Moab, Utah

A late start from Blanding as we needed a lay in. The weather had turned cold but the wind had died down. Driving through town we noticed that there was a warning light on the dash which signalled that we had a flat tyre. We pulled into a gas station and pumped all the tyres up. The pressure seemed to hold so we set off for Moab hoping we did not have a puncture. As we climbed and climbed we noticed the outside temperature was plummeting from +5c to -10c. Then it hit us suddenly.....a snow storm. Next thing it was a white out and visibility became really poor. It was also discerning that there was not anyone else on the road. We hit the 4WD button as it became slippery on the steep hills and picked our way along gingerly as there was nowhere to stop and we did not want to become stranded. After half an hour the snow stopped as quick as it had started and the road cleared and next it was blue sky and brilliant sunshine.

It's snow joke this weather.

We made good time after that to Moab on some beautiful deserted roads.

And 10 minutes later it was like this!

 When we arrived we hit the local visitor centre to pick up maps and info and were treated to a movie in their theatre of the surrounding area. We then checked in to our new hotel called the Adventure Inn which was also of a very high standard. Unfortunately, I made a bad first impression on them by mistaking their trash can for a stool while checking in, thus causing the lid of the trash can to crumple rather embarrassingly under me in a very loud fashion , extracting a sarcastic comment from the owner. I got my own back next morning by exploding my porridge oats in their microwave at breakfast making a nasty mess. The air temperature was a lot colder than of late so we found a thrift shop in town and had a nose around for some warm togs. The shop was amazing. It had everything you could possibly want from snowboards, to rucksacks, to climbing shoes to sleeping bags. It was adventure heaven , all for bargain prices. Kathy bought some warm stuff but I couldn't find a pokemon onesie so left empty handed.

We came to rock.

  The alcohol laws are slightly different here compared to Arizona as they don't sell spirits or wine or strong beer in the normal shops so you have to go to a state liquor store. There is only one shop in town so they have a monopoly on the booze so prices are slightly higher. Booo! BUT they did have a massive selection of wines. Hooray!
   Another observation was that Americans are grossly obese in general. We have never seen so many overweight people. We don't mean a little fat when you get older but they are huge. I think is must be the availability of all to fast food which is sold here and the huge portions they give you when you eat out.

This rock formation looked like a face side on.

 Next morning the rear tyre was low on air again so had to pump it up before we set off for Arches National Park. Here we paid our $25 and spent a very entertaining 5 hours looking at all the red rock hoodoo's and mesmerising stone arches. These were formed millions of years ago by the gradual erosion by water, ice and wind which had carved the rock in unnatural formations on a huge scale. In the spring to autumn this is one of the most popular parks in the whole area and often it is filled by thousands of visitors but today there was hardly a soul here so we moved around at leisure freely.
 Later we drove back to downtown Moab and visited a micro brewery who had a nice cosy bar, which for 5pm was surprisingly full of locals. We took the last available table and ordered some of the all American craft beers which were surprisingly delicious and for a bargain £2 a pint.

Kathy found balancing a plank with a bike on her head while drinking beer was now in her skill set.

Next morning we had another lay in, a massive breakfast and filled up on take out coffee. Then we had to pump the tyre up on the car again which seemed to have a slow puncture but was holding for now. We then burned off to Canyonlands national park for some more sublime scenery. Even better there was no one collecting entrance fees as it was out of season so saved 25 bucks. We hiked a few choice trails here and saw some great views but the wind was penetrating due to the lack of cover and the altitude so after 4 hours decided we had enough and headed back to the town.

Massive views from a massive country.

 Kathy found another thrift shop and made a new friend who was an ex-navel officer. She bought a couple of bargains and because we had saved $25 earlier at the park we decided to celebrate our good fortune by a return visit to the micro brewery bar to sample some more craft beers. Then we received news that one of our Air BnB bookings had cancelled on us at the last moment so had to go back to the room to find a last minute hotel for our return leg to Las Vegas.