The Most Terrifying Night In the Van

After leaving Moab, I headed toward Monument Valley. This is hands down the scariest time I’ve had in the van. Monument Valley is in an area that is largely flat with some land formations that pop up in some areas. It’s dusty, dry, and you are very exposed to the elements. I had never been to this part of the country so I wasn’t familiar with the weather patterns.

The day I got there, it had been windy in the morning but as it got later in the day, the wind began picking up. It got so bad at one point that I could barely see down the road I was driving on- it was just a wall of red dust in the sky. I decided it was safer to park and just stay put for the night but the wind was SO FAST that it was shaking the van to the point I thought it would tip over. I didn’t know what to do so I made a TikTok and asked the masses what to do. Thankfully people replied and told me to point the van’s nose into the wind and to park as close as I could to any nearby structure and just bunker in for the night. I moved the van and tucked in as close as I could to an abandoned fruit stand which wasn’t much shelter but at least it was something. I ended up sleeping on my bench which was lower to the ground that the bed because it felt like I was a ship out to sea getting tossed around by the wind. 

This was truthfully the most scared I’ve ever been while in the van - mostly because i was unprepared for the weather and didn’t know what to do. The next morning I got out of the area and I may go back at some point but it’s not top of my list after that experience.