Moab Utah and Miles of Desert

Our plan was to drive straight through to Nevada but after seeing a sign "Moab 30 miles" we sidetracked into the quaint little town.   We had wanted to visit this area on our last trip out west, but geographically it was out of the way. We were grateful for this second chance to explore the Southwest beauty of Moab and the Arches.
  We secured a RV site right at the base of Arches National Park without any difficulty and stood in awe as we watched the sun lower itself behind the massive sandstone rocks leaving an orange hue in the sky. Simply fantastic! We then meandered our way to the main street of Moab where we had a delicious authentic Mexican meal. This one street town is adorned with shops and restaurants and the median age is mid twenties. The population is certainly outdoor minded and there are all sorts of adventure shops advertising guided trail rides, hot air balloon rides and whitewater rafting on the Colorado River. Certainly, this town has it all!   We chose to enter the park in the wee hours of the morning to beat the crowds and explore on our own. The Arches National Park lies atop an underground salt bed that is responsible for the arches, spires and balanced rocks. There are many trails to explore by foot and an auto road that takes about 2 hours to view the sights. We began in the RV but quickly dismissed that idea and started a moderately strenous hike to "Delicate Arch". The massive arch that is the emblem on the Utah state license plate was quite impressive and made me feel quite small in this existence.
 It was a beautiful hike in the desert and it didn't take long for the temperatures to rise. The red sandstone radiate the heat back rather quickly. Luckily, we had gotten an early start as I can not tolerate the heat. In fact, one of the side effects of my hyperthyroidism, is heat intolerance. So, around noon we left the desert and went back to Moab for a wonderful lunch and visited some of the shops. With the temperatures continuing to rise, we decided to avoid The Canyonland National Park which was our planned second destination in Moab. We jumped back in the RV and started heading toward our destination of Lake Tahoe which was still about 1000 miles away. We decided to take the road less travelled and found ourselves on route 70. A small two lane "highway" that cuts through the middle of the state. We would drive hours without seeing another vehicle. The solitude was quite unnerving though as my fear of having mechanical issues would truly leave us stranded. But, Rhonda faired the heat very well and plugged along the highway at 75mph with ease. At one point, we pulled over to take some pictures and the sound of silence was deafening. I have never heard such stillness before. It was daunting. Back in the RV, we plugged along for miles and miles and hours and hours until Guy could drive no more.

  We stopped in Eureka, Nevada for the night and took to the road early in the morning. We continued through the desert climbing mountains and reaching an elevation of almost 8,000 feet. The switchback trails of the mountains brought amazing views and we thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Finally...we enter Carson City Nevada, the state capital. Breweries and Casinos adorned the streets. Nevada is our union's rebel child and they like to do things their own way. It is quite charming in a weird kind of way. We stopped briefly at an information center to gather brochures and we were quickly back on the road, (highway 50 this time) heading towards the alpine lake of Tahoe!