They Are Even Here - Monday, June 6, 2011

They Are Even Here - Monday, June 6, 2011

I crawled into bed last night and settled. Just then I heard the train whistle. It wasn't the usual 2 longs, a short, a long that I had been hearing which is sounded at a crossing. This was different and I've forgotten it already. The trains seem to be wherever we go.

I was the stay-a-bed this morning but I finally got up. Tom was up and about as usual. We made some plans for the day and the next few days; Tom needs a haircut, laundry needs to be done, are we going to Canyonlands National Park which is just up the highway a bit?

We were out of the trailer and headed for Arches National Park by 9:30am or so. Close enough for rock 'n' roll. We decided to leave the window open in the trailer to catch the breeze and for ventilation.

As we approached the Park entrance I had my doubts. I saw switchbacks like the ones at Mesa Verde and I was getting scared already. Then I saw a group of cyclists who were going to ride up those switchbacks with the cars, campers, RVs, mobile homes and buses. Oh, Bruther!


The only time that we had a concern about a cyclist was when we wanted to turn into the parking lot of the Visitor Center and we were slightly behind a cyclist. Tom decided that there was plenty of room to get in front of him and turn. And rightly so.


We saw to exhibits in the Visitor Center, bought two shirts in the store and then headed up the mountain on the switchbacks. I don't think they were as bad as Mesa Verde's. At least they weren't as long. Soon we were at the "top". Actually there was no "top". The roads kept going up and down the sides of the canyon walls. And we weren't allowed to climb on the tops of the rocks that we were viewing. On some of them we were permitted to walk closer to them but not on top of them. There were many trail heads that lead to trails that experienced hikers could take.


We took a total of 256 pictures in the 5 hours we were there. There were often three shots of the same subject just to make sure you "got a good one" especially in a moving vehicle. Then you take a picture of one thing only to find out that the road will take you closer if you only had waited. There were some formations that you just had to name, such at Snoopy, Praying Hands, the Buzzard, the mushroom, etc.

There were so many formations with holes in the rock and tunnels. There were tunnels that are horizontal and had vertical "skylights" from the top down into the "tunnel." And all of these are natural creations without any human intervention. Again, at some point you just stop taking pictures and just drink in all of the sights.


The Visitor Center had a board on which was posted that the high temp for today was supposed to be in the mid 90s and it would be windy with gusts up to 46 mph. After a while it did get rather windy. It was almost as if you could lean into the wind and it would support you.


It was still windy when we arrived back at the RV Park. We entered the trailer to a "cunch" underfoot. I ran my finger over the table and it was gritty. Everything that had a flat surface had a layer of red gritty sand on it. The open window and the wind were the culprits.

We were too tired to deal with it so we just put our things down and "crashed" as is our usual afternoon activity.

When we got up I started wiping down the things that we needed to use to get dinner ready and eat like the large cutting board that covers the stove when it isn't being used as a stove, the stove (even under the cutting board), the galley counter and drawer tops, the table, the lavatory counter and sink. They were all just a red mess.I have no vaccuum cleaner so I guess we will be sitting on this dust until we get home. I know what I will be doing in July!


After dinner we did the dishes and tried to contact a friend but had no luck. After the third call I suggested that she might like to call us. After a while Tom found that we had two misssed calls from her but our cell phone never rang. It did in the beginning of our trip but we had the same problem in the middle of our trip. Tom  played with it for a while but still didn't find out how to turn the ring tone on. Since we don't know if or how we turned it off we are of no help. And he didn't bring the owner's manual with us.


Now it's time to go to bed. I will take one last trip to the wash house. If it turns midnight I might try to post this tonight. If not it will have to be done tomorrow morning.