Utah - Day 25 - a drive to Moab

Green River State Park, Green River

Monday, 25 October 2021

today's route

For once, Google and I agreed on how long a drive was, mainly because most of it was on US-191 where the speed limit was 65 mph, which I'm comfortable with.  The drive took me right at an hour.

I had a doctor appointment in Moab at 9:20 and, because I didn't know how long the drive would take me and didn't want to be late, we left the campground just after 7:00 while it was still dark.  Technically, it should have been daylight, because sunrise was a half hour away, but it wasn't daylight.  In fact, it was still so dark that I took I-70 at 55 mph and left my emergency flashers on to warn other drivers.  I was just afraid I'd hit some dumb deer that decided to jump out in front of me.  Fortunately, that didn't happen, and when I turned onto US-191, day was breaking.

I saw an Alaska license plate that said "XIPLIN."  I know I'm slow but I still haven't figured it out, so if you do, please let me know.

Moab sits in a valley, and there's a long drive downhill with huge red cliffs first only on the west side, but then on both sides right up to the road.  It felt like I was driving into a canyon and of course the road started making lots of blind turns.  Then it opened up a bit for the entrance to Arches National Park, which I wanted to visit later today.

Moab has likely been the largest town in this area of the state for quite a while, but it's clear the town is now capitalizing on the popularity of its surroundings.  I saw nonstop tourist stuff - hotels and guided tours and so forth.

I passed something called US Dept. of Energy Umtra Project - Public Not Allowed.  Which of course made me curious.  Umtra stands for Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action.  Which sounds like a good idea.  So why would the public be barred?

The Moab Family Medical Clinic was housed in the Moab Regional Hospital building.  The people were fairly pleasant, the PA who saw me was very patient and a good listener and glad I'd brought a copy of the blood test they'd done on me in Greybull, WY.  I agreed to take another one here, of course, and she said she'd decide based on the results whether to re-up my blood pressure meds.  It's my sodium levels, see.  Absolutely crazy to be one of the only people in the world who has medical professionals begging me to eat more salt.  Note that this is not a complaint.

From there I stopped at the state liquor store - closed at 11:00 - maybe they don't open on Mondays?  And I stopped at a grocery store - jam packed, which made me nervous.  Lots of businesses in Utah require masks, including this one, but people aren't very conscientious about how they comply, so I get nervous around crowds, despite wearing a mask myself and being vaccinated.

And from there we went to Arches National Park, where I got a surprise.  Signs saying "Park Full."  "Come Back in 3-5 Hours."  "No access to anything regardless of pass, permit or reservation."  That last part seemed weird.  If I had a reservation at the campground here, they were saying I couldn't go to it?  It was already 1:00 or so in the afternoon and 3-5 hours from then seems pretty late to be allowed access to the campsite you'd have already paid for.  Anyway, I found a tiny area where I could let the dogs out for a bit and then we drove back to Green River.