Monument Valley – has been used in so many films that it seems to define how we think of the American West.

John Ford shot “Stagecoach” here with John Wayne and then returned nine more times and there is now John Ford’s Point in the park in his honour. Since then there has been “Easy Rider”, “Electra Glide in Blue” and “Thelma and Louise” and Stanley Kubrick used Monument Valley as the surface of an alien planet in “2001: A Space Odyssey”. And who can forget the running scene in Forrest Gump where he stops running on US Highway 163 with Monument Valley as a backdrop and says “I’m pretty tired. Think I’ll go home now”.

We passed through there today and rode the 17 mile dirt road loop road inside Monument Valley this is entirely within a Navajo Nation Tribal Park. The road is a pretty rough ride even on a BMW GS with rocks and a lot of deep sand, but the views were spectacular and enhanced by the drama of a huge storm blowing through.