Crossing Utah

Characteristic southern Utah landscape

Yesterday's drive from Tuba City was inspired, in part, by Scott Hennessey's recent motorcycle trip that included parts of Utah. The morning was fresh but more heat was promised as we enjoyed our second cup of coffee outside our Tuba City hotel. Gas, and then we hit the road.

We expected a long day through the parched land, but instead were surrounded by beautifully colored hills, mesas and welcoming little communities along the way. The hospitality rep at the visitors' center in Blanding, Utah persuaded us to visit Arches National Park, a few hours away.

We stopped in Monticello for lunch and $$ at Wells Fargo, and were in awe of the beauty surrounding us as we drove -- an all-day scenic "Sunday ride". By mid-afternoon, I had already run through the batteries on my old Lumix camera and was well into the first Samsung battery -- I'd been saving the Samsung with the good zoom for the park.



The Arches National Park

Somewhere along the way we'd returned to MDT, an hour ahead of Arizona time, though I'm not sure what that meant for our day. By late afternoon when we arrived at the park, the temperature was 104 degrees F so we decided to drive and see major attractions, rather than hike a little and not see much of anything. We weren't disappointed.

In the early evening, we made our way back to Hwy 128 for Grand Junction.