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,,,