Trapped in Moab

Roger here....  Ah!!!!!! Look at the sunset views from my lawn chair outside the motor home.  So peaceful.  So beautiful.  So hot.
The soft sounds of graders and steam rollers.  The fragrance of asphalt in the air.  Pictures do not always paint the entire picture. 


Due to the ongoing nature of this topic, I will not be posting it until we leave Moab, if we are able to leave Moab.  We are scheduled to leave in a week and there are still many things we would like to do, if we are able to get out of the RV park.


Don't get me wrong.  I am happy that the workers have employment as they improve the infrastructure in this area.  I know that if highways are to be improved, that inconveniences occur during the construction.  I know that the friendly staff at the RV Park does not have control over the situation, and must have their own frayed nerves.  My purpose in this post is merely to express the frustrations that many full-time travelers face from time to time.  I'm really not complaining; I'm just whining.


Let's start at the beginning:  We were scheduled to spend two weeks in Moab.  We needed to have reservations for the Fourth of July, and there is so much to do and see here.  When we arrived two weeks ago (Sunday), we were thrilled to see that the road construction on 191 ended north of the city limits.  It did not look like it would have any bearing on our activities.  We were disappointed to see a new set of construction signs (including the dreaded flagger icon) on the south side of the city limits as we approached our  RV park.  We were relieved to see that the construction was taking place well beyond the entrance of our turn into the entrance of our park.  All was good.


The next day (Monday), we went to the visitor center, the grocery, and did some initial exploring.  I have already written about our frustrations that took place on Tuesday when we were unable to get into the RV park after hiking at Arches.  Those frustrations continued.


No problems on Wednesday.  We took the dogs to the dog park and Dianne went to the laundry.  No problems on Thursday.  We took the dogs on a canyon hike and did a night cruise on the Colorado River.  


I left early Friday morning to go on the ranger-led hike at the Fiery Furnace at Arches.  It was such a great hike.  I was in such a good mood while driving back to the RV Park.  I called Dianne to let her know I survived.  Her response was a subdued, "Good," followed by, "The entrance to the park is blocked.  I don't think you will be able to get in."  The next statement was, "Would you get some milk and bread on your way back?" At that point my thinking was that I would find things to do in town before rushing back. 


So..... I stopped by the local tire store to see if they could repair the slow leak in the car tire that had been concerning me for quite a while.  I had been adding air a couple times a week.  They were able to work me in, and had the tire repaired after an hour.  REALLY GOOD NEWS!  They found a four-inch nail.  I am amazed that we did not have a really flat tire.  Sometimes things happen for a reason.  Very lucky.


OK, with the tire fixed, I might as well find a place to eat lunch (more time for the RV park entrance to open up.)  I returned to the Moab Brewery, sat at the bar, and enjoyed cheese quesadillas with one of their home-brewed "scorpions".  Good food.  Good beer.  Since I was in no hurry to leave, I had another beer.  My time in the tire store and enjoying lunch ate up a couple of hours.

Surely, by now the entrance would be open.  I dropped by the grocery for milk, bread, and salad.  I called Dianne while waiting in the flagger line.  She said that the entrance was still blocked.  I was already in line, so I proceeded down the road.  I asked the flagger at the north end of the construction if I would be able to get into the RV Park.  He said, yes.

When I approached the entrance, I saw that it was completely blocked.  I quickly turned into the Shell station across the highway, which by this time had turned into an RV corral (three motor homes waiting to get into the park).  I walked over to talk to the flagger lady, who told me it would be another three hours before I could cross the asphalt.  THREE MORE HOURS!  I told her that I had groceries in the car (well over 100 degrees).  I asked if there was any other way to get into the RV Park.  She rattled off a series of streets and turns, mentioning a dirt road.  I had nothing to write down the directions, so I took off on the back roads looking for any familiar street name.  I ended up at a convenience store back on the main highway, where I went in to buy ice for the milk.  I was lucky to have a small cooler in the car.  I then called Dianne.  "THREE HOURS!," she yelled into the phone.  (In that time frame, I would not be able to get back to the motor home before 7:00 p.m.)  I asked Dianne to look up the phone number for the RV Park, thinking that they might know a back way in.  


When I talked with the (very nice) work camper in the office.  She confirmed that the entrance was still closed, but was surprised by how long it would still be closed.  She asked someone else in the office about directions to get to the dirt road and began reciting a series of road names and directions.  I scribbled them down as quickly as I could.  

