Last Day in Utah

Tonight will be our last night in Utah.  We cross the border into Colorado tomorrow.  We have all travelled many of the roads by car that we have travelled the last several days by bike, but I think we appreciated even more by bike the beauty of this state.  We have been fortunate that we were here at a time the sunflowers were in bloom.  They grow wild along the highways and sometimes we've seen whole fields of them as we've ridden past.  We have been through Zion, Bryce, Natural Bridges, Glen Canyon, Escalante, and today Canyonlands.  We have seen Lake Powell and crossed the Colorado River.  Dana and her mom Fran drove a bit south of the Utah border into Arizona to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Our trip has really only just begun and we have seen and felt so much of this beautiful country of ours.  It has not been easy.  We have endured extreme heat and climbed lots of mountains, but none of us would trade this experience for the comforts of home.

Today was somewhat of a rest day.  We only rode a little over 23 miles from Blanding to Monticello, UT.  Most of the ride was climbing (we climbed over 2000 feet), but it was fairly gradual, and with only 23 miles we were in Monticello before noon.  Dana, Fran and I went into the southern entrance to Canyonlands.  Dana and I have both hiked there before, but Fran had never been there.  To us Canyonlands is one of America's most beautiful parks, and for some reason (probably it's remoteness from any freeway) is one of the least visited.  Lisa decided to treat herself to a night in a motel (she has been tent camping most of the trip) and had dinner on her own (she was looking forward to a Taco Time burrito!).  Dana, Fran, Steve & I fixed dinner and ate in the RV; we are getting a bit tired of eating out every night and really enjoyed a home cooked meal.  We also watched old John Wayne movies.

Tomorrow we will cross the border into Colorado where we will have more mountains to climb and more spectacular scenery.

An Unusual Rock Formation in theMiddle of a Field of Daisies on the way to Canyonlands National Park

Dana, Fran and Nancy at Canyonlands National Park