Riding Solo 03 - Monument Valley Motorcycle Camping Adventure

Yeah , it's a beautiful morning and I'm all packed up and ready to leave Big Lake and get into another kind of a landscape .

It's been really nice just even for a day and a night to be up here in the high elevation , we're at 9000 ft camped out last night , saw some skunks playing with each other .

And then this morning I got up and cooked breakfast , walked down to the lake , packed up all my gear and now I'm ready to head north and I'm looking forward to this ride .

We're going to take a scenic road out of here and then we'll be out in the flatlands of north eastern Arizona , out in the desert .

We'll see what's out there .

So I'm in Springerville , Arizona and I'm heading north and I know that I'm going to be going through the Navajo Nation , which is a big , big , big area .

If it was a state , it would be larger than 10 other states .

And it's a big area right now .

It's going through one of the worst Coronavirus epidemics in the country .

They've had more cases per capita here at the beginning of this outbreak than anywhere else in the country .

But I'm not too concerned because it's also a very sparsely populated part of the country .

So I'm not going to be running into any big crowds or anything like that .

I'm more concerned about fuel and supplies because I know there's some really long stretches of desert highways .

So I've been looking at the maps and making sure that I know where some places are to get gas .

So it looks like I can go over 100 miles from here and get up to window rock and then I can get gas there , get my supplies for the night and continue heading north into the desert , maybe find a good place to camp out .

So this trip is definitely not about interaction with a lot of people and more about being by myself , being able to be out here riding my motorcycle and camping in these wild places .

It's kind of my own form of self isolation .

Just thought I would stop here on the side of the road to show you guys what it's like out here on this part of the ride heading north in eastern Arizona , right along the New Mexico border Highway 180 .

I think we're heading up towards the Navajo Nation and the landscape has changed quite a bit since we were down in the forest .

It's wide open , a lot of grasses , some scattered trees out in the distance and we're starting to see some of that characteristic red rock that we'll see a lot more of as we get further north into Monument Valley in Southern Utah .

So this is window rock behind me , we're at the capital of the Navajo Nation and I'm going to head north to Canyon Du .

She and see if I can find a place to camp out in the desert tonight .

It's getting late in the day and I had absolutely no luck finding a place to stay by Canyon Du .

She , this Navajo nation is really tricky to find places to camp .

Everything has got this kind of like range fence along the side of the road to keep livestock in , I guess , or whatever .

But it makes it so you can't just pick a spot and go off the side of the road and go camping and , you know , i it's tribal land .

I respect that .

So I don't want to be the guy that just goes and breaks the rules and goes where I shouldn't go .

So they certainly don't make it easy .

But I did want to stop here and look back there .

That's Monument Valley .

I'm gonna roll through there at sundown here .

Try to cross the state line into Utah .

Get off the here and see if I can still find a place to camp .

It might be dark by the time that happens .

But I just wanted to stop here and show you where I'm headed next and I'll take a couple of pictures here so you can see it better than from this little camera .

I think riding solo is at the heart of a motorcycle adventure .

And it's something that everyone should do at some time .

It can teach you a lot of things when you're out there all alone , you have to make your own decisions along the way and you're responsible for those choices .

So maybe this would be where I pay my $20 and anybody home , somebody's little home out here in the desert .

Maybe this is where the caretaker lives .

I'll probably be the only one camping here tonight , which is just awesome .

And if they stop by , I'd be happy to give them 20 bucks .

And if not , I got a free campsite here in Monument Valley .

So I'm going to get set up and make some dinner .

Hm .

Nothing like a glass of hot wine over here .

The 1200 G S that I'm writing looks like my helmet fell off on the ground .

Oh , I see exactly where it landed right here .

Another helmet , another crack .

That happens a lot to me .

All right .

This would be the third G S motorcycle that I've had .

I started out with a 6 50 had bought it brand new in 1998 .

Rode that for 12 years .

Got an 800 G S in 2010 , rode that for seven years .

And then got this one a few years .

Ago and I'll tell you all about my bikes and why I ride the G S and all that kind of stuff as this trip rolls along .

But just for now , that's what I'm riding in case you're interested .

Well , today was an interesting day .

We started up in the high country by a lake over 7000 ft and it was in the seventies and then we came into this desert with all these red rocks around us and it's probably about 95 degrees .

At least today .

It's cooled off now .

Well , I'm not sure yet how I'm going to edit this little adventure together .

I'm thinking right now that I'll sort of break it up , put some different episodes together for you guys and if that's the case , then I better bid you a do from Arizona .