On August 30th, it was time to get back on the road and head north to Page and Monument Valley. We spent four great days with Ray and Tammy Huston at their home in Sun City. I cannot thank them enough for their friendship and hospitality and we are looking forward to seeing them again. Tammy made us a tasty breakfast, then it was time to say our goodbyes and make the long trek north to Page, Arizona.
The goal was to arrive in Page by mid-afternoon and then make a quick visit to Monument Valley.
Once we were about 45 minutes north of Flagstaff, all that was about to change. The monsoons come in hard and fast, they tend to be somewhat localized and we were about to ride into one. I stopped briefly to take some photos and was lucky enough to record a lightning strike.
Once again, bad weather thwarted our plans. The previous day’s monsoons caused a section of Highway 89 to collapse it was closed off to all traffic. A long and circuitous detour was required along Hwy168 east and then north on Hwy 89 right into Page. The detour cost us a few hours and Monument Valley would have to wait until the following day.
The remainder of the day was a wet one. At times the rain become so intense, I had to pull over and wait it out. Visibility was nearly zero since the sheer wall of rain was driven by strong winds and motorcycle helmets do not have windshield wipers. Once the rain let up a bit, we rode north and I took the following photo near Kaiboto. The most intense areas of rain fall show up as the opaque gray columns.
We arrived in Page just after 6 PM and the temperature had dropped about 50 degrees since departing Sun City where it was over 110F. This was my first visit to Page and I was duly impressed. It is a vibrant town and plays host to domestic and international tourists who use Page as the gateway to National Parks in Utah and Northern Arizona. We found an excellent Texan BBQ restaurant which specializes in smoked BBQ. Dinner was excellent, I had smoked pulled pork and Elaine had smoked BBQ chicken. While we were eating, another monsoon rolled in and soaked the town in seconds flat.
