Monday 11 June

Usual breakfast routine, but today we had to pack to move on which obviously takes slightly longer. Anne spoke to Niamh before leaving the hotel to wish her happy birthday for tomorrow.

Immediately after leaving the Super 8 going north you cross the Lower Colorado. Next to the bridge there is a small recreation area funded by the local Lions. We took a photo to show all our friends in Wareham Lions at home.

As we left Moab on the 191 going north, we noticed we were passing the entrance to Arches NP at exactly the same time as we were queuing to go in there yesterday (checked the time on yesterday’s photos). Intriguingly the queues today were even longer than they were yesterday. We’d assumed that we’d hit peak visitor time by going on a Sunday morning, but perhaps now that most of the schools have broken up it’s even busier in the week.

As we were leaving the outskirts of Moab we saw a car park that was full of pick-ups with empty trailers behind them. We worked out that this is where they take the ATVs, which seem to be a popular pastime round here - there are loads of places advertising them for rental and for tours.

Not much to note about today’s journey. 187 miles according to our plans. We went north on the US 191 and then west on the I‑70. We stopped at Green River to fill the car and have a coffee. We also stopped briefly at the Visitor Centre which is right on the Green River itself and which had some interesting information about the area - various outlaws were notorious for hiding out nearby, including the Wild Bunch.

We left the I-70 immediately after Green River to continue north on US 191 to Price - a long distance with virtually nothing on the road. We decided to go into Price to find somewhere to park up and have lunch. We spotted a sign for the Visitor Center and followed it. This turned out to be in a very smart new building which housed various state offices, the Visitor Center being a small section on the upper floor. We spoke to a very nice lady who recommended that we stop in Helper. Back on the road we found Heritage Park, a small area nicely laid out and we were able to park in the shade and sit at a picnic table under a tree and have our lunch. Managed finally to get through to Joyce on the phone.

We got back onto US 191 but then fairly quickly turned off to go through Helper. This is a small town that consists almost entirely of original buildings including a nicely preserved 1930s Gas Station. It got its name because it's where they attached an extra locomotive to help trains on the steep climb. Stopping to take photos of this we used the car wash on the adjacent corner to vacuum out the car. The carpets in the front were full of burrs from Les’s shoes which had got there when he got out of the car last night to take photos of the Colorado River.

Back on US 191 we turned off almost straight away to go north on US 6 which took us virtually all the way to Provo. Some interesting scenery and this included probably the longest continuous downhill drive we’ve ever done, from Soldier Summit almost all the way to Provo.

Worth mentioning that we had railway tracks alongside us all the way from Moab until we hit the outskirts of Provo, but only saw one moving train all day.

Got to the Sleep Inn in Provo quite early around 3.30pm so after sorting ourselves out and having a cup of tea we went for a swim.

After downloading photos and writing diary we walked across to Ruby River Steakhouse for a meal. We treated this as our joint birthday celebration, paid for by various friends.

Before we went to sleep Anne opened her cards on the grounds it was the 12th in UK

Tuesday 12th June

Fairly quiet at breakfast - not many other people about. Simple breakfast, cereal and toast. Got packed and started off. Went up US 189 to Bridal Veil Falls where we stopped for a while. Amazingly you’re allowed to climb up the side of the falls. A rather nice touch was that a shallow area has been created at the base of the falls before the water goes into the Provo River and this is a nice small paddling pool for children to play in.

We carried on up US 189 and then turned onto UT 92, the Scenic Alpine Loop Road. This goes through the Uinta National Forest, but fortunately our NP pass meant we didn’t have to pay. The road is about 30 miles long and most of it has a 20mph speed limit. It winds up and down through almost continuous hairpin bends. There are a few roadside pull offs and some bigger parking areas at trail heads. The summit is about 8,060ft. Amazingly we saw quite a few cyclists working their way up and more excitingly coming down. There are no facilities apart from the usual composting loos every so often. Near the start (from our side) there is the Sundance Mountain Resort, but everything there is for guests only, so we had to make do with a bottle of apple juice. The resort is owned by Robert Redford.

During the drive a couple of mule deer leaped across the road in front of us, but were too quick to photograph.

Coming down to the built up area at Highland we went into a grocery which had a Post Office and bought more stamps. We didn’t think much of the produce on offer so we didn’t buy anything. Having looked a couple of places to eat we eventually went into a Subway which was pleasant enough.

Back on UT 92 we eventually went to a Walmart, after missing a turn and driving through some very nice residential areas. Coming out of Walmart we were fooled by some road closures and the satnav in the car and did a little detour before getting onto the I-15 going north. It was another 30 miles or so north on the I-15, then westward on the I-215, the Salt Lake City Beltway, until coming off at West Valley City. Once again the satnav failed us, taking us to a back street, but after some circling round we eventually got to our hotel - My Place.

My Place Hotels specialise in low cost long term accommodation. It’s not really at all down market. We have a large room with a small kitchen area and probably the biggest fridge we’ve ever had in a hotel. Up to now we’ve been squeezing all our stuff into the room fridges - now it looks lost. Our room doesn’t get made-up for the three nights we’re here but that’s not really a problem. The staff were very accommodating and apparently we just need to ask if we’re short of anything. We found out at Reception that the hotel is completely full (they turned someone away) as are all the others in SLC. Apparently there is some sort of sports tournament taking place plus a convention.

The light rail stop is about 2 minutes walk from the hotel and we’ve been over and checked out how to use the system for the morning. The only slight drawback so far is that the internet speed in the room is very slow - about 1Mbps as opposed to the 30+ we had last night.

Dinner in our room using up salad and one of the sachets of tuna that we bought some time ago. Drank a couple of our Goose Island IPA beers and had a lazy evening. Watched an episode of Tracey Breaks the News that we’d downloaded a few days ago.