Another Time on the ALCAN - 7. Moab, UT & The Arches

Monday & Tuesday , October 5 & 6 - Drove 198 Miles Today, arriving in Moab, UT. Who ever heard of Moab? We left Provo early, at 10AM, taking I-15 a few miles south and then connecting with Highway US 6 that took us through the Wasach Mountains. The terrain leveled off after we passed through Price, UT. We left Hwy 6 at Green River, picking up I-70 and heading east to US 191, fifty miles south and we were in Moab. Who ever hear of Moab?

We had never heard of Moab, or The Arches National Park or The CanyonLands National Park. Yes, we had seen photos of the Arches, and there are more that 2000 of them in the Park, but we never knew where the photos originated. Moab is a neat little tourist town in the center of it all. After settling on an RV park, we decided to take an extra day and look at the Arches - a high point of our travel. Moonshine was not allowed on the trails, so she had to be happy with numerous short walks in the parking lots - besides, she cann't walk to far anymore, and a couple of the shorter trails tested the two of us.

GO TO: Part 8

Another Time on the ALCAN - 6. Pocatello, ID & Provo, UT

Friday, October 2 - 257 Miles Today. We left the KOA at 11AM. The western approach to Yellowstone National Park was near, and we had planned to drive through it, but the bad weather that trailed us out of Alaska threatened to blanket the area with snow so it seemed prudent to head south. The town of West Yellowstone lay only a few miles from our camp. We connected with US 20 there, and headed southwest to hook up with I-15 at Idaho Falls. The road followed the Snake River and we passed a number of nice “summer homes” situated along it banks.

Mary thought Idaho Falls might be interesting, but traffic was heavy again (5PM) and it did not seem as enticing as we had imagined. The RV park we wanted to look at lay on the east side of town, but we weren’t certain of its location. I thought it would be on the lead-in to town and was scanning the roadside the last five miles, but found it sandwiched between I-15 and traffic lights on the town-side, - a busy, congested area. I missed the turn, was highly flustered, and so turned onto the Interstate heading south. We drove on another 50 miles to Pocatello, Idaho. Looked over a KOA camp, but settled on the Cowboy RV Park. We unhitched and drove into town on 5th Street which merged with Yellowstone Avenue, the main drag. Every thing was located along Yellowstone, and the restaurant that caught our attention was called “Wingers” - a place specializing in chicken wings. It was a good choice.

Saturday, October 3 - 227 Miles Today. We left Pocatello fifteen minutes before checkout time and headed south on I-15. Salt Lake City was jammed with traffic - six lanes wide and moving fast. I try to flow with the traffic and thus found myself speeding along at 65MPH - a higher velocity than I normally chose. The heavy traffic was a bit of a surprise but the Mormon’s were having a major conference.

We stopped in Provo for the night leaving I-15 at Exit 265. Unfortunately I veered left, passed over one bridge, under another, and soon found myself going in the wrong direction. Things seemed bad for a while as I didn’t know where we were going or when I’d get a chance to come back. I turned into a gas station and noticed we were on Center Street, the one I wanted. I got on it in the reverse direction and went under one bridge and over another and was soon back on track. Two miles further and we came onto the Lake Side RV Park. Sunday, October 4 - It seemed like it was time to take a break as we had been staying at a different place every night since leaving Alaska, and so we remained at Lake Side RV for a second day. The people at the park told us that Provo Canyon was the place to see, the fall colors were brilliant, and the Sundance Resort was located high up in the canyon, We drove up there, took a photo of Bridal Veil Falls, and then visited the resort home of the famous Film Festival. Luckily we did all those things on Saturday afternoon and evening because it rained on Sunday. We had planned to ride our bikes around Utah State Park which was adjacent to the RV park, but contented ourselves with taking Moonshine for a swim, doing laundry, surfing the Internet, perusing an old Ford tractor out of my youth, and attempting to fix a leaky kitchen sink.

GO TO: Part 7