2014XC: Day 16, June 27 – Provo, Utah (Springville KOA) to Moab, Utah (Arches)
We stayed at a KOA in the middle of the city. It was perfect – we all got up early, Steve took the kids to the pool and I was able to do some laundry and work on this blog, and we were on the road by noon.
It continued to be a pretty drive through the city but got hotter and more barren as we reached the desert. Maybe it’s my age, but for me the desert heat is only bearable when there’s a body of water to cool off in. It was a long, hot, trip to Arches. Maybe the sight of the desert actually makes you more thirsty. It hovered around high 90’s. The truck was running fine but we kept cycling off the AC so we stayed just under the danger zone to avoid possibly overheating. It was bad enough driving in almost 100 degree weather – none of us wanted to be standing still in it for more than 10 minutes. Thank goodness for our camper fridge/freezer and the waters we packed in there. Tyler wasn’t interested in my idea for a cool drink, but later on he came around and did the same thing.
Really cool when the scenery changed from light browns to reds. It was really striking with the scattered greenery around it.
Arriving in Moab, the campground we were staying at was about 3 miles south of the entrance to Arches National Park but we felt like we were right there with the surrounding scenery. We set up camp and hit the pool. It was a pool/hot tub combo and the kids were loving it!
Dinner and then and then a run over to Arches to check it out at sunset. Seemed like the actual arches were hidden, but we saw what we could. The kids were too focused on the pool to enjoy any of this, so we didn’t make them suffer for too long. On the way out of the park, we stopped at a sand hill where lots of cars were parked. Kids and grown-ups were walking up the hill so they could run down it. The sand was red and soft as baby powder, and the hill was steep. Some people were even rolling down the hill just for the fun of it. Other than the pool at our campsite, this was a trip highlight for the kids.
Back at the camper, the kids and Steve walked around and found a people-sized checkerboard to play.
It was a pretty cool campground…I could have spent more time here.