Day 5 - Friday October 12th, 2018

First an update on yesterday's events. Shortly after the incident that resulted in a buckled wheel rim on our Series 2 E-Type, a significant rock slide occurred at the same place. Some of the Leakers who were travelling further behind were affected, as the road was closed temporarily. I understand from Jeff and Bethanne that chunks of rock as large as tables were strewn over the road, and had created large holes in the road where they landed. As far as we know, no one was hit by the falling rocks, for which we should all be very grateful. It took a while for enough of the rocks to be moved to allow vehicles through. I may have some photos from Jeff later.

A second update: Yesterday Steve and Norma Pancoast's '68 OTS suffered transmission failure (correction: latest update is that it was some form of driveline failure, so it may be something as easy as a UJ), and had to be flatbedded away. We trust that you will get home safely in a rental, and hope that it isn't long before your beautiful car is back on the road, and enjoying another Oil Leak!

The highlight of Day 5 of the GCOL was to be a visit to the Canyon De Chelly near Chinle. The Canyon De Chelly national monument was established in 1931 as a unit of the National Park Service. It is within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, it preserves ruins of the indigenous tribes that lived i the area, from the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly known as Anasazi) to the Navajo. The monument covers 131 square miles and encompasses the floors and rims of the three major canyons: de Chelly, del Muerto, and Monument.

When we emerged from our rooms at The Holiday Inn, we were initially discouraged by the thick fog that enveloped everything. Would we be able to see anything? However, our guides assured us that the fog would clear as we entered the canyon, and this proved to be true. Our party loaded up into 6 or seven 4 wheel drive Jeeps, and we headed into the canyon. The heavy rains of the past few days had turned much of the ground into thick red mud, so by the end of the tour we all "wore" some of the canyon on our clothes and shoes! 

The walls of the canyon were low at the start, steadily growing in height as we moved deeper (as did the mud!)

Our guides drove us into the canyon, where we would stop periodically. At each stop, the guides would explain to us what we were seeing, and answer our questions. At the first stop we saw a group of petroglyphs on the canyon wall. The guides explained the significance of each carving.

Engravings on the sandstone walls alongside a shallow cave

More engravings inside the cave

At the next stop, one of our guides demonstrated a method for launching spears or arrows that predates the bow. The device (an atlatl) can provide immense leverage to propel the spear much further than would be possible by simply throwing with ones arm. The accuracy demonstrated by our guide was very impressive.

Somewhat similar stance to a javalin thrower

The atlatl is flipped by the wrist to provide great leverage and launch speed

At the next stop we viewed ancient habitations build into caves in the cliff walls.

The canyon floor is populated by many cottonwood trees. Here the trail passes through an avenue of them

One of the ruins of ancient cliff dwellings

The White House ruin consists of 2 levels

The lower level is on the canyon floor. Originally one of the buildings was 5 stories high providing access to...

...the upper level 

Several of the rock formations look rather familiar...

The Bulldog

The horse's head

The Skyscaper

E.T.

Lloyd took this photo looking down into the canyon from the rim - one of the tour jeeps in the center of the picture

At the deepest point that we traveled into the canyon we were surrounded by high rock walls which produced a strong echo. In ideal location to hear some Native American Flute music:

That concluded our tour, and we returned to the hotel. After a brief lunch we headed in groups to our final overnight stop in Winslow, AZ at the historic La Posada hotel.

The historic La Posada hotel

The mandatory visit to "Standin' on the Corner" Park.

Prior to an excellent dinner in the Turquoise Room, we had a final get-together in the beautiful sunken garden at the hotel. I think everyone, both old-timers and first-timers, agreed that this has been a great Oil Leak. We had some bad weather, but it was good when it really mattered. We all owe Geo and Kathleen our thanks for organizing this so well. It was our largest group in 8 years, and yet all went smoothly. We wish everyone a safe return to their homes, and look forward to next years Oil Leak...

Farewell get together prior to dinner in the Sunken Garden at La Posada

Day 4 - Thursday October 11th, 2018

The weather forecast for Day 4 of the GCOL was not good. Rain was anticipated over much of the 300 mile drive, with the highlight being a visit to Monument Valley. The smart ones among us remembered to seal the front of their convertible tops with tape - I forgot....

Before we left Torrey we enjoyed a good breakfast at the hotel, which was excellently decorated for Halloween.

The headless horseman 

We left the hotel at 8am at which point the weather was dry, but cloudy. The first 45 miles or so were on UT-24 which was very enjoyable with sweeping curves through the canyons, and very little other traffic.

20+ Jaguars including 8 E-Types ahead of us....

...and 4 or more behind us.

At Hanksville we turned south onto UT-95 which was a fast, largely straight, road initially, before it became more interesting as it cut through the sandstone rocks.

Long straight stretches on UT-95

Snow-capped mountains in the distance heading south on US-95

By this point, it had started to rain, heavily at times, and we regretted not sealing our top to the windscreen.

Rain falling as the road cut through the canyons

At one of points where the road was cut through the surrounding rocks, an "incident" occurred. Watch the video, particularly around 8:34:40.

