Adventures and casualties in Moab

[Pictures will be added later, sorry!]

There was a car show in Moab this weekend. It's the occasion to see lots of insane cars. Most of the "show" consists of the participants driving up and down Main street in the evening in the middle of the regular traffic. There were people sat on chairs on the pavement watching and cheering. It was funny to watch 5 minutes, but overall it was pretty stupid. And noisy. And smelly too! Only in America.

I went rafting on Saturday, down the Westwater Canyon, on the Colorado river! The rapids in this part are classed III and IV (out of V!). It was a day trip but in fact most of the day was taken by getting to the rapids (by car and then on the river) and then from the rapids back to town (again on the river and then by car). Lunch was provided, just before the rapids.

There were 3 boats: 2 paddle rafts (where you have to paddle!) and one oar boat (where you just have to hold on and, from time to time, bail!). I chose a paddle raft. We all did exactly what our guide told us to do and everything went very well. In fact, it was almost too easy! That said, if things had turned wrong, it would have been seriously scary. It's a big strong river. I guess that showed how good our guides were.

After the rapids, we stopped on a small beach to change from wet gear to dry gear, before cruising on the river to the take-out. I could recover my camera from the water tight boxes and take a few pictures. That's when I dropped it in the sand. It has refused to work ever since, beeping and complaining "lens error" :-( The only way to fix it would be to have it taken apart and cleaned by a professional. And that would cost almost as much as a new camera.

Apparently, there is so much sand in the air around here, you don't even have to do anything for your camera to break. During the summer, the guy in the shop told me he sees someone with the same problem every day. The sand here is even in the rain. It rained a bit the other night and my tent and car were both very dirty as a result. This is electronics hell.

I was seriously hit by this turn of events. I loved that camera. And what a lousy time to break it, only two thirds into this amazing trip!

One guy in Moab tried to sell me a replacement. The camera seemed quite good but he wanted $229 for it. A quick peak on Amazon showed the same model for barely more than half that price...! Unfortunately, I can't easily have it delivered on my path, and I'm pretty far from any decent-sized city where I could find a decent shop ("Best Buy" maybe). So I'm reduced to using single-use cameras. That sucks!

But ah well, it could have been much worse.

On Sunday, I had an introduction to canyoneering. It basically consists of rappelling down into otherwise inaccessible canyons and grottos. It was fun! The half-day trip I took had 2 rappels, both around 90 feet. On this trip, I met with Jonalyn and her mother Mina, whose husbands were having fun somewhere else with their 4-wheel-drive jeeps. They were fun company and they took plenty of pictures they promised to send me. Thank you very much!

Our guide, Jayce, advised us on the best places to eat in town. Because of that, I met again with Jonalyn and Mina this evening, this time with their husbands, Dale and Fred. We were all at Milt's, a kind of retro, good fast-food place. It's been operating since 1954! And it's said to have the best burgers in Moab. The burger I had was pretty good, but I don't think it topped the one I had in Jerome! I had a good time eating and discussing with these nice people. Oh, and Jon would be pleased to know my pronunciation of "burger" has improved a bit! :-P