Four Corners and Monument Valley.

 

Time to get the wagon trains moving! We left Arches NP in search of the Four Corners monument.  This is the only place in the USA that four states come together at a point.  It allows you to get down on all fours and be in four states (Colorado,Utah,New Mexico,Arizona) at once.  It was only a little over 80 miles from our campground, so we headed out with camper in tow and I glanced down at the fuel gauge about 10 minutes into the trip and we had just under 1/2 tank.  I commented to Karen, " I should of filled up," but we agreed 80 miles is not a long way to go so we kept motoring down the highway. 

Roughly 80 miles later we pulled into Four Corners Monument and I asked the lady at the gate if there way a place to park the camper and truck inside and she assured me it was "No Problem".  I also asked her about a place to buy diesel fuel and she told us the next town about 10 miles away had it.  I felt relieved, because the fuel gauge is now sitting slightly above 1/4 of tank now.  We headed in to the monument and I followed a sign that pointed to RV parking.  As I pulled into the gravel covered mud parking lot, the truck began to slip and slide and the parking lot was on a decline!  I told Karen, "were are sliding!" Karen told me to stop, but I knew if we stopped we probably would never get the 24,000 lbs of truck and trailer started again.  I pulled down the hill and made a nice easy 180 degree turn with steady pressure on the gas pedal and pulled right back on the road as if we were going to leave and parked! Hurray!!!!! I thought, as visions of tow trucks and red clay throughout the inside of my truck danced through my head!

There had been a sizable snow storm a few days earlier and some of the snow was still on the ground at the higher elevations! We made our way into the monument which is nothing more than a concrete slab with a surveyors marker in the middle.  In the concrete are the names of each states border.  With the wind blowing a stiff 30 mph and outside temps around 40 degrees it was a short lived visit!  Back to the truck and everyone's shoes had to be removed and placed into the bed of the truck, because of the aforementioned red clay! Back on the road again and red clay flying off all 10 wheels, we headed for diesel fuel!  10 miles later we came up to a ghost town with no working gas pumps, so back on the road and now my eyes are glued to the fuel gauge which shows just under 1/4 tank!  Its a sinking feeling when your in the middle of the desert with less than 6 gallons of fuel in the truck and not a gas station in sight!  As we headed towards the next town, we found a fuel station, but we could not get into it due to a small lake sized puddle and about 20 other cars jockeying for position, so Karen backed me out onto the highway and we head down the road again to our next gas station that........ doesn't sell diesel fuel.  Now I'm very stressed out and the questions from Bryson about outer space or the size of some animal part are still coming to make it that much more challenging!  Karen found a gas station which was approximately 40 miles from us and the gauge read 1/8th tank so we kept pushing forward and finally we found a station!  How much fuel did we have left you ask?  Approximately 1.5 gallons! That my friends is way to close!   I put $200 dollars worth in the main tank and the reserve tank. Lesson learned...for now.

Monument valley was our next stop on this roller coaster of a day and it was BEAUTIFUL!  This place is used by the film industry for many of the famous old western movies.  We pulled in dropped the camper and took a 6 mile self guided tour on a dirt road through the Buttes!  It was a nice way to unwind from the first half of the day!  From there we headed to Lake Powell and called it a night!