Friday, October 22, 2010

Miatas In Moab IV, Part Three


The road had tumbled down off the La Sal Mountains in steep drops, hair-pin curves, and the occasional off-camber sweeper, and I was having a great time – when I could ignore Marilyn’s screams, that is, as she “enjoyed” the stunning vistas with the crystal clarity that comes with the absence of any guard rails! Bedrock is in the flat bottom lands and from there you can see back to the La Sal’s, and you start to get a hint that you are in for a treat. A couple arrived in separate SUV’s, each with a bike and a kayak on the top and a large dog inside – It was time to take our leave – Bedrock was about to be overrun!

We made the turn at Naturita and headed North again towards Gateway and Grand Junction. This part of the trip is through the Dolores River Canyon – a road neither of us had ever been on before. It was easily the prettiest part of our trip, with a twisty road, spectacular rock formations, a clear river, and even some historical sights. Back in the late 1800’s someone found some gold and had the bright idea of forming a company to build a set of “hanging flumes” to bring water five miles along the canyon wall to the placer deposit. The flume is hung from a shear vertical canyon wall, and was such a feat of engineering that it is listed on the register of historical places. Much of the flume structure is still there, and can be viewed from several pullouts along the road. In the end, the gold company went bankrupt from the cost of building the flume, and the lack of gold; the deposit played out too quickly to even break even.

Along with the usual metal and minerals, some “yellow cake” (low-grade Uranium ore) was also mined in small scale operations in the canyon, and the tailings can be seen as you drive along. I have a friend whose family was involved in Uranium mining near this area of Colorado. When he had to get a Secret Clearance, the case worker had to go talk to all his past neighbors. He told the case worker that his town had so much radiation from the miners tracking it back that the EPA dug up the entire town site and buried everything, and then covered it over. There would be nothing left of his home town. During the follow-up, the case worker told him he was right – he had never seen anything like that before – an entire town literally wiped off the map!

But don’t let that stop you from visiting the Dolores River Canyon – the entire area is headed for Wilderness designation, and is covered with miles of hiking trails. Just out of the canyon proper is the little town of Gateway. The story we heard is that the town was built by the founder of The Discovery Channel to house his automobile collection, and to provide a destination in a beautiful spot. It is all modern and new, and we had a light lunch but could not stay because we were running low on time and we still wanted to stop at my step mothers’ house. I called her and explained we were running late and would not be able to stay long, but she told us she was glad we got to see the Dolores canyon – it was one of her favorite spots and she has spent most of her life on the “Western Slope”, as this area of Colorado is known.

We had a too-short visit and then we were off back to the Red Rock Inn for the closing banquet. Mazda had done themselves proud and we all got a goodie bag with a nice coffee table book on the history of the MX-5 Miata, a coffee cup that changes color with heat, bottled water, Miata pins and stickers, and so forth. They sent six pallets of stuff to the gathering, and the Utah Miata Club, Salt Lake Chapter, made the trek down in March, tops down!, to take delivery and separate it out. The winery at Red Rocks Inn let them use their loading dock, and stored the goodies until we all arrived to cart them away. Nice people, both at Mazda, and at Red Rocks Inn.

We ended up sharing a table and bottle of excellent wine with a couple from the other Puget Sound area Miata club, but their names escape me. Once dinner was done, we headed back towards Moab along the river, filled with lots of memories and good food.

The drive home was “fastest time, shortest distance” and we made the 900 mile drive to Richland in just under 18 hours, where we decided that trying to make it the last 4 hours to home was not worth it. Google Maps and Susie-Q, our Garmin Nuvi 660 navigation unit, said we should do it in about 14 hours, but we stop for meals and soft drinks fairly often and don’t over do it. I did all the driving and can say with certainty that the “NC” model, the third generation, is much more comfortable than the “NB”. I loved our 10th Anniversary Special Miata, but Miss Daisy is a whole other level of comfort. The NC is a little harder to get in and out of due to the increased safety afforded by the steel beams in the door and door sills. It is a bit like sitting in a pan, like many other modern cars. However, once I get in, I have support in all the right places. I can drive for hours before I need to get out to stretch, then I can get right back in and drive for more hours. I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures. See you along the road!