Let's get to the meat and potatoes of this little escapade. As much as I enjoyed having my kidneys slowly shaken free from their various ducts by the fruits of Shozo Kawasaki's evil engineers for 2500 miles, the actual purpose of this trip was to dive headfirst into the heart of the Colorado plateau, America's outback. And if that's your fancy, then Utah is your destination. After dropping off the backside of the Rockies, the terrain started to get real arid right around Grand Junction, and I made an ill-advised detour onto a back road to avoid the majority of I-70 into Utah. And after all this effort, this was the greeting I received:
Utah Welcome Center.
Eventually I was forced onto terryifying, windswept, no-holds-barred 75mph speed limit I-70, where every exit is called "Ranch Exit" and is appendixed by a "No Services" sign. My tachometer crept towards the red zone and my front fender began shuddering and acting like a crude airplane wing. But it was worth it as I was finally dumped onto super scenic highway 128, which snakes down the Colorado through sandstone canyons and into Moab:
...before I became jaded by such things.
Moab is a pretty touristy little town, and it was a godsend to find the Lazy Lizard Hostel. For just 9 frogskins a night, you get a warm bed, access to east-coast style indoor plumbing and a living room/kitchen area filled with enthusiastic europeans comparing notes on their travels and talking about their six-month long tours of the states with out a hint of underlying guilt at abandoning their jobs for such a long time period. I highly recommend it!
But I had to hit the hay as I had a date the next day with the White Rim Trail, a 100 plus mile dirt- track rollercoaster through the heart of the Canyonlands!
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