Parrots in the desert?

I was sitting outside with my early morning coffee when a large bird came flying by. At first I thought it must have been a hawk of some type and the early morning sun had distorted the colors. Then it landed in a shrub near me and it became clear that the bird was, in fact, a blue parrot of some type.
It seems that early this morning, a guy from Texas pulled into the area.  He puts on parrot shows and is a professional parrot trainer. Interesting profession. He also does cliff diving and dirt bike racing. He uses the mesa we're camped on for parrot flight training.

He lived in Moab for five years and was a great source of local driving and hiking information.

The large blue parrot

A much smaller orange one.

He drags a 4 door Jeep Rubicon with his dirt bike mounted on the Jeep behind a very large Class C. Must be a real challenge to stop that combination of a steep downgrade.

The more we look at the jeep trails in CO and UT, the more we talk about getting a Jeep to tow.  We'll see.

Moving on

Today we left our nice campsite on Willow Springs Road. I got to do a lot of short hikes. By myself, of course. The lazy dog stayed with Carol.
Photos from our campsite on  top of a huge slab of slickrock. With binoculars we could see the arches in Arches.

The La Sal mountains

Us

Still trying to figure out what this green rock is.

Today we went into Moab for water, propane, groceries, etc.
There is a new Maverick Gas station in town located at 985 S. US Hwy 191. Free dump and free water. Both located on the north side of the building. Easy access plus a nearby RV lane.
Last week we had breakfast at the Eclectic Cafe. Today we went back for lunch. A very popular restaurant with a very diverse menu.
Eclectic Cafe Facebook page.


After taking care of in-town stuff, we headed for the Dead Horse Point area. Tonight we're at the Dubinsky Road BLM disbursed camping area.
38.643415   -109.81990

Pretty but I don't know the name.

From tonights campsite.

Sunset to the West

And a full moon rising in the East over the La Sal mountains.

On Sunday, we have reservations at the Dead Horse Point State Park for two nights. We're here until then.
When we left home we had planned on including SW Colorado in this trip. Since its still cold and snowy at the higher elevations, we decided to head home next week then take off for the mountains in mid to late May.

Disbursed camping area north of Moab

If anyone is looking for a nice disbursed camping area about 20 minutes north of Moab, the Willow Springs Road is very nice. Good access road, great scenery, good VZ.

A 4wd vehicle will take you into the Arches NP.

38.69823
-109.68343

Arches NP and the La Sal Mountains are in the background.

A cold, windy and rainy and snowy weekend

It doesn't rain much in Moab. On the average about 9.5" per year. Friday was one of those rainy ones.
We took a ride along a canyon road , SR 279/Potash Road, and then went into town for lunch at the Sweet Cravings Bakery and Bistro. Carol has a strawberry salad wrap that was very, very good.
I walked around the campground and came up with enough firewood for one chilly night.

Keeping warm.

You feel like taking a walk? Fine. I'm happy right here.

On Saturday we drove the Kane Creek Road. It's on the south side of the Colorado River just across from the Potash Road we drove yesterday. There are some nice BLM campgrounds along the river on both sides. Kane Creek Road is a narrow, winding dirt road. No guard rails. At one point there is a sign indicating a 10% grade following that is a corkscrew type curve leading into the canyon bottom. The turns are so tight you're hoping no one is coming the other way, or if they are, the driver is sober and not texting.

Along Kane Creek Road

The winds have been a steady 20-30 mph with gusts to 50mph. Fortunately, Saturdays rain has kept the blowing dirt under reasonable control.

Sunday morning we went in town and had a very good breakfast at the Eklecticafe and then took a ride to the BLM Ken's Lake campground located south of town. It's on a pretty, clear water lake. Then we decided to try the La Sal Mountain Loop Road. I asked the campground host about the road conditions and he said the road was opened all the way through to Hwy 128. Off we go. First there are scattered snow flurries, then harder snow then this

We hoped a car would come towards us so we could inquire about road conditions up ahead. None did so we turned around. 

The blurry area at the top of the picture is the clouds we were driving through.

They have four "wheel" drive. We don't.

The views were impressive. 

So we headed back into town. Deciding where to head tomorrow. North or South.