Moab

We slept in. 

Got up, and I made some oatmeal.  While that was cooking, we started organizing stuff to overcome 3 days of entropy and make tomorrow's breakdown and packup easier.  

I put too much salt in the oatmeal .... I choked it down, but Vicki couldn't and had granola and protein.

I asked the campground host if he knew of any place in town that did car glass dings.  He didn't, personally (I think he's from Minnesota and this is a fall gig for him) but he sent us to a garage that he was sure could reccomend someone.

Sure enough, they told us Rick's Glass was on the south end of town, and we cruised through town to the south end and found it.

He said it'd be $35 (which I expected) and about 20 minutes (which I also expected).

There was an ALCO ... a bit like a cross between a Dollar General and a small Walmart just about 100 yards away, so we decided to go putz there.   Vicki ended up getting a couple of tops.   I found a white wicking microfiber shirt ... that'll be cooler in the sun.

Went back and picked up the car.  You can tell where the ding is, but it's repaired as well as it can be and won't crack any further.   Now ... to find a laundromat.  We'd seen several in town on our way through a couple of times.   And there was one not too far from the Alco store.   We went in, taking the laundry soap we remembered to bring with us.  I've learned from past camping trips that laundromats really ding you on the detergent.

Vicki set about putting the laundry.  We needed some hangers, so I went next door to ... I think it was a Dollar General and bought some.  Came back in with the laptop and connected to the internet via my phone.  Time to copy some pictures off the camera cards to the hard drive, and maybe say a few things on facebook.   We ate some sandwiches and apples while we waited.

About the time the laundry was done, so was I.  We packed up the laundry, and started walking up and down the main drag looking at touristy shops.

I ended up getting a nice pair of flip-flops and some really pretty thirsty stone coasters ... but my big buy was a Minnetonka Aussie hat.   I've been looking at those in Eureka Springs for years when we've been down there in the fall and winter, but they never have my size.  But these guys did.   Vicki bought some sandals as well.  I bought some jewelry for her she liked.   A few other little odds and ends.  And she bought me a nice Life is Good shirt with a guy playing guitar.

They had a Life is Good flag at that store.... I knew I wasn't crazy.  It WAS Jake, hiking up a mountain.  I'd seen the same one in St. Charles, but I could never find the shirt.  I found Jackie hiking up a mountain, and Jake hiking on flat ground, and with a dog.  But no Jake going up a slope.  Maybe they only made it on a flag.  Dang.  I'd really like that on a shirt.

I didn't take many pictures in Moab.  It's not a terribly photogenic town.  Quite utilitarian ... no frills.  Like the kind of people it takes to live in this harsh landscape and climate.  But a nice enough town.

I ended up talking to a shopkeeper about the Umtra Energy Project and what it is.  Apparently, there used to be a uranium processing plant here, and the pilings from the processing were buried on the north end of town.  I'm assuming the EPA decided it was too dangerous, and the project is now ... moving all that rock and dirt ... an unimaginable amount of it... farther away from any populated area.

It was getting toward 5, and still a little warm to go back to our sunny campsite in the hot canyon, so we stopped by the Moab brewery where I had a Dead Horse Ale and Vicki had a Bicycle Chain Brown Ale, and we split some nachos.   After about an hour we headed back toward the canyon.  We stopped at the head of it at the pedestrian/bicycling bridge over the Colorado we'd driven by every day.   I took some river shots and a few sunset over the canyon shots.  Walked right up to the north canyon wall, which is pretty much vertical from top to bottom ... no rubble slope near the bottom like in most other places.

We headed back to camp and organized a bit more.  Started a fire.  Cooked a couple of steaks we'd bought at the grocery store.

And roasted some marshmallows.  Played a little guitar and talked.

After dark I decided to try taking a picture of the canyon wall to see what I could get.  Nothing but black until I opened up a time exposure to 30 seconds at 3200 speed.  I got some grainy, but otherwise pretty cool shots.

Off to bed.   It was supposed to get down into the 40's that night.  So we ran the heater on low just to keep the chill away.