Moab, Utah

Cozy but it works

Washing off the Colorado dirt.  Getting ready for the Utah dirt.

Sunset Grill

After 3 years we finally made it to the Sunset Grill for dinner.  Our meal was delicious. 

The Sunset Grill is in the former home of Uranium King Charlie Steen.  In the early 1950s Moab was a small farming community.  Arches and Canyonlands were places only a lucky few experienced.  In 1952 Charles A. Steen, geologist and prospector, put Moab on the world map.

The Atomic Energy Commission was offering a $10,000 reward for finding domestic uranium. Charlie had the knowledge and skills it would take to locate the uranium. While other miners were content gathering small amounts of surface deposits around Moab, Charlie wanted more. After three long years of searching with his family nearly destitute, and his resources expended, he made his final attempt to extract ore samples 240 feet beneath the earth’s surface.

Having broken his drill bit at 180 feet, he went into town.  He stopped for gas, not realizing what lay in the back of his jeep, ore samples he found at 70 feet.  The attendant approached the jeep with a Geiger counter.  They were both surprised by the activity it created.  It was July 3rd, 1952 and Charlie had finally hit his “paydirt.”

Life of course changed dramatically for the Steens.  They went from using a washboard in the river to having their laundry flown by Charlie’s private pilot to Grand Junction, Colorado.  Every year there was a new red Lincoln Continental, and because of poor television reception in Moab, Charlie put a television in his plane, and would fly his family over Moab to watch their favorite shows.

Charlie was a generous person.  He donated property to local schools and churches.  He built “Steenville,” a housing development for his employees, and offered low interest mortgage loans.  Charlie also bought a mountain and built his dream home.  Complete with green house, servants quarters, and the largest swimming pool in the state.  Roses lined the street below and flowers grew everywhere.  Longtime locals can tell of his $50,000 poker game, rubbing noses with celebrities like Henry Fonda, or even an “I Love Lucy” episode, where Lucy tries to get Ricky to join her in the hunt for uranium.

After 9 successful years, Charlie moved his family from Moab to a 22,000-sq. ft. house in Reno, Nevada.  After years of living in a true millionaires fashion, Charlie and his wife M.L., moved from Reno to Colorado.  They have passed on now, but will always be remembered as Moab’s most famous millionaire.

Lunch time

Top of the World here we come

Meet Gary.  He is our neighbor in the RV Park.  Gary is from Iowa and 79 years of age.  Going to the Top of the World was on his bucket list.  So here we go!

Dave perfecting his mirror pictures

View from Top of the World

Gary can check that one off the list

Lunch on Top of the World

Dave showing off his big crack

Photo bombed by Moose 🐕 😄

Headed down

Dewey Bridge

The highway crosses the Colorado River at the site of the Dewey Bridge, built in 1916 and used by vehicles until 1986, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This bridge was the longest suspension bridge in Utah until April 2008 when it was destroyed by a fire started by a child playing with matches.

In 1906, Grand County built a one-room schoolhouse for $400.00 on this site. It measured 16 by 24 feet, made of native lumber, lined with unbleached muslin to keep the wind, dust and bugs out.
The school was closed in 1914.

Remains of what was going to be someones home built into the side of the mountain

We always have to stop and get some great peaches

I thought she was going to walk right over to the Jeep

Pronghorn

Putting on a show for us

Dave started the engine and scared them

Checking out Dellenbaugh Tunnel

Secret Spire

Today's the day the rest of the gang arrived

Metal Masher Trail
Half the group is doing Metal Masher and the other half is going to the Top of the World

Lunch time

Dave checking out Widowmaker

No one decided to try it

We all made it out with only a few minor scrapes

One of the Jeeps in the Top of the World group had a Pitman arm break.  Without it you can't steer.  So back at the hotel the guys are removing the Pitman arm from Jack's jeep because today is Sunday and the parts stores are closed.  We are going to relay the arm up the Top of the World trail to be used on Johnny's Jeep.

Early morning start on Steel Bender

We had not done this trail before but it turned out to be a favorite

Dave stuck in the crack on the Wall

Issac showing us how it's done

Met up with Kim, Dean and their buddies Mike & Scott from Wisconsin at the Fall

Very tippy for short wheel base vehicles

Dave opting for a strap

Tippy spot

Another fun spot

Everyone picking their line

Headed out to Sevenmile Rim

Checking out the view

John scaring his wife

Uranium Arch has a span of 75 feet

Straddling the Silver Crack

Can you smell the Burnt Toast?

This one is called Eileen because you REALLY lean

Cindy getting ready to drive down Wipe Out Hill

Passing beneath a giant fallen rock in Long Canyon

Going part way on Kane Creek with one group

Then heading to Chicken Corners again with Robyn and Kathy

Bighorn Sheep

Can you can see the white butts walking away from us?

Only one week and there is already new chicken stuff added to the sign

Lunch spot with Robyn and Kathy

This isn't something you see everyday.  A man walking his tortoise.

There goes Jax the dog, Kobe the African Spurred tortoise and grumpy. 😇
Kobe was the size of a quarter when his daughter sent him home while schooling in Africa.  They walk between 3 and 5 miles a day.  They summer in Moab and winter in Tierra Santa which is located in San Diego county.

Looks like the mailman is running late today 😜

Birthing Rock
Witness what is thought of as the first picture recording of human birth. The Birthing Scene is a large rock covered on four sides with native American rock art. Figures and designs cover the periods and cultures from the Anasazi (AD 1 to AD 1275), Fremont (AD 450 to AD 1250) and the Ute (AD 1200's to AD 1880). The well known "birthing scene" is found on the left-hand corn.  Notice the feet first presentation of the baby. The remainder of the rock is covered with various animal forms, such as a centipede, a horse, bear paws, a snake, as well as triangular anthropomorphic figures and a sandal trackway.

Getting an early morning start. Doing Poison Spider, Golden Crack and Gold Bar Rim.

Wondering how the Poison Spider Trail got its name? It stems from the legend that a little girl named Mary Jane Francis died here from the bite of a poison spider in 1896!

Skyline Drive

Barb giving her approval

Cindy concentrating and watching her spotter

We don't need no stinking roads where we're going

We have arrived at the Golden Crack.  Lunch awaits us on the other side.

Waiting while another group crosses in the opposite direction

Our turn

Lunch time

OK, maybe a road would be nice right about now

Jeff being winched

Gooney Bird Rock

Having lunch at Milt's

We had'nt found anywhere in Arizona, Colorado or Utah to deposit our recycling.  Fellow Jeeper Dave Turner from California volunteered to take it back to California so that it didn't have to go to the landfill.  What's with these states?