By the numbers:

• 250 miles from Moab, UT to Farmington, NM – 1640 total miles
  • we are about 1/10th done with our trip
• highest temp:  99 –  but it felt a lot hotter.
• highest elevation: 7,070 feet at Monticello, UT
• 4 states: Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.  Total for the trip: 7
  • One of the those states was primarily me standing on the Arizona side of the four corners monument where these 4 state meet:
  • The tradition is to stand on the exact spot where the 4 states meet and take a picture of your feet simultaneously in all 4 states.  To do that would have required waiting in a line in near 100 degree weather with no shade for probably and hour and a half.  I decided getting one picture of me in each of the four states would be good enough.  As my son Jacob says:  “Perfect is good.  Done is better.”
• Licence plates spotted:  2 new states and provinces – 36 total for the trip
• 1 new National Park site: Mesa Verde – 10 parks total for the trip.
  • Once again the heat kept us from doing much actual exploration at the park.  Here’s a picture of what would be involved in going on a tour to see the cliff dwellings up close.  I think that climb will be much more feasible in spring or fall with temperatures somewhere below 80 degrees.

This whole region of the country is amazingly beautiful and varied.  Our plan for this part of the trip was to treat this first portion of our trip as a scouting expedition to plan for a more extensive visit at a future date.  I think we have accomplished that.  I was a bit apprehensive about the road conditions here but found them to be in wonderful condition and most of the area is reasonably flat at the top of the whole uplifted plateau.  There are about 40 parks within a few hundred miles of the four corners.  I think it will take many more trips here to see most of them.

One more park in this area tomorrow, the Aztec Ruins, just north of where we are staying in Farmington.  Then we are off to the southern mid parts of the country, starting with Texas.