On Tuesday evening we met Mathieu, a French guy from Montpellier who’s doing a bicycle trip from New York to San Francisco in 3 months. We had a very pleasant evening with him and during diner we exchanged travel experiences (his blog on Facebook is: New York – San Francisco by bicycle). A lot of respect for his will and courage to make such a trip. We gave him some maps of Utah and Nevada which we also received from other travelers. So now the maps are also traveling through the US on a bicycle 😊. On Wednesday we continued our golden circle to Arches National Park. It was a drive a drive through the desert at high temperatures (again). The environment of Moab is apparently very popular for off-rode riding (ATV – dirt bikes – jeeps) and lots of tourists, it was very hard and expensive to find a campground. Luckily we were able to find a spot nearby Arches National Park. Thursday we spent a whole day hiking in the park. The park consists of more than 2000 natural arches of which we only saw a small part. We did the most known ones like the delicate arch, landscape arch, double ‘o’ arch, pine & tunnel arch and the windows. The hike towards the double ‘o’ in devil’s garden was a very beautiful one and compared to the rest of the park a very quiet one. We only met a few people on the primitive hike. On our way out of the park we stopped for a picture of the balanced rock. In the evening we’ve spent again time on searching for the leak in the sleeping pad of David which he bought at REI in Phoenix. So far we have 9 leaks and counting 😊. When we go to the Overlander meeting in Flagstaff, next weekend, we will pass by the REI and request for a replacement of the sleeping pad. We are becoming an expert in finding leaks! On Friday we discovered a magnificent National Park: Canyonlands!! A must do if you ever travel through Utah. This parks has great views and gives you insight on the forces of nature which creates the Grand Canyon and the typical canyon landscape. It is the park were the green river and colorado river come together while creating (in collaboration with the wind, which we know in the meantime very well) the well-famous Utah landscape. In the afternoon we returned to Hanksville to pick-up our planned route again. The drive was a bit of a challenge thanks to our familiar friend, the wind. We had gusty winds over 40mph and dust storms. Arrived safely in Hanksville, we decided to stay in one piece and so we spent the night at the same campground as 2 days ago. This morning we checked the weather channel and it predicted the same weather as yesterday, so we stayed another day rather than fighting the wind on the motorbikes. We used the time to figure out a small electric issue with the PDM60 of Jaak. After rewiring, to exclude bad connections, the problem isn’t solved so it must be the unit. It is still working for the moment so fingers crossed for the coming days and probably we can find a more final solution in Flagstaff. Today was a well-spent but a relaxing day. This evening we will enjoy some western live music and a salad in the restaurant next doors.
