Day 31 - A New Year And A New City

All -

I am in Moab, Utah. There was snow on the ground from Vail to here. The Utah-Colorado boarder was a practical white-out with not much brown to be seen on the ground.

Lost a half hour out of my life in a Wendy's at Grand Junction. I would have left to go somewhere else but there was a car on fire in the road blocking my way to the other side of the highway.

The I-70 drive was easy, although I am still getting used to 75 MPH speed limits. There was nothing eventful until I went to take US-6 just over the Utah boarder. First, AAA's directions were probably written by someone from AA. And I quote, "Take exit number 214 towards Cisco. Drive for 0.5 miles. Turn LEFT onto US-6. Drive for 0.2 miles. Keep RIGHT to stay on US-6. Drive for 5.2 miles. Make a Uturn. Drive for 0.5 miles. Make a Uturn. Drive for 3.1 miles. Turn LEFT onto UT128. Drive for 17 miles. Make a Uturn. Drive for 2.2 miles. Make a Uturn. Drive for 26.4 miles." How many Uturns? So I followed the intent of the directions rather than the law.

Second, US-6 is a non-maintained US highway. That means that they do not plow. Ever. So this stretch of highway looked like an episode of Ice Road Truckers meets Mad Max. The town of Cisco is even more inviting. It was nothing but broken down cars and crumbling buildings covered in a foot of snow. No sign of life. Very spooky.

Miraculously, Utah Highway 128 sprung up perfectly paved and plowed. The Colorado River Byway, as it is known, is one of Utah's scenic highways. This one winds its way down to and across the Colorado River where it chases that all the way to Moab. Again, if I had followed the AAA directions I would have gone down I-70 to US 191 and missed all of this adventure.

After almost killing 15 thanksgivings of wild turkeys, I came to the 1916 Dewey Bridge which is one of the first bridges built to cross the Colorado. While the towers still exist with their dangling suspension lines, the actual bridge does not. A newer span has been built beside it. From here, US-128 plays duck and chase with the Colorado River. At some points the river was racing with rapids and ice flows; at others, the river was clogged with frothy snow. Pretty cool.

Somewhere along the way the canyon walls rose up, the red clay came back, and it began to looks like Monument Valley, again. I wanted to do the bigger loop around Castle Rock but the road was closed due to snow. In the middle of all this, I saw a large truck towing a pirate ship. Seriously. Don't know where it was going but there it was.

Moab still has it's Christmas lights up. The town has two Best Westerns and two book stores. I went to Sgt. Pepper's Records to buy a CD because, after 2250 miles I have become bored with the music I bought. The dude behind the counter asked if I wanted to sign up for their frequent buyers program and I declined as I doubted I would be a frequent buyer.

Now I am watching Alabama trying to catch up to Utah and it has dawned on me that I am in Utah which would explain why everyone is so excited about this game. Go figure. Go Utes.

Hank