(Location: Grand Canyon to Moab, UT)

Completely overcast. Colder than yesterday. Overnight rain and no sun in the east to warm things up. But I still had my coffee on the balcony…

I had made Andrew coffee to drink while I showered, then I got myself ready and made my coffee while Andrew packed. Eventually we had everything sorted, packed and loaded into the car. We had breakfast, checked out and then walked to the rim for a last look at the Canyon from the village. We encountered another family of deer on route.

Back to the car and we drove to the market plaza for a browse, and then set off. We didn’t get very far before I realised I didn’t know where the small camera was…after unpacking almost all the cases I found it and we set off again. We stopped at Moran Point and then Navajo Point for the views. Navajo is close to Desert View (and its watchtower) and was really excellent.

Then Andrew continued driving to Cameron where we stopped for fuel and a look in the trading post; and then to Kayenta where we bought lunch at Subway.

My turn to drive. To be honest we hadn’t exactly been racing to Moab, with all the stops we made, but now it should be a straightforward non-stop affair for the next 165 miles, across the border into Utah, through Monument Valley and then Mexican Hat, Bluff, Blanding and over the mountains and Monticello…

Well…we made it into Utah without stopping, but as we past around the Monument Valley recognisable landmarks we were brought to a halt in the road by a Sheriff. He told us a commercial was being made and it could 10-15 minutes. We got out, took photos of Monument Valley silhouette, opened the iced coffee we had in the boot…

Then I realised I hadn’t asked what commercial they were making, so off I went to chat to the Sheriff. And that’s when I got the gossip. Red Bull Racing were filming, running a car up the road towards the Monument! When we were eventually released, we drove past the crew trailers…and 2 cars!

With that excitement over, we continued, passing red rocks and landscapes, noting the gathering clouds over the mountains…

And in due course, as we passed Monticello, the sun had set, the rain came down and the outside temperature started dropping…13C, 9C, 4C, 2C…I switched the car into 4 wheel drive mode, just in case…but apart from being tiring, it was all fine. We arrived in Moab at 1830.

By the time we had checked in, got suitcases in the room (which is a large suite, with balcony !) and discovered proper Wi-fi (oh yes!) we were headed towards 8pm. We walked 3 blocks down the road to Zak’s, for easy going atmosphere, food and beer. Back in our capacious accommodations by 9pm and ready to start some photo uploads…! Stand by!

(Editor’s note: back catalogue – Days 9 & 10 photos now added!)