“Fallen Arches”

Monday, July 14, 2008 8:00 pm

First, I need to make a correction and fill in an omission. The new RV is a SunSeeker, but it’s built by Forest River, not Fleetwood. Several of you have looked it up and learned this on your own. More importantly, I left out a defining moment during the purchase of the RV. One of the final steps before handing over the keys to S&K was to do a clean out of the storage tanks. This particular unit had sat on their desert-heated asphalt lot for about a month, so you can imagine how nasty the grey water (sink and shower) and black water (figure it out) tanks had become. Always helpful and wanting to learn how it worked, Scott went over to lend a hand. Walking over, Brad (the cool RV salesrep, remember) noticed that the lot’s permanent drain hose had been inconsiderately run over by a recent customer.

Brad (as Scott connects the drain hose): “I think they broke that hose, man. It looks like there are some holes in it.”
Brad (as Scott reaches for the black water dump switch): “Scott, I don’t think you want to do that.”
Brad (backing away rapidly as Scott releases the switch): “Dude! Bad idea!”

The resulting five-direction fountain of funk impressed everyone except for Scott, who was drenched from at least fingertip to bicep. It might actually have been worse, but I wasn’t going to get close enough to inspect the damage. The number of parallels to the “RV” movie increases, and I’m sure Scott’s “shower of sadness” will be a treasured memory.

Both of our nights at the Moab KOA were early-ins (at least for us), so we got to enjoy the campground atmosphere and meet the neighbors. Like most KOAs, this was a nice one, though it was hampered by the two unsmiling, rule spouting spinsters that ran the place. “The speed limit is 5 mph. Do not exceed it. There are three stop signs in the campground. Here. Here. And here. Obey them.” Etc. It took me about 25 minutes to check in as she read and underlined or circled the entire rule list on the back of the campground receipt and map. Lee and Kristen cooked us fine dinners for the two nights at the campsite, and the setting sun’s light show on the distant La Sal Mountains was a sight.

We arrived at Arches National Park a little later than planned on Sunday, so we booked it straight to the Delicate Arch trailhead to beat as much of the rising heat as possible. The park is as amazing as I remember it. The formations and natural sandstone carvings look like some kind of other-worldly landscape. There are a number of easily identifiable sculptures along the drive (Pipe Organ, Sheep Rock, the Three Wise Men – officially renamed the Three Gossips – heathen bastage no-goodnik activists), though all Kate could identify were various naughty bits of male and female anatomy.

I managed to huff and puff my way up to Delicate Arch, an absolute wonder. For those unfamiliar, Delicate Arch is unique in the park, and Utah’s state symbol. While most arches are sandstone cliffs or fins where a hole has weathered away in the middle, Delicate Arch is the result of an entire mountain that has eroded down leaving behind a completely free-standing upside-down horseshoe, 52 feet tall. I am probably the only one on the trip who feels this way, but Arches is the best National Park, and seeing Delicate Arch up close is the only absolute must-do activity there. Scott was a trailblazer and found a new, unofficial way to get there. The “It’s Alive” desert crust algae may have objected, but it afforded me a previously unseen view of the beautiful landmark, so I was kind of glad we went that way.

We got back down around 1:00, so it was pretty hot (104 or so). Much of the hike is across the sandstone, and the desert sun just bakes you, from above and below. It’s not unlike hiking up Stone Mountain in my home base of Atlanta (just more heat and less humidity). We were beat, and we felt like we had fallen arches of our own, so we opted out of the other planned hike through Devil’s Garden. Instead, we toured the Windows section (home of North and South Windows and Double Arch, another fantastic bridge that was prominent in Indiana Jones 3).

Today (Monday), we are making up the last of our lost time and catching back up to the original schedule. It’s mostly a driving day, though we are in and out of canyons, mesas, monuments, and cliffs, so no one’s complaining. We had two quick stops as we drove. First, the Four Corners Monument, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico join – and Native Americans assemble to charge tourists $3 per head cover charge for the privilege to buy their turquoise art. And second, Lake Powell/Glen Canyon Dam for a drink and a Grand Canyon/Hoover Dam prequel. Lake Powell is gorgeous. It is a man-made wonder, but that only steals a small amount of thunder. As we drove past the turn-off to Upper Antelope Canyon, just outside of Page, AZ, I felt a ping of sorrow. Of everything we had to scrap, I’ll miss that the most. Fortunately, I’ve seen it before, but I’m very sorry that the Sommerfelds haven’t. Oh well, there’s always next trip.

We left Page and are currently in-transit to the Grand Canyon North Rim for the next two nights. A positive note – the new RV gets one mile per gallon more than the Turd (8 instead of 7 – woo hoo)! The way I figure it, a few hundred thousand miles and this baby’ll pay for itself!

I’ll sign off as we just stopped at an overlook on the road to the Grand. It is nearly sunset, there’s a light rain, and the most striking and breathtaking rainbow we’ve ever seen fills the view. It goes from horizon to horizon, and is actually a double (a triple in places). There’s a mesa, a valley, and storm clouds in the distance. Look for the pictures when we get back. A final arch to bless us and send us on our way.