Arches

Well, Monday was just an amazing day.  Every time we think we have seen it all, and it can't get any better, it does.  But, before I get to that let me update you on the right, rear, inside tire issue.  I got a call back from Good Sam ERS Monday morning advising they had found a mobile tire service, but they were not local......they were 100 miles away in Cortez, CO.  The price of the tire was in line, but the Good Sam ERS guy advised I would have to pay for the return trip....they would pay only one way.  Ultimately my costs using their mobile guy would be upwards of $760.  That was not what I was expecting, so I declined and sought out my own local solution.  I found a local tire shop right here in Moab....only a mile away from our current location.....where I will take the coach Tuesday morning to have the tire replaced.....cost is $440, including labor and disposal charges. We'll drop the trailer here at the park and pick it up on our way out of town as we head north to I-70.

By the time that was resolved, and we had moved our coach to site #44 it was after 10, so we got together with David, Denise, John and Patty and headed over to Arches National Park to spend the day searching for new adjectives to describe what we saw.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 Left to right: Moi, TLE, David and Denise

 Twin windows

 

Delicate Arch (on the left)

 It was in the high 80's this day, but in the distance

you can see 12,000+ foot mountains with fresh snow

David and Denise rode with us in the VW all day as we traversed around the park.  John and Patty have a couple of mopeds they rode with their little dog Bayley.  We met up with them at "Devil's Garden" for lunch, and then continued our tour.   There a few long hikes we would like to take in the future when we come back.....and we will come back.....there is still Bryce, Zion, Capitol Reef, and much, much more to see, not to mention all the mountain bike opportunities.  There was not enough time this time around to see and do everything, but I think we certainly got a good taste of Moab and its surrounds.

Speaking of "good taste"......around 5 we all drove into downtown Moab to have dinner and a couple of brews at "Moab Brewing Company".  Several of our friends who have been here before said we had to check it out, and we were not disappointed.  TLE and I had a couple of seasonal Chocolate Porters, and they were very, very good.  I had the fish tacos, which I highly recommend.  You get three tacos along with their veggee chili.....yum!  Yelp only gives them 3.5 stars, and I am mystified by that.  We all agreed this was at least a 4, if not a 4.5 star place......great service, ambiance, brews and food! The place is enormous, and was packed.  You can see why many feel it is the best place in town.

After a great meal and brews, and a lot of interesting conversation, we decided to take a walk around the downtown area and hear are a couple of things I saw.....

In case you have difficulty reading this (I took the picture through a window) it says "If a man speaks in the desert, and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?"  I really got a kick out of that......by the way Denise, TLE and Patty all said "YES!"

I actually found two more license plates (Arkansas and Georgia) for my collection in a little gift shop.  At one point we walked by a restaurant with al fresco dining and saw this tree sculpture (above) with a gas flame coming out of it....thought is was pretty cool.

That was our day, and what a splendid day it was......Tuesday we move on north and east into Colorado.....we hope to be in Sioux Falls by Saturday. We'll pretty much be moving every single day now for the next 5 days and probably utilizing a number of Walmarts, Lowe's, Cracker Barrels as we go.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - If you have not become a follower yet please, if you are so inclined, click on the "Join This Site" button to the right of the blog.....we're almost to 100!