USA
May
19, 2012 - Moab was the destination of the day and luckily
the ride went quickly and smoothly. By noon we'd rolled through
Moab, chatted with a few locals interested in exactly how much
gas the tanks held, and started on the ascent into Arches
National Park.
Arches was spectacular. Without a doubt one of the highlights of
the trip so far and fertile ground for countless pictures.
After we completed our ride through Arches, we went back to Moab to find a motel. Aside from finding most of them full, prices were such that we decided to bail on Moab and Utah altogether and ride into Colorado. In Naturita we found a room in the only motel in town. While checking in, one of the people in the lobby asked me if I knew Jeff so and so, as he'd apparently moved to Vancouver a few decades ago. It was that kind of town.
Naturita is one of those towns that died long ago but refuses to let go. A slew of dilapidated main street houses and businesses, most of them shuttered, make for a dreary backdrop to the mountains. One bar was being kept alive by an enterprising expatriate from Denver. She'd organized a Reggae band for the night, which sounded incredulous to us. We went and had a look a few hours later and encountered young and old dancing a set of random styles to poorly played popular songs. With a few local Goths thrown in, it was a bit warped in a downscale Pulp Fiction sort of way.