June 13, 2005

Wendover, UT to Moab, UT

We were up at 7:00 a.m. local time. Decide to do laundry and lighten our load a bit by mailing home some of our brochures and maps of state and national parks and the states we have driven through. We also need to pick up some oil for the bike before we get out on the rode. Tried the lobby coffee while we are waiting on the laundry, not too bad. We were on the road at 8:45 local time and soon found ourselves riding across the salt flats. The altitude indicator on the Garmin GPS showed a variation of only 2 feet over a distance of about 30 miles. About an hour into the trip we have a spectacular view of Salt Lake!! Wow is that huge!!! We travel on viewing mountains and beautiful scenery. We stop for lunch in Price, Utah. They have found dinosaur fossils nearby and the town has a dinosaur theme everywhere, including a dinosaur museum. We rode into Canyonland National Park. Breathtaking!! Spectacular! The canyons are vast and grand!!
Next we rode to Arches National Park and found it to be just as spectacular, if not more so. A great park for hiking and backpacking because most of the arches are not viewable from the road. The huge flat monoliths seem too tall for their width and look like they should fall over with the slightest breeze, but there they stand. The millennia of wind and erosion has left the sides of the monoliths very smooth; almost like they were sanded. The colors are eye-catching and like the other parks seem to go on and on seemingly forever!! Our motel is a couple of miles down the road from the Arches National Park in Moab. We enjoyed a meal at a grill within walking distance of the motel. They have a great back patio area with little cascading water fountains that makes the heat of the day seem much less intense. We came back from dinner, got in the hot tub and chatted with some fellow travelers from Kentucky. We discuss the merits of bourbon among other things. We came in after a bit, watched some TV and called it a night.
End Point: Moab, UT Odometer at End of Day: 20194 Miles Traveled: 478	Places visited: Bonneville Salt Flats Wendover Salt Flats The Great Salt Lake Wasatch Mountain Range

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