Day Six

Pat fixed us a great send off breakfast and we reluctantly departed the cabin around 9 a.m. We posed as Pat took this picture as we left.



We stopped in Gunnison for groceries and ice (a daily necessity) and found out the grocery's deli had wireless service. While Graham packed the cooler and trailer with our groceries, I was able to download the postings for the past 3 days.

The entire day we had fantastic riding. It began by riding along the Blue Mesa and then on the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to the towns of Crawford and Hotchkiss. This route was a little out of our way but the scenery was spectacular! We continued on through Delta and down to Montrose where we stopped in to visit J.D. and Rosie Herman, good friends of Brooks. I became acquainted with J.D. and Rosie many years ago. They owned and operated the Boat House in Taylor Park. We could have stayed and talked for hours but we still had 4 hours of riding to get to Moab, UT. We continued south out of Montrose to Ridgeway and over Dallas Divide, to Naturita and through the La Sal Mountains into Utah. We arrived in Moab at 6:00 p.m. after covering 350 miles and immediately drove to a camp site on the Colorado River. This is our first night camping and it was a unique experience. It was HOT when we arrived and sat up tent. The campsite is in a beautiful canyon with the Colorado River just a few feet from our campsite - but no running water or electricity. We were roughing it on this night – primitive camping.

Dinner on the Grill



We took a splash bath, fixed supper on the grill and went to bed early because the tent was the only safe haven from the mosquitoes. For dinner we had grilled brook trout that we brought from Taylor Park, a can of pork and beans and canned fruit, an excellent meal. There wasn't cell phone coverage in the canyon, so we rode into town and made calls and packed the cooler with ice. This should be an interesting night for sleeping.