Since I did not know how to find the first street in the series of directions, I went back into the convenience store.  A very helpful clerk and a local lady, waiting to check  out, helped me figure out my first turn.  I made a couple wrong turns before finding the correct way.  Then I found the dirt road that parallels the highway.  Thankfully, I did not get stuck as I slid around on the sandy surface. (We need to get a Jeep.)


After safely making it back to the RV Park.  I walked over to ask the guy who was blocking the entrance about the status of the construction over the next few days.  Bryce was a friendly and understanding guy.  (I suspect he was the supervisor of the entire process).  He told me that the next day we would be able to get in the RV Park, but not the Shell station (the RV corral) across the street.  I made a quick stop at the office of the RV Park to thank Judy, the lady who gave me directions, and to tell her the specific street name that leads to the dirt road.


Saturday, we stayed in.  Bandido was having intestinal problems that you do not want to hear about.  Leaving him would have been a mistake.  Lots of activity on the road.


We took the dogs to Dead Horse Point State Park yesterday (Sunday), and had no problems.  No one was working on Sunday.   (Dianne here:  I took advantage of the Sunday work stoppage to make a grocery run in the afternoon, not wanting a repeat of Roger's experience.)


Today (Monday), I am watching a flurry of activity on the highway.  The "follow the pilot car" sign is up at the entrance to the RV park, but I think we can get out.  We may try later.   We are  about to run out of wine, but can only buy it at a state-run liquor store in the State of Utah.  Wine-thirty will not be pleasant today, if we can't get out :-).  If we can't get back in, we can just drink wine at the Shell station.   :-).  Just kidding.  I am sure that would be a violation of one of Utah's strange liquor laws,  this one justified.


We still have a couple more things to do around Moab (Canyonlands, a petroglypyh hunt on Potash Road, and another hike at Arches), but we decided this morning to cut our stay short after doing those three things.  Tired of wondering if we can get out.  Tired of wondering if we can get back in after if we do get out.  Tired of listening to the construction.  Tired of smelling the asphalt. 

The RV Park sign should have an addendum....  but you may not be able to get in (or out). 


Waaaah,  Waaah, Waaaah.  Time to stop the whining :-), at least for today.  Whining is really unattractive, don't ya think?


Since writing the first part of this post, we have had no additional problems.  Our trips to Canyonlands, Potash Road (something we won't forget), and Arches this week were non-eventful as far as road construction is concerned.  No delays.  No incidents of being stranded.  Good news.  We decided to leave a day early, because we were ready for a change of scenery --- not that the scenery here is anything but spectacular. 

This is what we saw on the way back from our last hike at Arches National Park, yesterday.  Uh oh.  Today the traffic was backed up in front of the entrance of the RV park all day long.  Time to go.


Talk with you again later from the Mountain View Winery in Olathe, Colorado, unless we are trapped again in Moab.

HOLD ON.... It is the morning of our departure and it looks as if we are indeed trapped in Moab.   Only the people on bicycles (right side of photo) seem to be getting in or out.

We had no problem exiting  the RV park and breezed through town.  We thought we had escaped.  But then, just on the north side of town near our favorite place, Potash Road, Highway 191 became a parking lot.  We could not figure out why there was not a flagger sign.  We could not figure out why the four lanes of traffic had not been diverted to a single lane.  Thirty minutes later, we were a little closer.  It doesn't look like road construction. It looks like road obstruction.  (Notice the cars in the left-hand lane driving to the front, knowing that they will be able to cut in line at the last minute.  I hate that.  I have been known to tailgate the guy in front of me so as not to let the interlopers in.  Childish, I know, but satisfying.)

Looking at this photo that was taken as we were about to get past the mess, you can begin to see the source of the problem.  This looks like some of the scenery from the Lone Ranger set.  Doesn't that look like a camera boom?

It appeared that two (double) trailers being pulled by a truck,  jack-knifed while turning from Potash Road onto 191.  The trailers were definitely loaded with scenery from the movie set that we had seen a couple of days ago.  Oh well, I guess it was worth the wait.  It makes a good story, anyway.


NOW, I really do think we have escaped.  On to Colorado.

