Mexican Hat to Gallup

This morning I stuck my head out the door of my room at the Hat Rock Inn and was surprised to see it was raining.  Great.  I did not cover my bike and my leather saddle was drenched.  KC appeared outside his room and we discussed our riding plan...we'd still try to go to Monument Valley, we'd still try to go to Canyon de Chelly and we'd still end the day in Gallup. 

We pulled out of the hotel in a light shower and temperature around 60F.  Things went downhill from there.  We gained altitude...I guess we went to about 7,000' and saw the temp drop to 50F and the rain steadily increase.  In fact, there was very little time today when we were not riding in the rain and the visibility was about what you'd expect...very limited most of the time.

So, we tried riding into Monument Valley but it was raining and the clouds were very low over most of the valley...very little to see. 

So we thought we'd press on to Chinle, AZ and give Canyon de Chelly a try.  It was worse...rained pretty hard and even less visibility.

So, we put Gallup in the GPS's and after dodging a big truck accident on I-40W, we pulled into the Hampton Inn by 3:00PM.  It was warm, dry and felt like coming home for me.

Actually an early day is a good thing, especially when clothes are wet and dirty from being on the road for two weeks.  So I'll hang stuff out to dry, do a laundry load, take a hot shower, eat an early dinner and watch Thursday Night Football.

Today's ride was a lot of high speed riding in steady rain.  It tested my gear...the Aerostich performed pretty well, although I ended up sitting in standing water on my Russell seat and even though the water did not penetrate the pants, I still felt like my butt was wet.

I know, I know....TMI.  But if you don't like it-go get your own blog.  Cya.