July 27 – 30
Today we are in Moab, Utah (elevation 4026 feet). We’re staying at Spanish Trail RV Park. The sites are gravel with a concrete sidewalk and grassy area. Most sites have trees for some welcome shade. Somehow we manage to park the camper between two trees in such a way as to block the satellite signal. The campground is a bit out of town just off Highway 191. We hear quite a lot of road noise but we have a view of the La Sal Mountains to the east and a cliff face above us.
We have most of Friday free so we go into Moab to sign in for our Saturday Arches and Canyonlands tour. With that completed, we wander through some of the shops before stopping for lunch. On the way back to the campground we make a quick stop at City Market (a grocery chain we’ve grown to love) for some supplies. In the evening we have reservations for the Sound and Light Show with dinner at Canyonlands by Day and Night. The dinner is a Dutch oven cowboy dinner and is remarkably good – BBQ beef, BBQ pork, BBQ chicken, roast beef, corn, beans, salad bar, and dessert. The Sound and Light boat trip starts by going upriver before sunset and drifting back after sunset with a bright light illuminating the canyon walls. Synchronized with the light is a narration describing the history of the canyon and surrounding area. The technology used is a bit dated but we enjoy it nonetheless.
Saturday morning we are up extremely early for the start of our morning Arches and afternoon Canyonlands 4×4 tour. We thought these two tours were Jeep tours that just happened to use a 4×4 vehicle with off-road capabilities. In reality they are 4×4 off-road tours that just happen to use a Jeep. Bill and I are the only “victims” for the morning tour so Bill rides in the front with our driver Dave while I ride in the back. The tour starts mildly enough as we take the road from town, past the Visitor Center and into Arches National Park. We pass a couple of popular sites before I’m able to get Dave to stop for a photo. Shortly afterward we turn onto a dirt road. Dave stops the Jeep and explains that he uses two warnings – “whoopee” which means we’re about to fly over a hill or around a curve and “yeehaw” which means hang on for dear life. At first the ride is not too bad but then we hit the real backcountry and whoopees and yeehaws abound. We’re thrown up, down, left, right, forward, back, you name it. Luckily I can’t see the “road” from the backseat but Bill can. After about 2 hours (plus a few stops) of off-roading we find pavement again – hallelujah! Along the way we’ve seen sights that most people never see plus just about everything they do see. Dave then drives us by the Windows area and stops at Park Avenue. Leaving the park, he drops us off at Canyonlands by Day and Night for lunch.
For the afternoon tour (which Dave says is completely different) we are joined by a couple from Puerto Rico. Again the trip starts out innocuously enough on the highway but we soon turn onto backcountry roads where once again whoopees and yeehaws are heard. We pass the potash plant and slurry ponds which are fantastically blue. We stop at the cliff where Thelma and Louise took their last dive and view the Horseshoe. We then take a back entrance to Canyonlands National Park and drive from the canyon floor up to the Island in the Sky. It’s a great way to really appreciate the canyon. After a quick stop at the Visitor Center it’s back to Moab via the highway (thankfully).
We spend a quiet Sunday working on photos and blog posts and preparing to hit the road again on Monday.
