No matter how many times you visit Moab, UT and the surrounding areas, you never get bored with the place. There is no better location to get lost and recharge the “batteries”.

This trip was a last minute, spur of the moment kind of trip. Since we expected rain all weekend long at home, after 10 minutes of deliberating, we decided to head West to get away from cold, rain and snow. We made it as far as Cattle Valley. The next morning, after a couple of intense rain storms passed through, it turned out to be an amazing Utah fall day. We camped at Lower Onion Creek, along the Colorado River and since we were near Fisher Towers, we decided to explore that trail. Drove over to the trailhead passing several “creeks” still pretty respectful after the rain storms. The trailhead is just about 22 miles East of Moab off of Highway 128. You can hike 1.5m to the Titan or 2.3m to the End of the Trail.

This part of the world is amazing. Did I use that word already? I don’t know how many times we stopped to look up and just take it all in. Tried to imagine the force that created these amazing walls and carved up these canyons.

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If some of the scenery looks familiar, it’s because Cattle Valley has been the backdrop for many Hollywood movies, from Rio Grande to Comancheros with John Wayne, to more recent ones like City Slicker II: The Search for Curly’s Gold. Every time we come here, I’m always expecting to see John Wayne around the corner, riding his horse.

The trip wasn’t without some unexpected adventures. We lost our alternator just 10 miles North of Moab as we headed home on Sunday. After 3 hours on the side of the road, 2 tow trucks later, we went back to Moab for the evening, hoping to have our truck fixed the following day.

We checked in to Canyonlands RV Resort for the evening. While the place was all-inclusive, as far as RV parks go, this was the most I’ve ever paid for 1 night at a campground. And, they didn’t even have butler service. But, if you want to be in the heart of downtown, in a clean, shady park with full hook-ups, this is definitely a place I would recommend. For us, they were within walking distance to the mechanic who took excellent care of our truck. If ever in need of mechanical services in Moab, check out Slickrock Auto Spa; Bob and Elvin were excellent.

For dinner we weren’t looking for anything fancy, so we ventured over to Giliberto’s Taco Shop. I was pleasantly surprised. Food was good and the salsa was hot. A margarita would have made it excellent, but I don’t think they had a liquor license; we had wine back at the camper anyway.

The round about way we ended our weekend wasn’t without some pluses. We met some really nice people willing to help us. Enjoyed evening cocktails with new friends, Dennis and Marilyn, from Kelowna, B.C., who gave us great ideas for a future Canadian road trips.

I hear Kelowna has 198 vineyards. Who knew!