Ice Gal's: Things You Can Do In A Rental Car

Well, I had to fire my dog driver. She wanted to many kibbles, and scratches behind the ears. But the worst was she stopped at every fire hydrant to check out the calling cards of other dogs.

It was great fun in Kanab, watching Maya and Kevlr scramble on sheer rock cliffs, and wondering if they would make it back alive. I walked to the sheer rock cliffs and decided that sitting in the shade of my awning, watching their bikes, and talking to other tourists in the parking lot of the sheer rocks cliffs was more suited to my aptitude.

Scampering On Sheer Rock Cliffs

After Kanab we set a course to Monument Valley. Maya had made lodging arrangements at Monument Valley Tipi Village, that by arriving first I managed to miss the giant sign that said Tipi Village, and blindly followed the GPS to the village Oljato that was about 10 miles one way to the wrong place.

Tipi With A View Of Monument Valley

I highly recommend Tipi Village if you are ever looking for lodging in Monument Valley. The tipi’s looked very comfortable, and the RV site I had was pretty level if I put the front wheel up on the pathway stones. The first night we had the place to ourselves, well except for a very spunky little dog that worked overtime to become romantically involved with our lead dog Rasta. We even managed to get up very early that first night and see the milky way shining over the valley. There is however no photographic evidence of this. The next night there were two people that shared the Hogan.

We took a tour out into the valley with a guide. Most guides have a open truck, but we road in relative comfort in an air conditioned suburban. There was no lunch or water like the tour I took years ago in the open vehicle, but our guide was interesting , and took us out for longer than our scheduled 2-hour tour I don’t remember the valley being open to civilian vehicles, on my tour years ago, but it is now, and venders have set up at all the popular views, giving the valley a carnival atmosphere.

All Major Credit Cards Accepted

After monument valley it was the obligatory stop at 4 corners.

Four Corners Arizona, Utah, Colorado, & New Mexico

I took a little trip with Maya and Kevlr down a 3-mile gravel road to the Bisti Badlands

Bisti Badlands

We hiked for a while amongst the formations, and then headed towards Chaco Culture Historic Park. .

I opted out of the 18-mile round trip on a rough gravel road for fear that the bouncing could chip my teacups, and we all agreed to meet up at the meeting place in Grant New Mexico.

Around the time I was connecting to shore power at the Grant’s KOA I got a call from Kevlr saying Maya had broken down and could I come get them. I said yes and disconnect and told the office I had to do a extraction out of Chaco and would not be able to occupy space 16. They couldn’t refund my money, but what can you do when pals are in trouble. About the time I got fueled and headed in the right direction Kevlr called me back and said not to come but to await instructions in the morning. I pulled back into KOA and spent the night.

In the morning the instruction were to secure a rental, travel to the park and proceed with the extraction. No rentals were available in Grants so I headed to Albuquerque. After securing the van with a name at a relative of Maya’s I Ubered to Enterprise and picked up a Ford named Ranger.

Back out on Interstate 40 heading west the construction traffic jam I noticed when east bound was still stuck somewhere between slow and chilled molasses.

It Was Only About A 45 Minute Delay

Ranger was handling the Interstate speed I was pushing it to quite capably, and soon I was back at the dirt road that I didn’t want to travel on yesterday.

Ranger and I bounced along that road for its entire 8 miles of glory, but soon I was reunited with my traveling compadres and their lead dog Rasta.

We had to leave Maya’s bike, but Kevlr road his bike out and soon we were back to pavement, with night approaching and the temperatures dropping Kevlr elected to stay in one of the numerous luxury motels in Cuba.

The Sign Might Have Been The Best Part Of The Place

In the morning Maya secured a trailer sturdy enough to haul her bike out of the wilderness, and we set off to do just that, meeting Kevlr, at his Cuban Villa.

Once more I drove down the bumpy road, back to the National Park Service visitor center deep within Chaco Park. Kevlr secured both bikes on the trailer and drove us out and to the BMW dealer within one hour of closing.

We returned the trailer but it was to late to return Ranger, and he needed to be dusted for dog hair as enterprise didn’t say anything about going on dirt roads, or towing a two-axel trailer, but they did say no dogs.