Park Avenue Hike - Arches National Park

Hi all, Dianne here.  This will be a short post describing our last hike in the Moab area.  There was one last hike we wanted to take in Arches National Park and, once again, it proved to be different from all of the other hikes we've done this trip.

The trail is named for the tall fins that line both sides of the canyon, and it really did give the impression of being in a city of skyscrapers.

The most interesting part of this short hike, for me, was the interesting swirl patterns in the dry creek bed that made up much of the trail surface.  Here are a few more interesting patterns:

For the first time in the two months we've been in Utah, we had threatening clouds as we hiked. 

 The clouds kept the temperature to a comfortable low 80s as we hiked that morning -- perfect!   

Here's a photo Roger took of me sitting on a rock with another swirly pattern on the creek bed.

Now, here's a better photo of the rock I was sitting on.  Don't you think it looks like a huge smiling frog, or something out of a Star Trek movie?

The trail was pretty easy, except that the first section involved a long staircase down to the bottom.  Of course, that meant the return trip involved a long staircase back up to the top!  I stopped midway to take a photo up...


And a photo down...

Just enough exercise for a good morning walk!  Two miles round trip.  We originally intended to stop in Moab on the way back to have lunch.  Turns out, we were done with the hike by 9:30.  It was spitting rain, so we decided on a second breakfast instead.  Our first breakfast that morning was a "breakfast cookie," the recipe for which I learned from Laurie & Odel's blog, Semi-True Tales of our Life on the Road.  Here's a direct link to the recipe:  Vegan Breakfast Cookie Recipe.  I substituted dried cherries for the raisins and used honey instead of Agave syrup.  (I also added salt, but don't tell Laurie!)  I made a batch of these cookies a couple of weeks ago and froze most of them.  They have been very handy to grab and go on these early morning hikes we've taken in Moab.

We decided to try the Peace Tree restaurant to take advantage of their outdoor seating, since it was uncharacteristically pleasant (meaning not like being in a blast furnace).  Roger highly recommends their huevos rancheros.  We enjoyed sitting outside, sipping coffee, and watching the rain as we ate.  


We've decided to pack it up and head out a day early.  We're ready for a change of scene.  Even though we've already paid for tomorrow night here in Moab, we will justify our move by stopping overnight at a winery outside of Olathe, Colorado.  We can park there free of charge through the Harvest Hosts program that we belong to.  Stay tuned for that!

The pet photo of the day shows Tequila helping me edit Roger's Potash Road Surprises blog post.  Love those eyes!

Surprises Along Potash Road

Are they dribbling basketballs??   Oh, shields? -- Never mind!

Roger here....  How many of you have ever heard of Potash Road near Moab, UT?  Unless you have been here, you probably have not.  Unless you spent more than a couple days here, you probably have not.  It is not in a national park.  It is not marked especially well from the main highway.  There are no brown "interest" signs on the main highway indicating something to see.  What an unexpected find!


Fellow bloggers Geri and Chuck (Mothership Travel Blog), who we met at Zion River Resort, have helped us find a number of interesting locations and good places to eat as we traveled through Utah.  A week ago, they sent us information about petroglyphs along Potash Road. On the Fourth of July, we decided that a dog park playtime, then a short trip (with the dogs) to find the petroglyphs was in order.  The short trip turned into a much longer event, full of surprises.  

The first surprise was the beauty of the drive itself.  (It should not have been a surprise.  Everything here is beautiful.)  Potash Road, just north of Moab, clings to a narrow stretch of land between the Colorado River and vertical cliffs.  We think that the cliffs look like chunks of chocolate.  

Surprise # 2.... As we meandered down the road, we saw two young people (I assume they were young) climbing up the rock face.  In both instances a spotter stood next to the road, manning the climbing ropes.

Surprise # 3....  The petroglyphs we went to see were not the usual petroglyphs we have seen in the past.  This was the most impressive display we have ever seen.  The panels extended for a couple hundred yards along the road.  The panels were crowded with images.  The images (probably from the Fremont Tribe - dating back to 600 A.D) were the clearest we have ever seen.

The petroglyph below depicting a string of people holding hands is evidently very unique.

The dogs waited in the car with the windows partially opened while we ogled the ancient art.  Don't worry. We were always within sight of the car -- we were only gone for a few minutes -- it was not hot yet -- and the car was in the shade.  Here is a rare family shot of all four of us :-).  (Dianne here:  The dusty window is unavoidable here; every time the wind blows, clouds of dust blow through the rv park, enveloping everything in their path.  As soon as we get away from the dusty red sand/dirt, both the car and the motor home need a good washing!)

