Nov 9/09

Today I awoke to sunshine - beautiful, warm sunshine. I made coffee and took my novel outside - let the suntanning begin. It is shorts and tank top weather.

Once breakfast was done, the motorcycle was unloaded and we were off. Hogan stayed at home.

We travelled to Dead Horse Point State Park. Here John and I did a nature walk (Yea, that's right, John doing a nature walk!!), and learned all sorts of facts about the fauna and flora of the Utah desert. This area around Moab, is known as the "cold desert". It is an area of temperature extremes where it can range from 133 degrees F to -24 degrees.

We looked down from the Dead Horse Point overlook and saw rock formations 300 million years old. The Colorado River was 2000 feet below winding itself through this ancient rock. Fascinatng, to say the least.

One legend of Dead Horse Point, was that the point was used as a corral for wild horses. Cowboys drove these horses to the point and fenced off the narrow part of the point ( approx. 30 feet wide) with branches, thereby making a makeshift corral. The horses were surrounded by the cliffs and penned in by the brush/branches. The cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and for unknown reasons left the rest of the horses there were, they ultimately died of thirst. Hense the name, Dead Horse Point. Nasty!!

We left the Park and headed to Moab. John needed to find a welder who would strengthen the hitch on the motorhome. That being done, we travelled the scenic 128 byway that follows along side the Colorado River as it meanders it's way through the rock canyons. It was beautiful. The weather was great and the bike handled well.

We crossed the Colorado River at the site of the historic Dewey Bridge. This was the longest suspension bridge in Utah, measuring 500 feet long by 8 feet wide. It was designed to hold 6 horses, 3 wagons and 9000 pounds of freight. This was a main connection for freight from Colorado to Utah supplying mining and settlers. Unfortunately, the bridge was destroyed by fire in 2008 by a seven year old child playing with matches in a nearby campground. The fire quickly swept up the canyon, consuming the wooden decking and railings of the bridge. All that remains is the suspension cables. It is estimated that it will cost close to $850,000.00 dollars to restore this bridge and we hope to see this done one day.

300 kms later and we are back at the bus. Hogan was more than happy to see us. We have been gone all day.