Utah

We survived “The Loneliest Road” to Ely, NV. It wasn’t all that bad.  We  saw what was left of two Pony Express Stations, and several old Nevada towns still hanging on. The mountain passes plus high temperatures were tough on our motorhome and it did overheat a couple of times. Dan figured out the radiator cap had failed, and while not leaking coolant it WAS leaking pressure.  Replacing the cap has helped but not totally solved hot days with long hard upgrades of 5 to 6 percent.  Every time we came out of a pass we saw the road stretched out before us through a valley and leading us towards the next mountain pass. Yep, lots and lots of wide open spaces on this highway.

We spent a few days in Torrey, Utah so we could visit Capitol Reef National Park. According to our book, it is known as one of the undiscovered gems, but apparently someone has been talking in Europe because there were a lot of Europeans visiting. We also started to notice quite a few RV rentals on the road and in this park. Then we started to notice another pattern – almost all of the RV renters were from another country. It looks like foreign visitors have embraced the all-American RV vacation.

We agree that this national park is an undiscovered gem. We found the formations at this park really interesting. We had no problem finding different trails to hike each time we visited. There were a couple of old homesteads, school and blacksmith buildings also located in the park. The settlers also left behind orchards with more than 2,000 producing trees near the campground. Apricots were ripe for the picking, but there are also cherry, peach, pear, and apple, along with plum, mulberry, almond, and walnut trees. Visitors can pick the seasonal fruit right from the trees and eat all the fruit they want in the orchard, but they have to pay for any fruit taken out of the orchard.

Moab has become one of our favorite spots in Utah. Well, for this visit. We have several so it is hard to decide which area of Utah we like better. We actually found grocery shopping interesting at the City Market. They should change the name to Around-the-World Market with the variety of foods they stocked.  They are catering to the many European visitors to the national park system.  The Deli had Dan’s attention and the variety of artisan breads kept Sandy undecided on which multi-grain flavor she wanted to try this time. Oh! And the cheese and the fruits and the veggies! Okay, so we are going a little overboard, but how often does a person get excited about the humdrum of grocery shopping?

We really enjoyed our stay at the OK RV Park, a 50 amp full hook up space for $17 a night with Passport America 1/2 rate.   A pleasant, very quiet campground with grass, a cement pad, and a nice picnic table for each space. Our space also had rose bushes and a plum tree. We had a great view of the red rim rock right out our front window. Sandy took the cats out for walks almost every day. We think the rabbits liked to tease our cats because they would lounge around right in front of our motorhome and the cats would go nuts. “Let me at them! Not allowed to be this close!” Well, needless to say, the cats had to put up with the rabbits teasing because Sandy would not allow them to chase a rabbit when they were outside.

And what about the Arches NP? – Wow! It is breathtaking! Awe inspiring! You feel very small among the giant rocks. If you could not tell from all the pictures we took of the park, we could not get enough of the balanced rocks, the arches, the monoliths, the canyon walls that stretched out for miles, the clear, clean air………the silence. We hiked around some of the shorter trails the first day. The next day, we hiked the Devils Garden and the Primitive Loop that was a little over 7 miles. We hiked across some steep fins, through arches, up and down slickrock…..yea, the description said steep, but nothing about having to do some minor rock climbing or sliding depending which way we were going at the time. As one guy put it, “It is not for the faint of heart”.   Note in the picture of Dan above standing on the rock: that is the actual trail - up and over the rock for a good distance and a good height.

We should have done Canyonlands NP first, because after seeing the Arches even Capitol Reef, driving around on top of the mesa and looking into the distant canyons just wasn’t the same. Very scenic, but just wasn’t the same as when we were walking among the rock giants. At least, we did not get a kink in our necks from looking up all the time.

We are dry camping (no water, sewer or electric hookups) at Morefield Campground, Mesa Verde National Park for a few days, then we will head towards Albuquerque to visit Shaun, friends, perhaps get work done on the car, and do a little shopping. Oh! And a green chile fix! No one makes a breakfast burrito like Golden Pride on Central! MMMMMmmm! Must Have Breakfast Burrito!!!  As always, the pictures and underlined links are "clickable".