Saturday, April 21, 2012

The State Of Erosion - I

Of all the states, Utah shows the most erosion. Which is what attracts us and millions of others. I can not relate to the millions of years it has taken for the rock to be worn down by wind and water. The effects of the latter can been seen after a rain. For instance, boulders moved in the streams. Wind is harder to for me understand that it can carve rock.

There have been three successive lows move through north of us and each has brought things like four feet of hail to Amarillo, late snow to northern Utah, etc. The fallout we have seen from the fronts is wind. 40 plus gusts. That picks up the dirt and moves it into KoKo and into the next county.


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A ruin perched high on a rock wall, so far unmolested

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We love these formations

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Us by David

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David and Mary by Us

Monday, April 9 - We arrived in Moab, UT.  We haven’t been here since 2006.  This is Jeeping country and home to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.  Lots of red rocks.  We are camped at Goose Island Campground and our site overlooks the Colorado River and the canyon walls across the river.  We have cell phone and internet at the campsite - yea!  The main thing to do was the laundry.  And we had lots of laundry.  I used ten washers, which is a record.

Tuesday, April 10 - Today was settle in day.  That means we had several errands to do.  We got our mail at the post office.  Drove around town seeing where things are and then we went to the City Market.  I still have my Value card from 2006.  It’s a good store and they had lots of fresh breads and wonderful meats.  With all the groceries we bought, we saved $0.10 per gallon at the gas pump.

You might notice a theme in our travels.  We enjoy going to the grocery stores on our travels.  We really like the local stores.   It’s like being at home (Birmingham) and going to Western Supermarket - it’s local and special.  We haven’t found one in Montgomery.  Hint:  Ken & Patricia - a business opportunity?!?!

Wednesday, April 11 - We drove to Gemini Bridges - twin bridges!  It was a dirt road, of course.  After walking across and around the bridges we then left for Hwy 191.  The dirt road became a Jeep trail.  And the wind started blowing.  We stopped a couple of times waiting for the red dirt to pass.  After nap we went back to town looking around.  Moab is definitely a tourist town - bike shop, Jeep rentals (a lot of them), guided tours, at least two dozen hotels and lots of RV parks, also BLM land and the National Parks.  The many restaurants are geared to the tourist trade and the prices reflect that - $10 for a hamburger and nothing with it! A fish taco for $5.

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Thursday, April 12 - To say it was windy last night is a gross understatement.  It blew so hard, “How Hard” - well the wind had Koko rocking and rolling a lot until a little after midnight.  We believe it was the worst wind we have been in.  There is a layer of red dirt inside, so today will be spent cleaning and washing and dusting, etc.  Chatting with park host this morning, a camper’s tent blew into the river and floated away.  He wanted to know where he filed a claim for the loss!

Friday, April 13 - Today we drove to Chicken Corners.  It starts off easy and wasn’t a very bad drive.  Our first stop was some pictographs and then we continued along the dirt road.  Don had been needing some off-road experience and he got it.  It was a fine drive and only one part (Chicken Corners) did I turn “chicken” - I walked and he drove.  When it was time to head back, I got back in the car since it had seemed easy.  But he was on the cliff side returning and he said he only had a few inches between him and the river which was down 400’.  But we made it in 5 hours and all was well.  We met the Gardner's at Blu Pig for dinner.

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Newly built for unknown purpose

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The Colorado, tranquil here

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On the way back from Chicken Corners.               See the chicken.

On the way back, we stopped to watch some Jeeps come up the Amaza Back, a steep rock stair step. Dorothy thought she was having either heart burn or a heart attack. She did not turn blue or white, so I guessed the former. Besides, we were 30 minutes from a hospital. It lasted awhile, but it went away as fast as it came on.

Saturday, April 14 -  It was cloudy, cool and windy, but didn’t want to stay inside so we went looking for the place to take a special picture.  Don had seen it at the Senior Center when we were there a couple of days ago.  We drove around looking for a special road, but Glenda the GPS didn’t find it and neither did we. We turned around and headed back to Koko.  Suddenly there was the scene, so Don did a few practice shots so we can go back when the sun comes out.  We were at the Senior Center because they have library, so I got some books and left them some books - nothing to do with age ha ha!

After our nap, we had a knock on our door and there was a couple, Dan & Barbara Adamson, whom we met when we each took delivery of our new LD’s.  They came in and we had a nice chat.  They are staying at Dead Horse Point SP.  

Continued in Part II

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