DAY 12

Rest

In twelve days, Nic and I managed to clock somewhere around 2,500 driving miles and 50 or so hiking miles. We set up and took down camp eight times, and became terribly sick of everything peanut-butter. We had a shower at our disposal every three days or so, and soon learned that a drastic change in altitude is not something one adapts to immediately.

So when we woke up, day twelve in Moab, Utah, we were tired.

To make matters slightly more uncomfortable, it was raining. Hard. And for those that have camped when it has rained all night and into the morning, you know that it's not particularly enjoyable. For those that haven't, I'll let you in on a secret: it's not particularly enjoyable. We got out of our tent- sore, cranky, and wet- and proceeded to get our electric water heater so we could boil hot water in the car. We plugged it into our fancy-electrical-output-connection-thingy, and fail. Didn't work. So we went outside and boiled water on our gas stove, in the rain, and ate our oatmeal in the car. Afterwards, we got out to quickly pack away our tent and guess what! One of the stakes snapped!

Rather than freaking out, Nic and I remained level-headed and made a plan. We knew we wanted to spend a few more hours in Arches before heading to Canyonlands, another National Park about an hour south. We decided we would drive around the park and sight-see from the car to save energy. Totally not lame if you're feeling like how we were. Then we would go back into town and go to a laundromat, because yes--our clothes were still full of red dirt, and we were running out of underwear. Then, we were going to get our tent repaired at a camping goods store. Then, then(!), we were going to....book a hotel. Yes. Stay a night in Monticello, a small town near Canyonlands, so we could take showers, sleep in a bed, and refuel.

Check, check, and check. Clothes clean, tent fixed, and two girls in a $45 hotel room fully equipped with mattress and tub. We arrived at Monticello at 4pm and immediately crashed. We woke up three hours later and contemplated getting our stove from the car and making soup in our room. But at the rate we were going, why not keep "pampering" ourselves? We drove into Monticello (population 1,958), and found a place to eat. I had the most amazing bacon cheeseburger ever. I forget what Nic had, but I know it came with really delicious fries. Then our waiter drew us a map so we could easily get ourselves to Canyonlands the next morning (more on that in the next post). We left, and found ourselves back in bed, asleep by 9pm.