Sat 6/4 - Another 365 miles done!

     Today, we got the rest of the drive to Moab out of the way.  Every trip is bound to have a few hiccups along the way, so apparently today was also apparently determined to be the day that we got some those out the way.  The first such noteworthy event was a reminder that Murphy's Law is an inviolable force of nature that cannot be denied.  Today's lesson courtesy of Murphy was that brand new cars have big red bulls-eyes on them for stray windshield cracking rocks.  With over 165,000 miles on my old car no such rock would ever find it's way into my path, but not so for a car with less than 1,000.  Replacing it under insurance won't be a big deal when we get home, but now we get to enjoy the large (and quickly propagating) crack directly in front of the drives line of sight for the entire ride home.

     The rest of the journey to Moab passed largely without incident.  I did find out that driving long distances with Eric is not like doing a long trip with kids, but not entirely dissimilar.  While kids require frequent stops for various reasons, much to our amusement we discovered that ANY stop with Eric involves a bit more time than expected.  He apparently feels guilty using a restroom without buying something,  so he feels compelled to purchase something every single time.  I've already lost track of the gas station ice creams, drinks, and snacks he's gone through......

      The scenery on the trip ran the gauntlet from vast stretches of nothingness, so absolutely spectacular.  One of the highlights was going through the enormous fields of electric windmills in North Texas.  It's nice to see just how much development has gone into clean power production. Sadly, this area is immediately followed by the equally enormous stretch of land covered in oil pumps and drill rigs....   Another highlight was seeing the snow capped mountains are we passed through Colorado, and all the way to Moab.  It's hard to imagine how large these are, but being able to see the same mountain on the horizon barely moving over several hours of driving puts it into perspective.  Staring at the snow while noticing the thermometer reads 100 degrees outside has much the same affect.

     After about 1000 miles of driving over two days, we finally arrived a the rental house.  After a couple of flights and a shorter (albeit still ~100 mile drive) Brad pulled into the driveway about 30 seconds after we did.  I'd say we doing pretty well on timing!

     I'm happy to say that the pictures on the website did not lie -- The rental property is very nice.  A far cry from the rental property we stayed in through the Lazy Lizard last time I was in Moab.  After settling in we visited the local supermarket to stock up on stuff, and Dave volunteered to make Crepes in the morning.  (I think he may have been feeling a bit of the guilt we laid on him earlier for immediately claiming the Master Suite upon arriving at the house.)

     After dropping off the groceries, we had some free time to decided to try out climbing at Wall St.  Eric wanted to stay home alone and rest because he was a bit tired from two long days of napping in the back of the car on the way here, but we convinced  him to (OK, goaded him into) come along.  After a quick stop to check out the awesome Gearheads outdoor gear store in Moab,  we headed to the wall and our second hiccup of the day.  I did a lot of research online before the trip to decide what the pack, and left out insect repellent because almost everybody online said it was unnecessary in this area.  Apparently, not everything on the Internet is true.  Who would have thought!  We forged ahead with one quick climb in the School House beginners area of Wall St, while Eric from the mosquitoes in the car.   A fun climb, but we quickly decided to come back another day more prepared with repellent and long sleeve clothes.

     One of the best restaurants I had found my last time in Moab was the Moab Brewery, so we went there for dinner.   The food was good, but not as spectacular as remembered.  Not sure if it was what we ordered, whether the restaurant has changed, or because it was our first meal in Moab and we are comparing it to food back home rather than the other restaurants in Moab which tended to be pretty disappointed my last time here.

     We had planned to round out the night with a game of Terra Mystica, but it was getting late so we settled for setting it up for tomorrow and attempting to teach Dave the rules.