Since the scenery was so spectacular and there was virtually no traffic, we decided to drive a little further down the road.  Glad we did!

Surprise # 4...  About a mile down the road we saw a sign pointing to "dinosaur tracks".  Something to check out.  This is what we found.  Well, not exactly this, but we did find three large rock panels that were covered with fossilized imprints of large predator dinosaurs (allosaurus).

Unfortunately, it was not that easy to get to the fossils.  We saw a narrow path that switch-backed to the panels.  We opted to try the short, but steep trek with the dogs.  We reached a point when it became evident that the dogs would not be able to go further.  We decided that one of us should stay with the dogs, while the other scrambled up to the panels, then we would switch.  I went first (and last).  Dianne agreed that she would not have liked the scrambling/climbing involved.  I made it safely to the largest panel.  It was fascinating.  Two very large prints (about a foot long), and several smaller, less obvious ones.  I placed my hand on the lower of the two imprints.  It was so small in the larger space.  Weird feeling to actually have my hand where a huge dinosaur had once walked. 


 Crap!  Dianne has the camera.  I had a difficult time finding a safe place to descend, but I made it, while sliding on my butt.  I knew that Dianne would not be comfortable doing this, and quite frankly, I did not want to do it again.  So, the pictures in this post are from a distance.  

First a shot of the location of the panels... (The center panel is pretty much in the exact center of the picture.)






Next, a zoomed shot of the center panel that clearly shows the two largest foot prints.

Since the dogs were with us, and we were enjoying the drive, we decided to go a little further down the road.  Glad we did!

Surprise # 5...  the biggest surprise of the day.  What are all those tents and trailers down by the river?  We both knew immediately.  In my mind I could hear, "Who was that masked man? 


We had accidently found the base camp for the filming of the Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp as Tonto!  Dianne was snapping pictures as we drove by, but expressed concern that I was not driving slowly enough.  In this case, slow evidently meant come to a complete stop.


We knew we would be passing by again on the return trip, so we drove another mile to the end of the paved road, next to the potash (potassium chloride) processing facility.  As we drove this last mile, a railroad track (obviously for transporting potash) sloped out of the canyon next to the road.

Then.  Look at that!  Is that the train engine that we saw from the movie set that we saw from the top of  Dead Horse Point a couple of days ago?  It certainly looks like something from the Lone Ranger time frame.  So do the others that we found in the same location.

We also discovered a couple of fancy, old (or, newly fabricated) passenger cars.  The first one looks so pristine.

The second one looks a little like.... a little like.... a little like it had been attacked.  A train robbery?  An explosion?  We can't wait to see the movie to find out.  (Dianne here:  The movie is set to be released in July of 2013.  Here's a link with photos, cast and crew listing:  The Lone Ranger).

On the way back past the base camp I drove the car as if I had spotted a bear in Yellowstone.  Very, very slowly.  Dianne took several pictures of the "star waggon" trailers and motorhomes.  I wonder who was in them?  (Dianne again:  I did see some signs on the smaller trailers with "makeup" and "costume"; the larger fifth wheels, who knows???  Tonto perhaps??)   By the way, the man who was guarding the entrance to the complex smiled and waved to us as we inched by.

Dianne read on the internet that Johnny Depp has been doing many of his own stunts, but that he has had problems with falling off his horse.  Could that be one reason for the event ambulance?

I did a little googling before writing this post to confirm that the filming is indeed taking place right now.  Potash Road is going to be closed in a couple of days for further filming.  Johnny Depp is in town somewhere.  I am surprised that we have not been invited over for dinner :-).  I also discovered that the filming in the Moab area was preceded by filming in Creede, CO.  We are spending two weeks in Creede in a few weeks.  What a coincidence.  Looks like we will be seeing this movie.   Hi-Yo Silver, Away!

This was a great Fourth of July!  We actually stumbled on all of the surprises, petroglyphs excluded.   Finding the movie set was completely unexpected.  It was such a good day that we rewarded ourselves with ice cream (a rare treat these days).  I had mocha-coffee.  Dianne had chocolate chip-carmel-cashew.  Bandido and Tequila had vanilla, and enjoyed theirs the most, so the following are no-brainers for the pet photos of the day!