After Mesa Verde, we had a long drive to our next hotel stay at Marble Canyon, near Lake Powell. Most of the drive was through Monument Valley, a huge swath of desert with fantastic rock outcroppings, which are featured in many Western movies and even Forrest Gump.
In fact, we encountered an Englishman who was recreating the Forrest Gump run across America four times. We passed him on the road, and I did a double-take. “Was that Forrest Gump?” So I had to turn around and catch up to him. His name is Rob Pope, but unlike Forrest, he didn’t just feel like running, he was running for various causes. Like Forrest, he was preparing to finish his fourth and final trip in Monument Valley. He was friendly, and stopped to chat a bit and pose for a photo.
We also stopped at Four Corners, which is the only place in the United States where four states (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah) meet at one point (map link). It’s a bit of a tourist trap owned by the Navajo, where they sell jewelry and other souvenirs. They charge $5 per person, for admission.
It took over four hours to cross the Southern end of Monument Valley and Navajo territory. And we didn’t even get to the more popular northern side.