We were a little more than an hour from Moab when I noticed the thickening, darkening clouds. Traveling west on I-70, we actually had to go farther west & then exit onto US 191, heading back a bit in a southeasterly direction. This gave me plenty of time to observe the weather conditions.
Phil was dozing on the sofa with Kimi – he had driven the 1st half of the day. Shaun was up front with me, & we both kept commenting on the clouds. They were dramatically, forbodingly looming, closing in. We saw lightening streak the sky – at first occasionally, but increasing in frequency & intensity the closer we got to Moab. Sometimes the lightening would flash horizontally, cloud to cloud, although the clouds looked like one huge mass.
When the rain started, Phil, who had awakened by now, changed seats with Shaun to help navigate. The red, green & gray-white colors of the rocks intensified with their newfound wetness. It was raining steadily, but fortunately not as a torrent. The long decline into Moab was pretty, though I had to stay focused on the driving. We passed signs pointing the way towards Canyonlands National Park, and then the entrance to Arches. As the road flattened out, we crossed the Colorado River. Entering Moab is like entering any other decent resort town. First the cheaper establishments: Denny’s, Motel 6, etc. Then the nicer eateries, the fancier hotels, inns & suites. Lots of t-shirt, Indian art, jewelry shops. One sign over a doorway read “Uranium Building”. There were some cutsie-named coffee shops, breakfast cafés, & other take-out eateries.
After we checked in to the Canyonlands RV Park, we drove ½ a mile back down the road & picked up our Jeep rental at the Moab Adventure Center. It was a big orange beast of a vehical, with a heavy canvas covering the driver/passenger area & hardly at all covering the rear seats. Behind the second row, there was a cargo area, complete with a MAC-provided cooler pre-filled with ice & water bottles. The kids couldn’t resist riding back to the campground in it, despite the now sprinkling rain.
After Phil followed us back in the RV, we set up camp & prepared to head out to Arches. The kids smartly had huge beach towels with them to use as a rain shelter, but the temperature drop made the open-air ride unexpectedly chilly. Phil switched off with Shaun during one of our scenic stop-offs; then he & Kimi cuddled up under the blankets for warmth.
The rain made the Arches look soft-focused in pastel shades of pink & purple. It was misty & surreal. At an area called Balanced Rock, a man named Bill Cambell lent us the use of the top of his storage trunk in back of his big white pickup as a staging area for photos. Perched up there, I could take great “arial” shots of the rest of the family. Then Phil took a picture of the kids & me standing up there with him – he was a good sport!
We drove a bit more, but by now the kids were getting cold & hungry. Time to head back into town. That’s when it began to really pour. We found a wood-fired oven pizzeria & a parking spot nearby. Good enough! We ran into the place as thunder rumbled over our heads. As it turned out, the restaurant, Zax, did a pizza buffet that included salad & soup – such a deal! We filled our tummies while sitting out on the protected patio. More lightening, some really, really close by kept us alert during supper.
Luckily, the rain stopped just as we finished dinner. This allowed us to snoop a bit in the various touristy shops. Coming out of one, we were treated to a complete double rainbow hanging over the red rock range – just gorgeous! Welcome to Moab!!
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