We will be on the road tomorrow to Durango, a good cup of coffee this afternoon, some nice mellow Jazz playing on the radio, the keyboard, all lined up for me to get this on… paper (screen!). There is a loop we have not been able to finish every time we started it because of the snow, it starts in Moab with Sand Flats Rd and through Manti La Sal National Forest which will drop us off on 191 north of Moab. It will be manageable upon our return in a couple to three weeks, depending if we want to attend the Car Show or not. This is the start of it anyhow…

Another cloudy day with only the occasional Jeep going by back from some hard rock crawling or camping up the road. The LaSal Mountains with its peak at 12,000 feet has not stopped, up to a couple days ago, to get continuous layers of snow. I found out last night reading the "Discover Navajo" web site about a Pow Wow in Page this coming weekend and also totally forgotten "Antelope Canyon", the source of some incredible photography. We need to add those destinations to the "Four Corners", "Monument Valley", "Valley of the Gods", "Natural Bridges" and a few other tips that we have from readers familiar with the area. If we wanted to come back here to Moab for the Car Show it would give us only 12 days to explore it all! What will it be? Car Show or Mother Nature Show?… you tell me!

I have taken so many pictures that I have to really apply myself keeping them organized and dated by locations! This one, taken a couple days ago riding through Arches National Park (again!) made me realize the importance of being at the right place at the right time. I call it the "Eye in the Rock". Yes, there is a hole in the rock and the sun shined right in my eyes when passing by. A quick U turn and this was the result. I then noticed two profiles on the upper left and right ledge of it. I would like to think it is on the left a young Diana Ross and on the right Richard Nixon. What do you think?…

A bit further down the road we came across some dirt riders with yellow and blue motorcycles. The things one can discover are always surprising! A nice group of riders with who we started chatting, always curious as to where we are going, what we are doing and myself also always curious of the trails ridden if they are to Old Faithful’s ability. And as we were leaving and this gentleman "Colby" said his good byes with a big smile, I noticed that his color coordination with his Husaberg motorcycle was more than perfect… up to his braces! I just had to… could not miss shooting "this" double take! He also calls himself  "cheeseburger"… Colby + Husaberg… you get the relation?

We spend a couple hours these past couple days talking to two travelers from Austria. Andy and Claudia, on their Honda Africa Twins 750 left Europe 16 months ago for South America and they are just getting here. What you see is what they have. No cell phone, no GPS, no laptop… some good maps and a small camera, clothing, tent, sleeping bags, cookware and lots of Love for each other. They still have North America, Canada and Alaska on their route before selling their bike and returning home to work a couple years and start again. In their mid thirties this is their 3rd go around with once 6 months in Asia and another 2 years in also Asia and Australia! Awesome people with so many stories, real stories that could fill up many pages of many books!

A little further up, again in Arches, we bumped into this German couple, via Africa they are now here, we did not speak too much as I was busy taking pictures of their awesome vehicle… all custom, a go anywhere do anything on wheels.

This is the Mecca for travelers, there is no doubt about it, everyone from all over the World wants to come here and see the sights, feel the presence of these geological wonders. We got away a bit from it all doing a loop by riding Salt Creek Rd and returning via 191 southbound. We are not doing tough roads anymore. just nice and easy ones, some gravel, a bit of deep sands at times, mild ruts and a few cows and tumbleweeds rolling around.

So my maps are working again! About a 60 mile loop, impassable when wet it said, much mud and much slipping would occur. It was a quiet ride, we stopped at the Klondike Bluffs and exited the Park about 2/3rd up on Salt Creek Rd. Maybe a couple cars, the spirituality of the area makes up for the lack of scenery comparatively with the red rocks of the Park.

What a contrast it was, soothing I must say with such vast and flat emptiness where one can stop and just be with no other souls around. Different from all these days being around the sightseers, the busy sights when the eye focuses harder than other times in fear of missing out. Nothing to really focus on here… we took a couple breaks!

We also stopped at the Skyline Arch… just when you thought "no more Arches!!!" (actually I have much more… including for another time "The double Arches"). A short hike from the road it was not reachable as the other ones, not as touchable except for the rocks (below) that had fallen off of it in 1940. What a day that must have been wondering how far they could hear the rumble or even feel it!

The sun was out that day, and we stopped one more time on Park Avenue… I now have my own rock pile as I noticed a few put up by other hikers. Before we leave here for good I will go back to check it out. It has been dedicated… and hope it will stay there for ever. Everyone is very respectful of them with similar thoughts.

You be well and stay well…   Ara & Spirit

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Ara Gureghian   853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245   Naples, Fl 34108

You be well and stay well…. Ara & Spirit

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 8:09 pm and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.