Monday 9/22/08
Time Traveled: 2 hrs 45 mins
Distance: 23.80 miles
Food Eaten: Mocha, bagel w/hummus, beer, Probar, chips w/salsa, fish tacos, black beans, rice, margarita
This morning we were ready to be out of the over-touristy Moab. Our stay had not been very exciting. Brian and Amy drove with us down on Friday night and we checked into our hotel, got some wine and headed out on the road to Potash.
The four of us found a secluded area and spent most of the evening sitting on a large rock, drinking, staring at the amazing scenery and talking about such things as modern evolution. The stars came out and lit up the sky, with the milky way brilliantly visible. I found myself getting lost up there, swirling around the infinite astronomical landscape. When I came back down, my friends were giggling at the silent rock giants around us. I joined in and we laughed as we found Abraham Lincoln's face in one subdued formation. Many more faces and figures popped out at us, and we spent a good hour pointing them out to each other.
In the morning, we checked into an RV campground and our friends drove the car back to Salt Lake City. We met up with my girls from Wysteria and made our way to their rented condo. After I showered and dolled myself up in my belly dance garb, we all headed down to the historic Star Hall where the Tribal Sands Belly Dance Festival was being held.
Unfortunately, the whole show was a disaster due to the endless sound problems. Every single performer had issues and the sound guy was too inexperienced to fix the situation. Some of the music sounded like static and it was difficult for both the dancers to dance as well as for the audience to enjoy. The group that was putting on the festival said that this was their 6th year running. I'm not so sure of that. It was really quite a shame, as the venue was gorgeous and so many different groups had come so far to dance at this event. The saving grace of the evening was that I got to spend time with my girls again. And the Thai dinner before the show. That was good!
Lessons were learned and I doubt we'll go back to that festival, which is really too bad. The trip to Moab wasn't all for naught, as the next morning Wysteria was found frolicking in Arches National Park for a photo shoot. After our bright and shiny romp in the sand, we went out for breakfast and then my belly friends left for Salt Lake City.
Another evening was spent in the dreaded RV campground that night and in the morning our first exodus attempt failed miserably. Headwinds of at least 40 mph were faced and we only reached 8 miles in 2 hours. Joe's leg was hurting him and we both decided to head back to Moab and spend another night there. It took us less than 20 minutes to get back to town.
This time we chose a different RV campground that was much more pleasant with lots of trees and even several cats to play with. The day was spent relaxing with many hopes that tomorrow wouldn't be so windy.
