Day 10 (Monday 2nd wk)

(Side note: you can click on the pictures and some computers will let you see a larger one.)

Arches and Capitol Reef National Parks today! The day started out already warm at 87 degrees and reached a high of 102! We got out our hot gear: neck coolers, wrist coolers, and my cooling vest. They kept us cool enough, along with all the water and Powerade we drank to keep hydrated. One of the Visitors Centers had a sign in the bathroom reminding people to drink a gallon of water a day and showed pictures of the what the color of your urine should be. If it was a dark yellow, you are seriously dehydrated. A little lighter yellow is still serious, but if you drink some water, you would feel better. A light yellow means you still need some water, and a clear color means you are doing a good job of hydrating. Each Visitor Center has water spigots to fill your refillable bottles for free with good cold water. We always take advantage of that.

We have visited Arches before, but we always enjoy that national park because of the rock formations that, like the name says, form arches. Pam took a lot of pictures and it will be hard to decide which ones to use. She is able to take pictures as we ride along" so we can get some really good pictures that you would not ordinarily get sitting in a vehicle.


We had never visited Capitol Reef NP and we were glad we did this time. It was a beautiful park! The road took us right down into the rocks and across washes where the rain runs off when it is heavy. Apparently when it rains there, it really rains a gully washer because one side road had a warning sign that told us not to go down there if there was a threat of rain. The temperature was cooler in Capitol Reef, so that made it even more enjoyable! We always stop in the visitor centers and get our park passports stamped, and as we left this one, some Japanese people were in the parking lot and took great interest in our bike. They ended up parking their car right beside us and were sitting there waiting on us to get on the bike. They rolled down their windows and stuck their cameras out, smiling and talking, saying "hi" and nodding at us. They waved and as we waved back, they took our picture! When Pam put on her helmet liner, they really started talking, saying, "oh, ah, hehehehe, oh, hehehe". I don't know if they were delighted to see her with it on or if they were having a good laugh at her expense! LOL. Anyway, then they really got excited when we climbed on, and they wanted to take more pictures of us with our helmets on sitting on the bike. They waved each time they took a picture, and the elderly lady sitting in the back aimed her camera at our hiking boots. I can imagine she said, "American have bigggggg feeeettt!" LOL.


We left Capitol Reef NP and headed toward Bryce Canyon NP, another of our favorites. We followed Hwy 24 to Mackinaw, then Hwy 62 to Hwy 22 in Antimony, which then turned into a pig path that was 35 miles long. Pam had just about decided it was the road to nowhere, but then we did get to see some pronghorn antelope. We met a total of 3 vehicles that whole 35 miles! 35 miles out here on these windy curvy roads seem like 900 miles sometimes! The wind really blows through the valleys.

We are stopped for the night right outside Bryce NP at the Best Western Ruby's Inn. This is a huge complex of lodges. There is the main lodge, the Aspen Lodge, Ponderosa Lodge, Columbine Lodge, Elk Lodge, Antelope Lodge, and the Lakeview Lodge where we are staying in room 7634. They shuttle from here to Bryce Canyon and there are four wheeler rentals and mountain bike rentals across the road from us. There are rodeo grounds down the road. Ruby's also has a large RV Park and campground. This place was established in 1916, so it is a landmark here. The post office is also here!

Tomorrow we are headed for Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. After we visit there, we will be headed North.