With 7300 miles on the rear tyre it was time to change it. We are now in Grand Junction, Colorado so booked it into the local BMW dealer.

 

Bob & Gloria rode nearly a 1000 miles in 2 days from San Francisco, to meet with us last night.

Above and below, the Colorado Monument. From there we rode one of the scenic routes to Snowmass Village, near Aspen.

 

As we had stayed overnight in Mexican Hat, it was close enough for us to go back to Monument Valley to get the iconic photo in the morning light. 

 

 

This is the famous Mexican Hat Rock that the town is named after.  It is 60 ft high and can be climbed (and 'no' we didn't!)

 

 

Our route to Grand Junction, Colorado, took us via the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway. More amazing scenery.

Although we have been to Monument Valley before we just had to pass this way again. Its breathtaking.  

 

 

We stayed overnight at a nearby motel run by the local Navajo Indians.  As seen in the photo below, you  don't see it until the last minute as it seems to disappear into the rockface behind.

What a difference a day makes!

After the intolerable heat of yesterday, the day started off at 34 degrees C (96F) in Lake Havasu City. It is famous for London Bridge being taken from London brick by brick and then being rebuilt here. A lot of resort hotels have grown up around it.

 

 

We travelled to Kingman via a stretch of the old Route 66. We were surprised at the terrain as it was so rugged and picturesque. 

 

 

John getting his kicks on Route 66!

 

After we turned off Route 66 on to Highway 40 towards Flagstaff, we saw the clouds billowing in the distance. The sky got darker and darker and the temperature dropped to 14C (~56F). It started to rain so we pulled off hoping it would pass but after an hour and watching lightning in the distance we decided to stop over at the next town along the highway.

 

 

 

 

Today was a long and very hot day. The temperature fluctuated between 40 and 44 degrees C (110-115F). We had to stop every 100 miles to cool down and top up our camelbaks with water. We passed through brilliant scenery between San Diego and Lake Havasu City but it was too hot to stop to take photographs. The only time was the photo below when we passed through the Imperial Sand Dunes which was something we had never seen before - pure desert with sand blowing across the road.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent another day in San Diego. It was very busy as it is Labor weekend (everyone has Monday off) and the beaches and parks were full of families having picnic lunches.

We crossed the Coronado Bay Bridge on to the North Island which is home to the Naval Base.

 

 

The view from North Island is stunning. Yet another wonderful day! 

 

The view of the Bay from the top of the Coronado Bay Bridge (whilst moving) - I didn't like crossing this - it made me feel very uneasy. The barrier is very low and on a bike you feel that if it was windy, you would blow over it. John wasn't bothered at all, then he wasn't hanging off the bike trying to take photos!

 

We spent a few hours walking round Balboa Park. It is the nation's largest urban cultural park and is ranked as one of the Best Parks in the World. It would have been good to have had more time in San Diego, but you could spend 2 weeks here and still not see everything.  The Park consists of 15 major museums, 3 theatres, one of which is shown below, (The Old Globe), lovely gardens and a famous Zoo.  We even saw 2 weddings taking place - most bizarre to see Bride and Groom walking amongst the crowds of visitors, looking for the perfect spot to have their photograph taken!

Everyone has told us how great San Diego is and they are not wrong. It is a beautiful city with a similar feel to San Francisco but a lot flatter!!  There is so much to see here that we have decided to stay another day.

 

 

We spent 4 hours on the USS Midway which was so interesting we could have spent longer.

 

This guy told the story of how he was stationed in England just before the D-Day landings and went to a pub with 6 other marines and drank so much Toby Ale that the next day they all woke up to find they had tattoos on their arms and no-one remembers how they got them. They checked around the village to find out where they were done but there was no tatooist to be found.

 

View from the aircraft carrier.

 

John standing at one end of the carrier looking down to the other end (the length of 4 football pitches).

 

View across the bay.  Idyllic climate here.

We ended the day by spending a brilliant evening watching the sunset and listening to Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture performed by the San Diego Symphony on the Waterfront. The conclusion with canons and fireworks was spectacular!  Unfortunately cameras were not allowed.