Arches, Doggie Shoes, + Laundromat Drama

Double Arch

Hi all, Dianne here.  We drove the short distance from Capital Reef to Arches and are set up in Moab for the next two weeks, to visit the parks in this area. 

Before I update you on our visit here, I just have to relate my laundromat experience in Moab this morning.  I usually don't mind going to the laundromat.  A few weeks ago, at a laundromat near Zion, I even ran into a fellow blogger, RV Sue and her Canine Crew, and we had a nice chat about future travels, etc. as we did our laundry.  Today was a much different experience!  The following photos were taken surreptitiously with my iPhone. 

It will give new meaning to the caution sign, and I guarantee it will give pause to my RV'ing friends who depend on laundromats as they travel.


I entered the laundromat at about the same time as a handsome, nicely-dressed man, and went about my business filling my machines.  He looked like the type who wouldn’t be caught dead washing his own clothes in a laundromat.

My first clue that there might be something amiss was when suds started roiling out of the floor drain and spreading across the floor.  (They had gone back down by the time I took this photo).  Take special note of the rock in the suds photo.  I walked around the bank of washers to check on mine, to be sure they weren’t causing the problem, and noticed the man who entered when I did had way too much (brown) suds in his washers, plus a lot of gravel and rocks on the floor in front of them. 

My washers were done at about the same time as Mr. Clueless, and I gaped in astonishment as I saw him remove gravel- and concrete-laden canvas tarps from his washers (the tarps had obviously not been shaken out before putting them in), and move them to a couple of dryers (still not shaking them out). 

 Let me tell you, those dryers sounded like rock tumblers as they struggled with his mess.
When my first dryer was finished, I hurried to claim the folding table, knowing that he would no doubt put his filthy tarps up there if he got the chance.

As he removed the tarps from the dryers, he spread them out on the floor and tried to pick off glops of dried concrete. 

The gravel and rocks were all over the floor, to the point that I had to be extra careful not to drop any of my laundry, and I crunched around every time I moved my feet as I folded my things.  Oh, and by the way, the photo of the gravel is after he had gotten a shovel and dust pan out of the bed of his pickup to scrape up most of the mess.  This was just a fraction of what was left behind!


The other folks (mostly out-of-town RV’ers like me) who were in the laundromat at the time were also speechless and shaking their heads.  I am e-mailing these photos to the laundromat to alert them.  I think it was a local guy (he had a very nice truck with a Utah license plate).  I think from now on I’ll only use laundromats with attendants on premises (if possible), and you can be darned sure I’ll carefully check washers and dryers before I use them!  Enough laundry-day drama; back to the blog:  


We knew when we made our reservations in Moab that it would be very hot by the time we arrived.  As it turns out, it’s so hot everywhere right now that we might as well be here with the low humidity.  It may be 105 degrees, but at least it's a dry 105!  After we got parked and hooked up, we took Bandido and Tequila for a quick pee break on the dog walk, only to discover that the sand was so hot it was burning their paws to walk on it. 

That just wouldn’t do, so we made a quick trip into Moab and bought doggie shoes for them, as well as two cooling vests for them to use when hiking in the heat.  As you can see, Tequila is not too sure about the shoes!

Not Amused!

Neither is Bandido!  We were careful not to laugh at them as they tried to walk, and bribed them with treats to get them to take a step.  You’ll be glad to know that both dogs did get used to the shoes, and now walk with confidence in the hot sand.  


Roger here... We celebrated the pups' success in mastering new skills by having a tasty dinner at the Moab Brewery (without the dogs).  This place has eight different microbrews.  I only had one.

On the Dog Walk at Spanish Trails RV Park

Yesterday we set our alarm for 6:00 and got an early start to visit Arches National Park before the heat got into triple digits.  We took several short hikes to see some of the arches.  Here are photos with captions:

Landscape Arch

North Window and South Window

Balanced Rock

Skyline Arch

We started down the trail through Devil's Garden to Double O Arch, but I wimped out when I saw the steep slickrock I'd have to scramble up:

Roger, the intrepid one, went on up to the top, but when he found out from other hikers that it would be another mile to get to the Double O Arch he turned back, but not before befriending some Asian Indian children who were proud to show him the snake they saw and photographed on the trail.

Roger wants to describe this photo himself, and our eventful trip back to the RV.


Roger here...  There are lots of strange, interesting, humorous, and frustrating snippets in this post.  However, the most disturbing to me is that my wife of almost 40 years, may be an alien!  Dianne took the above photo.  You know how a vampire reflection never shows up in a mirror?  Well, I am concerned that we humans can only see the true images of aliens from their shadows.  We will be traveling through Roswell, NM on our way back to Texas in the fall.  Is this a coincidence?  You can bet that I will be watching Dianne very closely, when we get to Roswell.


In another matter, on the trip back to the RV park from Arches, we had an interesting (frustrating) experience.  Road construction --- directly in front of the RV park entrance.   The road crew had just laid a fresh patch of asphalt that we could not cross.  We were told to come back in 30 minutes.  When we returned, after a frustrating drive to nowhere, knowing it was time for the dogs to pee, we saw a motor home being turned away.  Crap.  I followed the motor home to a nearby Shell station and talked to the occupants.  They had been told that it would be another hour!  Crap.  After filling up our tank, I walked over to make friends with the female flag person at the intersection.  She agreed to let me cross because our car was so small.  There are advantages to owning a cheap car.  

This morning, we got another early start and took Bandido and Tequila to the new Moab off-leash dog park.


The “kids” had a lot of fun running and chasing each other in the red sand.  It's a large park with shade trees and benches.  We were there by 8:00 and it wasn't hot yet, so we let them cut loose for a bit.  

Bandido fetched balls over and over, but he got pretty tired of getting sandy, red dirt in his mouth every time he picked up his ball.  He decided to wash it in the water bowl (his Retama friends have seen him do this in Texas).  He misses his Texas grass!


Roger here, again....  I was wounded at the dog park :-(.  While showing Tequila the way to the water bowl, a hornet stung me in the ankle.  Ten hours later (and lots of benedryl lotion, and ice), it still hurts like the devil.  My ankle bone is visually non-existent.  Hope it is better by tomorrow because we are taking the dogs on a dog-friendly hike in the morning with all their new paraphernalia. 


The pet photo of the day is a very short video of Bandido and Tequila learning to walk in shoes.  Charlie the cat took advantage of Tequila’s hesitation and ate the dog treats before Tequila came out from her hidey-hole under the chair to get them.   Roger again (one last time)...  I often skip downloaded video clips when reading on the internet.  Please don't skip this one.  Dianne did a masterful job making this one hilarious.