Day 19 - 20 ~ Moab, Utah & Cortez, Colorado

Over the past few days in Moab, we have learned more about the town. The Old Spanish Trail passed over the Colorado River at this location. It was officially established in 1902. Between 1910 and 1920, mining of Uranium, Potash, vanadium and manganese spurred some growth. During the 1950's, Charles Steen discovered a rich deposit of Uranium ore just south of the town, making Moab the Uranium Capital of the world. During the Cold War, this discovery resulted in a 500% growth in the size of the town. Later the town again dwindled in size until creative thinking and marketing of the National Parks in the area and recreation sparked new growth. Visitors are now attracted to the area's hiking trails, mountain bike trails and many consider this town an ideal retirement community. Yesterday morning our tour guides prepared a delicious sweet potato pancake and bacon breakfast. We then headed for a leisurely walk through downtown. After a pizza lunch, we headed to Hole in the Rock, just south of Moab. Although it is basically a tourist trap, the house tour was interesting. The 5000 square foot home of Albert & Gladys Christensen was chiseled, dynamited and chipped out of the side of a sandstone cliff. One large room was opened as a cafe. Other alcoves were used as bedrooms and bathrooms plus there was a very large living room. Albert was an artist and his art is displayed throughout the rooms. He also sculpted FDR on the outside wall. After Albert's death in 1957, Gladys opened the home for tours. After her death in 1974, the tours were continued by her son Hubert. About 10 years ago Hubert sold the property to a private company.

On the grounds we saw several interesting sculptures. One of a giant bull was made from nuts, bolts and old tools.

Another sculpture is of a golfer and is made entirely of golf clubs.

Before returning to the RV park we drove through a neighborhood adjacent to the Golf Club. We found a unique home with a man made arch in the yard.

At 4:30 14 RVers left the park for a 5:00 Sunset Tour on Polaris Razor ATVs. Each Razor holds 4 people. We had two Razors with 4 in each and 3 couples rode alone in a Razor. We rode with Charlie (our DD)and his wife Cheryl. Charlie has had military experience with desert vehicles and did an excellent job!

After some Razor instructions and a short drive on paved roads, we entered Hell's Revenge through Sand Flats Recreation Area. The very first hill is called Devil's Spine. I took one picture before I realized we were on a very steep narrow ridge of rounded sandstone with drop-offs on both sides. My camera went down, my hands went over my eyes and I started praying, asking God to please let me live through the next 60 seconds.

During the next three hours we went up and down VERY steep rocks. We crossed the Slipperyrock Mountain Bike trail several times. We stopped to look at a fossilized dinosaur track and again at Echo Canyon.

The half-way point was on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River.

Finally, the sunset!

Some of the scenery was breath taking and I am glad I went on the trip. I must say however, had I known about that first ridge I would not have gone. Charlie was an excellent driver and I trusted him. It helped that he also reminded me at times to "trust the vehicle". Everyone was caught off guard by the "extreme sport" we experienced but we all had a good time. We all agreed we can now scratch that adventure off our lists! This morning we headed to Cortez, Colorado. Enroute we stopped at Wilson Arch. The two hikers give size perspective.

We continued across a high plateau of valleys and farms. We passed many fields of freshily mowed alfalfa.

We are all settled in at our Cortez RV park. We leave at 6:15 a.m. for Durango!