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Published: July 15th 2013
my map to date
I know I was in AZ for only 25 miles or so, but that counts.....doesn't it?The one about today is a much better day than yesterday.
Thank goodness!! I am back to being a happy camper. I have some good photos, some good stories, and I am now one day short of being at my daughter’s! What could be better!!!
After I wrote last night I finally got some neighbors who are worthy of a paragraph or 2. Two 20 foot trailers pulled by big Ford Diesel pickups. Noisy. They had to back into their sites, and one did it on one try, the other had to back and forth, back and forth for what seemed like forever. Noise pollution. After they both finished a third vehicle pulled in and parked with one set of wheels on the road and the other in the grass off the loop. This was another big Ford Diesel Truck, red, hauling an open trailer with 6 BIG 4 wheel off road vehicles with BIG FLUFFY, with a ramp for them to get down to the ground. It looked like a car carrier, but the things were lined up sideways. All of those vehicles were dirty with dried red mud. I did not think anything like this could park
here. Being the nosy reporter I am Winston and I took another walk, past them. Texas license plates on all vehicles. Camo. Dirty baseball hats. Cigarette smoking. Overweight. I think there were 6 of them. Now I know I really made the right decision. I have a lousy enough view, but I sure didn’t want to add an ATV hauler to that mix. Time to leave. When the sun went behind the ‘mountain’ the temperature dropped 20 degrees quickly. I did not have the a/c on all day. But, my new neighbors did, and it was a rattling shitawful thing. Right next to my bedroom window. Ugh. Help me Lord. I took Winston out for his late night walk, and forgot and left the screen door open. Big mistake. When I got back inside I had bugs and moths, and spent a good deal of time eradicating them. I was still miserable. I probably fell asleep about midnight.
The good news is Sunday was another day, and I slept in until 7 when Winston woke me up barking. I looked out the window, see the PICTURE of the Deer. Good thing I had thrown on a T shirt and
shorts before I got that picture, because when I turned around I saw the Rainbow. All good omens in my current Land of the Ancients mentality.
The Park ranger came around checking dates on our campsite hang tags and I told him I was leaving, I had an emergency that was making me cut my time short. Liar. I had such a sense of relief now that I was leaving. I did take my time breaking camp, had waffles and 2 cups of coffee. I unhooked, moved up about 15 feet, emptied my holding tanks and was on my way. I negotiated the several switchbacks down the 4 miles to the entrance, and got some spectacular pictures of ‘the mesa’. I was happy to be on the road. I had to head west a little, then north on US491, a nice double wide road, well paved, thru a town called Dove Creek that hadn’t woken up yet for this sleepy Sunday morning. The land continued green, with some irrigation going on, and the class of houses improved. No more Reservation trailer homes with rows of ‘dead’ cars lined up next to it and garbage bags galore, instead I saw
adobe and brick houses with neatly trimmed bushes and paved or gravel driveways. It was a pleasant change.
I crossed into Utah and started to see the wind carved sandstone monoliths. There was a lovely ‘cut out’ near Woods Arch and got a few great pictures. Altitude was 7000 feet, so I didn’t walk up that far. Winston was allowed!! But he really does not do well in the heat. He was happy to get back to Moya. Another rest stop Was Hole in the Rock, another Sandstone Structure with funky out buildings. The Hold in the Rock was charging admission to see the inside of the house constructed inside the rock. Very kitschy, hokey, but a definite good picture place.
Utah is definitely a pretty state. The red colors are stunning. Look at how blue the sky was today, and the white fluffy clouds!! I needed an extra pair of hands to take more pictures. The road was mostly flat, but there were a couple of steep slopes which we made easily. I was now down below half a tank of gas, but there was no way I was paying $3.89 or $4.07/ gallon, so I trudged
on. It got flatter and flatter as I approached the town of Moab and hotter and hotter. This time I played it smart and scoped out the location of the visitor center so I wouldn’t miss it. I got some maps and referred to a campground downtown!!! One block from a grocery store, one block from a Laundromat, one block from a real western bar/restaurant. They had room for me and I was checked in at 12:40. The price I was quoted was $45/night, but I didn’t care. I asked for a discount, they didn’t offer AARP, Senior, Good Sam, etc. I asked how about for good looks? The girl laughed and gave me a $5 discount – no one had ever said that to her before. All utilities, wifi, cable TV and a pool and services close by!! I needed humanity!!! The sites are kind of close together, but I really don’t care. The pool was awesome!!! I sat there for an hour reading the Moab literature and working on my tan which I have lost some of in the past 2 weeks. There are a lot of people speaking German here!!
