Mover Mike

I was there one year in 1990. My destination was Monument Valley guided by the magazine picture of The Mittens taped to my dash.

Alone, I was driving a big loop from Selina, UT to Moab to Ouray, CO, to the Four Corners then to Monument Valley, AZ and the Grand Canyon and then turn to home in Portland, OR.

I arrived in Moab about six pm and all the motels sported red No Vacancy signs. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't looking forward to sleeping my car. A search of the telephone book revealed there was an AA meeting near by and so I dropped in. I was called on to speak and at the end I asked if anyone knew of a place to stay the night. Well, one of the women had a daughter that owned a Bed and Breakfast and turns out, she had a room. They encouraged me to stay more than one night to see the sights. I ended up staying two nights and seeing Arches National Monument

and Dead Horse Point.

The daughter invited me and her family to dine at Dead Horse Point my second night. As the sun expired for the day we had an AA meeting there under the stars. I wrote this short poem about that evening:

At Dead Horse Point, great canyons stretch before me.

The setting sun backlights the scudding clouds.

A gentle breeze, loaded with the smell of Junipers, whispers of the desert to the south.

The shawl of evening cloaks the sandstone boulders.

Under the stars of Orion a red fox yips in the dying light.

I traveled much of a lifetime to this place to see a sunset.