If Washing Machines Could Drive....

The Bouncemobile

Then MAC’s HUMMER Sunset Safari tour would have some serious competition.  If you’ve ever sat and watched the machine and wondered what the lonely sock feels like as it goes round and round, up and down, slooshing about (is it happy?  can socks breathe underwater? when their colors run, are they crying?), then this is the tour for you.  You’d probably also enjoy it without the sock backstory.  Maybe its just me.

Anyway, yes, on a whim we decided to spend a very fun evening getting thrown round the back of a HUMMER, bouncing round an area of rolling sandstone hills known as Devil’s Gulch.  Earlier, I had gone to FINALLY check into the Ramada, after my aborted attempt yesterday.  Striding confidently up to the front desk, I announced that I was checking in, for one night please, name of Holloway and ha, ha, I know I have a reservation for this night. 

....Cue tapping into system by front-desk reservationist... 

I'm sorry, what?

What do you mean its not showing up in your system?

Fine, I’ll go and get the paperwork, I have it all printed out.

.....Mildly annoyed, struts off to car, unlocks car, can’t find paper in car anywhere, realizes printed reservation is in suitcase, has to unpack boot, in 103 degree heat, open up suitcase, rummage around, locate paper, repack suitcase, repack boot, lock car, walk back to check-in desk, present reservation confirmation with a “here it is” tone to the reservationist, waits for applause.....

Here you go.

I’m sorry – what?

What do you mean it was a no-show?

Look at what on the reservation?  I know I booked it for the 2^nd, it says right here.  Look, the SECOND. 

Oh.

Right.

I see.

That’s a six isn’t it?  Not a seven.

So that would mean... I guess I booked it for the second of June, then, not July.

Well, that would explain the lack of reservation then, wouldn’t it?

Um… do you have any rooms, please?

And so it was that we actually ended up with an amazing suite at the Ramada cos I effed up the booking.  I had to pay for it, rather than get it free on points, but I didn't mind because it was a fantastic room – humongous, with a separate lounge area (perfect for blogging), two balconies (one of which I promptly proceeded to lock myself out on) as well as a little kitchen.  So it worked out fine in the end and, being a Ramada, didn’t actually cost that much. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent blogging and snoozing, until it was time to wander across the road to the MAC.  The Ramada was directly across the street, so it was a perfect location, and the tour was scheduled to leave the store at 6.15pm.  We had the pleasure of having Cort again as our tour guide, and there were 3 HUMMERs along for the evening’s ride.

It was a blast.

The route took us a few minutes outside of town, not in the National Park proper, but to an area known as Devil’s Gulch.  This is where all the ATV’s and HUMMERs and random cars that fancy their chances come to play.  The very first drive in our route took us along a high ridge of sandstone known as Devil’s Backbone – high, steep, and with sharp drop offs either side.  Perfect!!  It was a lot of fun and Cort was a brilliant driver, keeping the vehicle safe – but giving us a bouncy ride for our money!   We stopped at some interesting places along the way – one to see a huge dinosaur footprint and another to play with the echoes in Negro Bill’s Canyon.  We also continued to learn stuff about the plants and wildlife of the area – for example, did you know that the spines on cactus plants are genetic copies of themselves?  This is one of the reasons the spines have evolved to stick in you and stay stuck in you for as long as possible – to transport the spine (and future plant) away from the parent plant.  Fascinating.  Another interesting factoid is that juniper trees can shut parts of themselves off in times of drought, so as to preserve water flow to a smaller region of the tree and enhance their chance of surviving a drought.  This is why you see some trees where most of it is dead – but a few patches of green branches remain alive and healthy.

After parking up and watching the sunset (again, beautiful, but I think we had the better spot in Arches yesterday), it was time to roll on home.  Except for one last treat.  An illicit quick drive along a very ridged part of the trail that the guides are not really supposed to go on (its an exit route, but by the time we were on it, everyone except us had left).  It was absolutely brilliant!  Haring along this half-mile rutted dirt & sandstone track in our HUMMER was a riot – we were bouncing up and down in our seats like crazy, catching some serious air and holding on for dear life!   The (rather large) lady wedged in next to Lori had a huge camera that kept whacking on Lori’s arm and gave her a massive bruise, but no pain, no gain and it was well worth it!   After ten minutes, our extracurricular fun was over, so we headed back to the Moab Adventure Center, still laughing our heads off from the adrenaline rush.  We finally said farewell to Cort and headed off for a late supper – exhausted but happy!

Tomorrow, stand-up paddleboarding awaits!

Allo-allo-asaurus footprint

Daniel and friend

Swirly-whirly sand and rock

HUMMER's playground

Starting our climb up the Devil's Backbone

View of Negro Bill's Canyon

View of Big Bend from 1,000 ft up!

The evidence, m'lud