Off and on for the trip
I have seen a few RentAnRVs cruising along, but today I probably saw 20 or more. They are hideous things with RentAnRV emblazoned with psychedelic colors all over them. There is one next to me now. I steer clear of them, as these people really don’t know how to drive or be conscientious RVers.
It really was hot today. As I write this at 7:00 as I watch Big Brother on fuzzy TV, it is 94 degrees outside; the sun is just starting to go down. Winston is happy to be inside, and even went into his crate willingly, that’s a first.
The only thing I ate all day was my waffles at 7 am. Oh yes, a piece of cheese at 1. Lots to drink, nothing to eat. At four I headed for the restaurant across the street. You know I count steps. It was 500 steps from my campsite to the restaurant, all flat terrain, just hot. Moab Brewery. I opted for a seat at the bar. Foursquare recommendations suggested the burgers or Greek pasta, so I ordered fish tacos. Who in their right mind orders fish tacos at a western bar? Me. I started with
a 16 ounce light flavored 3.5% beer I really liked, it didn’t make me feel bloated or loopy. This place was a microbrewery, and all their beer on tap was 3.5. If you wanted stronger, you had to get it in a can. I polled the 3 guys sitting at the bar what they were eating, ribs, burger, pasta, and I still ordered the fish tacos which wasn’t a bad choice at all. 3 crispy fried fish, chopped lettuce, tomato, onions, hold the olives, cilantro mayo in crisp taco shells. Served with spicy beans, which I was later told they called chili in UT, duh, and white rice prepared with tiny diced red peppers and onions. SEE PICTURE. It really was a nice dinner. Total cost $10. I gave the barman a $3 tip because he was cool.
I was just thinking about leaving when a very good looking man black golf shirt, khakis, white hair, glasses, tall, sat down one seat away. I still needed another story for the day so I started the conversation. His wife was at the hotel, he wanted to try this microbrewery’s beer. Accent. Australian I suspected, and he confirmed he was from
Perth. They are here on a 6 week tour the southwest vacation and are 2 weeks in. They flew to Denver and are making a big loop to end up back there in a week so they can go on an 18 day group travel trip to all the canyons ending up in Salt Lake. Then they are renting a car and will do another 2 weeks, but I don’t know what that is. He is having problems driving on the wrong side of the road. They made all their hotel reservations before leaving Australia. That has been a good thing and a bad thing, as he would have liked to stay 3 days in Moab, but they must move on. I told him he would never want to leave Scottsdale or Sedona. He asked me what I have done fun, and of course I had to tell him the Yellow Camaro story, and my misery at Mesa Verde. The guy sitting one seat away from me on the other side chimed in at this point. John from Denver, in Moab ‘working.’ He ate out every night, and loved sitting at the bar and talking to people like Aussie and
Sleeping Ute Mtn
look carefully for Ute lying on his back, arms crossed, toes pointing up. I like the cloud over his arms. me. He can’t wait to retire and get on the road himself. He called himself a grocery store remodeler. He works for Kroger!! He is excited about the buyout of Harris Teeter, and I told him to ask to go to NC when the opportunity arises. He has never been east of Oklahoma!!! What a fun evening. I had left Winston for 2 hours, and my time was up. Still hot as hell.
Tomorrow will be my last day on the road until I head east on 7/29. I will get up very early, 5:00, and head thru Arches National Park’s 30 mile loop which I am told at a good pace takes 3 hours. I have been told to do it early in the day, and 5:00 is early. Many of the turnouts have limited space for RVs, and if I get a jump on the normal people, I will get to stop at all the places I would want to see. My reading has shown that I can see most of the highly recognizable arches from the turnouts or within a half mile round trip flat walk. I want to do this. Bucket List ever since I
saw the picture of Kristine in her yoga pose on top of one of the arches. There won’t be a picture like that of me, maybe just standing on one foot, but I want to see these things.
I am going to spend the rest of this evening enjoying fuzzy cable TV and running water thru my holding tanks to clean them out thoroughly – there will be no place I can empty them at Kristine’s, and I think after 2 weeks in the hot sun they might be icky stinky, so I will fill and rinse a few times and use them minimally if you catch my drift.
At some point I will write the blog for Monday and post those pictures, but I don’t know when. Up until the 27
th I will be busy doing Mother of the Bride things and enjoying my girlies. I need a break from typing. I need to regroup the creative juices, and just be The Mother of The Bride in all its glory.
Kat out
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Grace
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Awesome
Lovin the blog Kat! The pictures are beautiful and it sound like you have met some great "folks"! You might very well be the female Charles Kuralt! (Remember him?) I loved his voice and watching "On the Road". Well, I wanted to congratulate you on the upcoming wedding. I know it will be fabulous, and I look forward to seeing all the great pictures. Enjoy yourself! G