A large rock, presumably brought down on the road by the heavy rain, was in the middle of the road. I swerved to avoid driving over it, which would likely have done a lot of damage, maybe holing the sump. Unfortunately, I just clipped it with my passenger side wheel, with the following result:

Ouch!!

As always on the Oil Leaks, my fellow travelers came to my assistance - many thanks to all of you who pulled over to help. Half an hour or so later, we were back on our way with the spare tyre installed, and soaked to the skin!

The main group of drivers ahead of us proceeded south on UT-261 which includes the descent of Moki Dugway, a series of switchbacks down the cliff face on a largely unpaved road surface. I can't report directly on how that went, as given the rain, rock falls on Moki Dugway were almost guaranteed and having only one spare tyre, myself and the group who stopped to help me took an alternative route. From reports I've since heard, Moki Dugway was indeed muddy and with debris on the road, but everyone got down safely.

After passing Mexican's Hat in the continuing rain, the groups headed for Monument Valley on Rte 163. A dramatic change in the weather to clear blue skies made Monument Valley a joy to behold:

OK. I lied. I just wanted to wake up those who skipped Monument Valley after waiting in line 30+ minutes to pay $20 to see the dreary grey rain-soaked landscape... The above photos were from the 2011 Oil Leak. This is actually what we saw:

We had lunch at the restaurant at The View Hotel, and by the time we were finished the rain had stopped and the clouds had started to clear. There was even a little sunshine...

As we drove out of the park south on Rte 163 the rain clouds were ahead of us, but there was sunshine behind us in Monument Valley

Sunshine in the rear view mirror over Monument Valley

Our route to our overnight destination in Chinle, AZ passed more extreme rock formations as we were once again driving in heavy rain.

Once again Jeff and Bethanne in their XK150 OTS with no top should be congratulated for keeping going despite the rain. Hopefully tomorrow will be drier for our Jeep tour of the Canyon to Chelly,,,

Day 3 - Wednesday 10th October, 2018

Day 3 of the GCOL commenced when we awoke in the lodge in Zion National Park; a great place to wake up! It was another clear day with a few clouds in the sky, and warmer than anticipated - no frost on the car this morning. We left the park in convoy at 8am and retraced our route out of the park to US-89 North.

Do not do this at home....

While travelling north on US-89 Debbie and passed this police pickup vehicle with the officer at the window of the pickup he had just pulled over. We had seen the whole drama on the road ahead of us. We were driving north on US-89 with two vehicles in sight ahead of us. A saloon car was being followed closely by a pickup. A some point, the pickup driver became impatient and pulled out to overtake the saloon on a right-hand curve. He probably couldn't see the road ahead, and clearly didn't see the pickup travelling in the opposite direction. Finally, when alongside the saloon, the driver saw the oncoming vehicle and swerved to the right cutting off the saloon. The oncoming pickup was forced off the road to avoid a head-on collision. At this point, the red and blue lights lit up on the pickup that had been forced off the road! It was a police pickup!! Oops. He turned and quickly pursued the offending pickup. We passed them by the side of the road. Imagine the conversation. "Do you know why I pulled you over, Sir?" I think someone might be spending the night in the local jail....

After this entertaining (though it could easily have become tragic) interlude, our route took us onto Rte 12 towards Bryce National Park. As the road climbed in altitude, the ground and trees along the roadside were covered in snow. There had been a heavy snow fall the previous night. Fortunately it was melting, so the road was not unduly slippery. After stocking up with supplies for lunch, we drove into the Bryce National Park where we split up to explore the park.

Bryce Canyon became a National Park in 1928. It covers an area of approximately 56 square miles. It is known for it's crimson-colored hoodoos, which are spire-shaped rock formations. The park's main road leads past the expansive Bryce Amphitheater, a hoodoo--filled depression lying below the rim of the canyon. There are multiple overlook points, the most famous being at Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point and Bryce Point. Debbie and I visited many of the overlooks and met many of the leakers on our travels. Others hiked some of the trails in the canyon among the hoodoos.

If you defocus your eyes a little, the hoodoos appear to be a crowd of people or statues

Other hoodoos appear to be buildings

Les and Phil, cameras at the ready at one of the overlooks

An arch rock formation in the red sandstone

A large field of hoodoos viewed from Bryce Point

The area is immense

See the tiny people walking the trail in the center. Snow on the ground

View from Sunset Point

This appears (to me at least) to be a cathedral building

Hikers down among the hoodoos

At 2:30pm we met up at the Visitor's Center to drive to our overnight stay in Torrey, Utah. We took an interesting route via UT-12. This was an fun road to drive, with minimal traffic, though we did get stuck behind slower moving vehicles on a few occasions. The convoy took the route which at one point reached an altitude of 9600 feet.

At one point the road went through an area where cattle were free to roam on the road. This slowed us - some more than others...

The cows appeared to be eating the center yellow line! Too busy driving to aim the camera...

Snow at the higher altitudes

We arrived in Torrey a little before 5pm. Later we enjoyed dinner in the restaurant at our overnight accommodation at the Broken Spur Inn and Steakhouse. Tomorrow we have a full day of driving. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.