Thus Spake Zarathustra

Day #3 – Saturday, Aug. 15

What a day! Three states in 18 hours. Not the most efficient traveling, but definitely a day to remember!

Last night (Friday), we rolled into Moab after dark, so we could not see anything. So, this morning we were wowed to see the red landscape. The breakfast dining room of the hotel, didn’t have one English speaking person there. Seems this is a big destination for tourists of many countries.

We hit the park early: 8am, and were surprised to learn that this weekend was National Parks weekend… so no charge! The driving loop is about 15 miles, with stops to see the huge, red monolithic structures. Each one seemed to get more and more spectacular. They are named, and my favorite was “The Gossips” !

Finally two hours later, with the temperature rising, we tore ourselves away and headed along the Colorado River to head East out of Utah and into Colorado. We stopped at Grand Junction for lunch, and planned to get to Kansas by bedtime.

We now faced The Rockies! We were lulled into a false security in the foothills. I had read that we’d be going to an elevation of 7,00+ elevations. Wrong… try 11,000! The landscape and topography kept changing. The rock stayed red. We were happy to finally reach Pueblo (remember all those government brochures that you write to Pueblo for? I found them!).

However, as the miles whizzed by, and we had dinner, we thought we’d settle for staying the night in Colorado. The last possibility was a town where evidently the be all and end all of Little League was taking place. So, we headed for Kansas. Emma, driving her new (to her car), wasn’t used to the high beams. Well, it turns out she forgot tot turn them down right as a highway patrol was driving by. Of course she couldn’t find her new registration. Miracle of miracles and our sad, sad story about how at past midnight, we didn’t have any place to stay, and they let us go.

At 2am, we rolled into the Holiday Inn in Garden-Something, Kansas. Seems the last room left was… the Bridal Suite! Not bad… even at 2am.

Tomorrow we head through Kansas, and maybe reach Missouri? We’ll see. First we sleep in!