Greetings from the Land of the Moabites! - June 5, 2011

Greetings from the Land of the Moabites! - June 5, 2011


Editor's Note: The satellite internet service at Archeview Resort (I question the word "Resort" but it's their place so they can name it what they will) had reached it's limit at about 10:20pm Mountain Daylight Saving Time. That's about the time that I had tried to send an email and it wouldn't go. Then I tried to bring up a webpage and I was told that "something" happened to the internet service. So today's blog will not get posted tonight but will tomorrow morning.


Nope! I didn't get to bed yet so here it is!  :o)


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I asked Tom to get me up early when he got up so that I could get a shower in the day light before church. The ladies's restroom and shower had not only the lights on a 5-minute timer but some/most lights that didn't work. What lights there were depended on some motion in the room and that motion didn't include movement in the shower or the toilet cubicle. I didn't want to finish my shower by the light of my flashlight.
Back at the trailer before it was time to leave, I continued packing from last night. Then we left for church. We decided to become Episcopalians this morning since it was a 50-minute ride to Durango, the nearest ELCA Lutheran Church. St. Barnabas of the Valley was a very warm and welcoming congregation with, I suspect, a dwindling congregation. It will be remembered warmly.

We tried to stop at Denny's for breadfast but it was already almost 9:30 and we couln't be seated immediately. So we came back to finish packing and leave. Somehow we would eat on the run. We were riding out of the RV Park at 10:38 with checkout time of 11:00! Tom said it was a good thing we didn't stay to eat at Denny's!

This trip was one of the ones that wouldn't be too long. It was about two hours driving time. But this time we weren't on the interstate highway system. It was a U.S. Route and it took us through the country. Soon we were in Utah but the camera wasn't on so I missed the sign.

There were some farms with few cattle. Most farms were for crops. There were no barns as I know barns in eastern PA. They had high corrigated roofs supported along the long sides and one end. Farm machinery was parked under the roofs to be protected from the sunlight and rains and snow when they come. Some people lived in "brick and mortar" built homes but most of them lived in old modular homes. A lot of people had old, old RVs and travel trailers setting in their "yards." Many places had old farming equipment setting around the "yards" just rusting away. I wondered out loud about why they were there and Tom offered that it was probably cheaper to let it rust than it was to haul it away.

Then we came into the area of the sandstone formations. There were sheer walls of the cliffs weathered smooth. Some of those walls had huge crevaces worn into them by the elements. Having just left the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde I wondered if they were home to some people many, many years ago. The colors were shades of red. Again, some snow capped peaks were attending us. Tom says that the office here has some kind of device that tells the name of at least one of those peaks. I'll have to go look. Some of the walls were cracked and looked as if they were ready to fall off. Some had fallen off. In some places there were small round holes in the rocks looking as if someone had taken an ice pick to them. I expect we will find out more about it tomorrow when we go into the park.

We rode through Moab, past the park and finally to Archview Resort. It looks like anthing but a "resort." There are spaces for tents, tent trailers, RV Trailers, 5th Wheels and motor homes. This place accomodates all. The party crowd across the road from us was very quiet. We are not too far from the wash house and the dumpster. And we have a wonderful view of the mountain formations and the snow-capped peaks beyond. We hadn't timed the sunset properly of this location.

The only thing that bothered us was that we had some trouble getting into the site and Tom decided to approach again. This is the first park anywhere that there was not enough room for the tow vehicle to be parked in front of the trailer in a straight line with the trailer. The tow vehicles are all parked perpendicular to the trailer. After he tried the second time he was sure that he was the one who broke the sewer connection by towing the trailer tires across it. But before we had the trailer unhitched and all that stuff stowed, the people from the park were looking at the broken connection and were starting to do something to repair it. So Tom said that it must not have been him who broke.

The temperature is about in the mid 90s here so the AC felt good. After a quick lunch I went to nap. I was aware when Tom joined me. I was aware of Tom leaving and coming back to the trailer. But I was out for over two hours. Tom said that he had walked to the office, did all that he wanted to do on the laptop for the day and was in and out several times. Finally I woke up. I was just too tired.

We had dinner and watched the eastern skyline because we couldn't see anything from our site watching west.

Soon it was getting dark and I had things to do so we came inside. Tom was off to bed and I was caught with a full band width with email and this blog. I am off to bed and will send this tomorrow before we go see the arches.