September 28     185 miles     BLUFF, Cottonwood RV Park     ($20.90)

Into Utah through Monument Valley

Leaving Page on highway 98, we paused after 5 miles at Antelope Canyon, a slot in the copper-coloured sandstone where it is possible to walk through a narrow passageway and wide chambers – popular with photographers when the midday sun is overhead. Sadly, the canyon is Navajo-owned and operated and access is only possible with an expensive guide. At a fee of $15 per person for the Upper Canyon, or $12.50 pp for the Lower Canyon, plus $6 pp 'Navajo Nation Fee' (good for one or both), we smelt a rip-off and continued on our way! But you can visit www.antelopecanyon.com (should be .con) for more.

The narrow, arrow-straight road led south-east, climbing gradually through flat scrubby desert dotted with red sandstone outcrops, like mini-Ayers Rocks. At 6,000 ft, 36 miles from Page, we passed the Navajo settlement of Kaibito with a clinic, school, fuel, shop and a group of new 2-storey houses. There was no sign of the wooden hogans which the local people used to build (of which Michael Preller's house is a 1970's copy).

Another 21 miles to the Crossroads Trading Post, then 12 miles to the junction with US.160 from Flagstaff, where we turned north for Monument Valley, following the railway. Signs demanded that we 'Watch for Water on the Road' through the driest of landscapes. We passed the mine-railroad conveyor of the Peabody Western Coal Co at the day's maximum height of 6,700 ft. s

After another 12 miles, a minor road turned left for the Navajo National Monument (18 miles return, to see Puebloan Cliff Dwellings, info centre and camping with a 25-ft limit on RV's). We decided against the detour and continued, passing the Anasazi Inn (motel and café) at 6,175 ft, 9 miles further. The approach to Kayenta (gateway to Monument Valley), about 100 miles from Page, is heralded by hoardings for the usual fast food joints, stores and motels. The Burger King has a display about the WWII Navajo Code Talkers, who were engaged to foil the Japanese with a code they never cracked (for example, a bomber plane = a pregnant bird, in Navajo language).

We turned left at Kayenta (traffic lights even) onto US.163 for the 25-mile scenic drive through the Navajo Tribal Park to Monument Valley, right on the Arizona-Utah border. There are very few opportunities to pull off the road to view and photograph the amazing rocks. This is where the 'Marlboro Man' commercials were filmed and John Wayne saved the West.

After 23 miles, flags flew round a place offering jeep tours, horse riding and B&B, just before crossing the state line. Half a mile into Utah, a road led to the settlement of Monument Valley, with school, church and Gouldings Resort, 2 miles west of the highway at 5,300 ft. The Resort, surrounded by rose-coloured sandstone piles rising 1,000 ft above the plain, advertised a trading post, Good Sam's RV Park, John Wayne's Cabin and film locations, scenic flights and tours in uncomfortable jeeps.

Returning to the main road, another side road ran east for 3 miles (crossing back into Arizona). It led to the Navajo-run Visitor Centre ($5 per person just to park and enter), the simple Mitten

View campground ($10 per unit), and the opportunity to take a guided jeep ride round a very rough 17-mile drive to see the rocks up closer (as we didn't go in, we didn't discover the cost of that!).

Back to the main road and into Utah again, with another 6 miles of Monument Valley views. The verges were lined with barbed wire fences – no public access at all. The route crossed a harsher, barer landscape, dropping to 4,120 ft. After 22 miles, the road crossed the muddy brown San Juan River which flows into Lake Powell, and arrived at Mexican Hat. The cluster of motels, fuel and simple RV Parks is (as we'd guessed) named after a distinctive sombrero-shaped rock nearby.

The road now switchbacked, down and up through red-rock country, becoming ever drier and changing to paler sandy boulders. At times, the landscape was horizontal rock, the huge cloud formations against the blue sky added their own atmosphere. The next settlement, Bluff, a small community on the San Juan River at 4,200 ft, has a choice of RV parks. There is a historic fort site, free to visit (built 1880-83 by Mormon pioneers), with a cottonwood log cabin replica of the meeting house.

September 29/30   134 miles   CORTEZ, Mesa Verde KOA: COLORADO   ($26.59)

From Utah to Arizona to New Mexico to Colorado, around the Four Corners Monument

After a thundery rainy night, the sky was overcast. We walked round Bluff's historic and partially-restored fort, where the co-operative store was blown up in the early 20th century by a safe-breaker using too much explosive (and that was the end of him as well!)

Turning east on US.162, we followed the San Juan River for 14 miles to Montezuma Creek. There were cottonwood-trees among the red rocks, a few sheep near the water, then empty scrub-desert above 4,500 ft. Montezuma Creek, a Navajo community, has the White Horse High School (served by the familiar yellow school buses), fuel station and health centre. From here until Aneth, 8 miles along, we saw several 'nodding donkey' oil-well pumps working, on both sides of the river, and storage tanks labelled Exon-Mobil.

After 37 miles from Bluff, at 4,875 ft, a sign welcomed us to 'Colourful Colorado', with another oil well. 10 miles on, we met US.160 and turned right (south-west) for 5 miles, to the only point where 4 US State borders meet, in a + sign, the 'Four Corners' - clockwise from the top left: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. These happen to be the 4 states across which the Navajo Nation (the country's largest Indian reservation) is spread. This, of course, means that parking at the Navajo-controlled Four Corners Monument and Visitor Centre (only a couple of hundred yards off the road) costs $3 per person, so we stopped just before the pay-booth for our lunch (it's not the money, it's the principle of the thing!)

Continuing, we entered New Mexico very briefly, crossed back into Arizona (confusingly) for 6 miles, then met the US.64 and turned east, re-entering New Mexico, 'Land of Enchantment', at Teec Nos Pos (the strangely named historic trading post at the junction). The road rolled at around 5,000 ft through the bleak grey-brown rocks. Sometimes, the land was no more than horizontal rock.

It was 26 miles from the border to Shiprock, the main Navajo city, with hospital, library, shopping centre and schools. At about 2 pm, temperature 72 degrees, we stopped to refuel and shop at the 'City Market' – the only Pale Faces among a smiling throng of Native Americans. They were happy because the oldest annual Navajo Fair happened to be in full swing and a free barbecue was open to all. We were invited (twice) to join the long queue in the sunshine and join in – the natives were indeed friendly, though we didn't take advantage of the offer.

We turned north, on US.491, across flat grassland with a few cattle and horses, leaving New Mexico after 14 miles - Hasta La Vista. Back in Colorado, we continued north on the 'Trail of the Ancients', past the magnificent pillar of Chimney Rock. 16 miles from the border, at Towaoc below the black silhouette of Ute Mountain, is the Ute Mountain Casino and RV Park (gambling being legal in Colorado, as in Nevada – unlike Arizona and Utah). We are now crossing the much smaller reservation of the Ute Mountain Ute Indians.

Over the next 11 miles the road climbed through increasingly green fields and woods to a height of 6,140 ft at the city of Cortez. Back in what passes for civilisation in this part of America, there are dozens of motels, businesses, restaurants, shops and a couple of RV Parks. See www.cortezchamber.org.

We drove 2 miles east on US.160 to the KOA campground, beautifully quiet with views of Ute Mountain, the tableland of Mesa Verde National Park (8 miles to the east) and the distant snow-dusted peaks of the Rockies. Eagles circle overhead, rabbits hop around,  the nights are cool!