Moab and rocks

Sitting in camp on the banks on the Colorado River. The muddy brown water slowly flowing below shear rock cliffs now only shadows in the dimming light. Bats dive thru the air chasing bugs. Day's end traffic unfortunately only 20 feet behind me with desperate late travelers looking for camps in the growing darkness. Last night we offered our unused tent space to a young man traveling alone on an informal personal quest before going off to Peace Corp or some other unconfirmed post college graduation plan. 

Arrived in Moab yesterday with unrelenting sun and temperature in the 90's. Trailer set up, sun tarp deployed and into town to check out the product at Moab Brewery. Beer only fair but good to see a brewpub in Utah! Today, after dropping off Herman at the local vet's to be boarded (no dogs on any trails in the National Park) we toured Arches. Driving high above the valley floor, Arches' specular formations are the results of eons of geological forces and repeated flooding over millions of years laying down miles of salt followed by selective erosion resulting in huge pillars, fins and arches. Joining hundreds of other tourists, many speaking exotic languages, we ohh'd and ahh'd and pointed and gazed in wonderment. Finally as the day moved on and the sun did not, it became evident that once you've seen one rock, you've seen them all. Back in Moab we did a load of laundry, checked email, browsed local shops and ate dinner at The Broken Oar. So far the worse meal we have had!

Long long drive to get here. And there is not much between here and the Idaho border. Lot's of dry sandy real estate. Trailer pulling fine until Salt Lake. You haven't lived till you've had a blow out on a single axle trailer tire at 60 MPH in the middle of Salt Lake traffic. And, the spare's valve stem was broken. A trip in to Bert Brother's got both tires repaired and a quick change on the shoulder had us on the road in an hour and a half. Never mind the guy who swerved across the white line nearly hitting us. 

With Herman over nighting it at the kennel (not a happy mutt) we spend day 2 touring Canyonlands. From our perspective high on the Island In The Sky mesa we received a detailed lesson in geology with visual aids provided by Mother Earth herself. Millions of years of water erosion cutting into the layers of rock reveal a history going back to time immortal. Then in the recent blink of human influence uranium was discovered in the area and mined aggressively to supply the war effort in the 40's and future speculation for nuclear power. Roads were built then mines petered but folks, now with access, said, "ain't this pretty", and built a national park. 

And now today, we had a lovely breakfast at the EccentriCity Cafe and headed south out of Moab. Decided we needed a down day for some R & R (sightseeing is tiring) and we need time to get sort all the pamphlets and purge the ice chest and catch up on email and blog so we drove to Durango, CO. Settled in at the United Campground next to the narrow gage tracks of the steam locomotive Durango to Silverton line. Altho a few miles north of town there is a tram shuttle. We'll shower, yea, and go into town tonight for a fancy dinner.