James says:

Todays update will be posted as soon as we get some internet.

Day 4. We left Colorado, heading for Utah. The morning trip was easy and uneventful. The scenery is beyond description, and the texture of the terrain seems to change every 30-50 miles.

Our first stop was Arches National Park and it was stunning. I had heard that it shouldn't be missed, and I was not at all disappointed. The arches were amazing, but all of the formations were not to be missed.

Balancing rocks, sheer walls of sandstone a thousand feet tall, yet only about 100 feet wide, stretching for a couple thousand feet in length. Columns of stone reaching skyward, all seeming to have a boulder perched on top. As much as you wonder at the beauty of each of the formations, you equally wonder at the method of forming such an awkward design. I'm sure that the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons were filmed here.

We left Arches and headed south toward Canyonlands National Park. More beautiful scenery made the ride easy. The Canyonlands take you through the rugged terrain toward the Colorado River. The terrain is exactly as described, following canyon walls up and down toward the larger canyon that the Colorado has carved. Sheer walls with foundations of fallen stone, ranging from pebble size to bus sized. Bus sized boulders tend to make you think about how bad an idea it is to have a road beside a wall of stone that tends to drop bus sized boulders. The park itself was geared more toward hikers and we decided not to do any of the longer hikes.

We headed south again, headed for Four Corners, the only place that 4 US states touch. It wasn't very exciting, but we all left feeling satisfied that we had been there.

We have gone from the flat rolling landscape to jagged steep mountains then to softer hill type mountains. Along the way there have been flat prairies punctuated by large sandstone formations, immense rock formations in all shapes and sizes seemingly randomly dropped as a decorators afterthought. Cliffs and canyons that modify the elevation by thousands of feet. Bluffs, buttes, washes and rivers. Free ranging cattle and horses (no fences, so they may be anywhere). I almost feel a sensory overload to it all.

Roger and Kelsey found us a great place to stay in Bluff, Utah. The motel was full, but they somehow managed to get a house that the motel owner had. We are staying in a very nice two story renovated house that was built in 1850. Luckily it's had some upgrades since then, but still has a lot of old architecture and style in it. I am amazed just walking around in it.

Tomorrow we head northwest toward Salt Lake City.