Monument Valley - Drive
Two and a half years ago I took my first long distance road trip in the BMW 2002 - all the way up the California coast from LA to Oregon and back down. Immediately after that I had another road trip lined up in my 2016 Mazda from LA to Chicago. During the drive on that second trip, all I could think about was wishing I were still in the 2002, but simultaneously being glad I wasn't... It was the peak of summer so it was 100+ in the desert, the roads were long and straight, I had hundreds of miles to cover in a short period of time, and I was sitting comfy in modern leather seats with AC blasting, music blaring, and cruise control doing all the work. Yet, all I could think back to was the 2 week experience I had just had in the super basic 1971 era tech BMW, wishing for more miles of that, just wondering and dreaming about what kind of adventures I could take it on next.
During that trip east in the Mazda, there were three specific moments, or places rather, that had a particular impact on me. Zion National Park, Pikes Peak, and Monument Valley. Visiting these places for the first time conjured really vivid images of the type of road trip adventures I wanted to take with the BMW and vintage cars in general. Thinking about that felt like a wild fantasy of some kind at the time, but somehow I could feel in my gut that I would be back. That first trip up the coast in the 2002 was one thing for sure, but this inspiration that came to me afterwards is I think the real spark that ultimately kicked off the obsession that has led me to where I am now.
So yeah it was pretty surreal actually being back through here in the 2002 finally, two and a half years later. That may sound familiar if you saw my Zion and Pikes Peak posts previously, but yeah this is the third of those three locations that have really been major milestones for me on this first leg of my current journey.
Monument Valley continues to be an absolutely mind blowing and humbling place, probably my favorite yet, and I think it spawned 10x as many dreams and fantasies for me this time as it did previously. I'll be back again, perhaps in a 4x4 next time!
