experience than the last long road trip, and I guess I just wasn't as intent on taking photos for whatever reason. So this won't be as comprehensive a thread, which might be for the best, as the last one got a little self-indulgent. Anyway, we'll start with Big Rocks.

The planning for this trip started with Monument Valley, a place I've seen immortalized in countless John Ford Westerns. Getting there wasn't the whole point of the trip, just as the last one wasn't just about going to Mt. Rushmore, but it provided a useful focus around which the rest of the trip would coalesce. I was based out of Durango, CO for most of my time out there, so when the appointed day arrived, my plan was a loop through all of the Four Corners states, hitting Monument in AZ, Shiprock in NM, and anything else I found sticking prominently out of the earth.

After a few hours of driving on very remote, mostly straight roads, the first stop was Mexican Hat, a balanced rock just a little way off the paved surface.

Soon after, Monument appeared on the horizon. This is apparently now known as Forrest Gump Point - I never saw the movie, but obviously it features in it somehow. There were a fair number of vanlife Darwin Award nominees there wandering into the middle of the road taking selfies, which was mildly nauseating.

The actual park is run by the Navajo Nation as a tribal park. Unfortunately, I was not able to drive the loop road - it's rough and apparently very sandy, and was posted for 4x4s only. This is one thing for which Miata is not the answer. But the view from the visitor's center isn't bad.

For as interesting as the place was, the visitor's center was pretty busy, it was very hot (I saw 103F later that day), and the loudspeakers shilling tours every five minutes got to be a bit tiresome, so I moved on. On the way toward Shiprock, I came across another similar formation known as Agathla Peak, which was watched over by a small herd of indifferent goats.

After that, it was more fast two-lane out to Shiprock. There's very little traffic on these roads, and very few signs of human settlement for long stretches. It's quite pleasant to drive for the most part, though there are lots of sharp rocks everywhere, and the thought of having a flat tire out there was mildly unnerving.

Overall, Shiprock was the highlight of this loop. Unlike Monument Valley, there were no tourists; in fact, there were no other people. Just the formation itself, the black crumbling spine leading to the rock itself, and a rough dirt road running along the base. I went as far as I could - a sign about a third of the way along advises that Navajo guides are required to go further, which I respected, though enforcement seemed unlikely. I was nice to be able to just take a little time to listen to nothing but the wind and soak in the experience.

One does not stay in southwestern Colorado without some sort of train experience. I was in Durango for five days, and of course I had to ride the narrow gauge railroad. I did the short trip this time, which goes halfway up the route and stops for an hour at that point, allowing for a bit of walking around, before returning. With multiple trains running in and out of town every day, and the depot easily accessible, there were also plenty of chances to get some other photos of the equipment and facilities.

At the water stop on the way up.

The diesels run the early morning trip.

There are several areas from where the shops and yard can be viewed.

On my way north, I passed through Ridgeway and met fellow GRMr Jim Pettengill, who gave me the rundown on the Ridgeway Railroad Museum. Though a much smaller operation than D&SRR, what they've accomplished in just a few years is impressive. I of course had to get a few photos of the famous Galloping Geese.

Ooooo...I always enjoy a travel thread. And it's even better when it involves a Miata. Trips and Miata's go together like peas and carrots. Kinda like Forrest and Jenny. 

Wow those are fantastic photos. 

I've only been through Monument Valley once, and that was in a Big Pickup Truck on the way to a racetrack in January so I only stopped briefly to take a pic. I need to go back.

Back in 99 I did the sw. Rode the Durango to Silverton RR and back. Did Mesa Verde, Shiprock, four corners, Canyonlands, Arches plus other stuff. Stayed in Cortez and Moab. Wonderful part of US. 

Before I get back to the scenic stuff, I want to post some of the weirdness and other random stuff I encountered. For me, that's one of the great things about travel - finding strange things that just stop you in your tracks, even if only for a moment, to contemplate exactly what you've just confronted.

I didn't exactly stop for this one, at least not physically.

If there was an epicenter of weird on this trip, it was Dodge City, KS. I decided to pass through there because of its historical reputation and location along the Santa Fe Trail, which I loosely followed for a stretch on the trip west. While they play up the history, there's not really much of it left that I could find beyond some plaques and a museum. On the latter subject, this struck me as one of the more incongruous pairings for a tourist destination.

I found this unique(?) Muffler Man looming over the street where I parked when I went to dinner. Reading the info board in front of it, turns out it was commissioned by Dennis Hopper. He was a strange dude.

When I rolled out of the hotel early the next morning, this was parked in the lot. And I thought I was taking the minimalist approach to road trips....

Once I got out of Dodge (sorry), things got less weird, but Durango provided a couple of instances. The first was this bit of graffiti; I don't know if I encountered Him, unless He happened to be the disheveled guy with the long, scruffy beard who seemed to be omnipresent and always mumbling or screaming.

I found this little gem as I rounded a corner on my way to the restroom in a coffee shop.

And finally, on my last day in Grand Junction, I came across this on the sidewalk heading back to my car. It wasn't there when I parked an hour earlier. If you look closely, there are both tire tracks and footprints on it. Clearly, someone had strong feelings about this record.