We left Boulder CO with bellies full of the most delicious fair trade espresso drinks ever. Boulder was, as it were, experiencing a unseasonably heavy snow storm. The roads slick with ice became my own personal nightmare for the next day and a half as I traversed the 11,000+ foot mountain passes that I have read so much about. I can say with certainty that I never, EVER want to attempt driving a top heavy, rear wheel drive van down a ice covered 7% grade for 8 miles ever again. Talk about white knuckle fear! Crash free we emerged from the mountains to be greeted by the high desert of Western Colorado, then by the 55 degree temperatures of Utah. The van looked like it had been through a hurricane. Mud and salt and dirt and ice caked the windows and wheel wells. As we drove on, the van (who has become known as Donato after the previous owner) re-emerged in need of rest, a good window wash and fluids.
Route 128 off of Rt 70 West in Utah is by far my favorite road that I have ever traveled in America. The red rocks tower in cathedral formations that cast shadows onto the smooth flowing Colorado River. The winding two lane road is dotted with mule dear, green junipers, and house sized boulders. I could live here a thousand years.
The four of us slept along the Colorado River under the stars and sipped whiskey next to a desert camp fire. We woke up just before the sun peered over the mammoth rock and headed out to visit Arches National Park outside Moab, Utah. We hiked around the arches, saw double arch and the windows. Sandstone pictures and blue, blue sky!
Tomorrow is Canyonlands and another night in Moab, then its North towards Idaho hot springs on our way to Washington state to discover Olympic National Park.
Jason
