MOAB.......SOUNDS BIBLICAL

The drive to Monticello was undulating and dead straight and boring, despite the herd of buffalo (they were too), the llamas and the alpacas. But then we turned west to Moab  which was much more interesting, into canyon territory.
Nice campsite 4 miles south of town with great views. Sun shining but freezing overnight and v.helpful  staff who planned a great itinerary for us. Moab, which sounds as though it was the 3rd begotten son of Lot, is at the centre of 3 National parks all of which we could visit in the vans and also has a least one microbrewery with some great beer.
The town is probably the nicest we have passed through and is the hub of off-road activity, somewhat resembling a stage of the Paris-Dakar rally, with dune buggies everywhere. We discover that there is a 4 day ATV rally taking place and the campsites are overflowing with  RVs towing trail bikes, quad bikes and serious buggies.
We then have 2 superb days: first day to Dead Horse Point park and then Canyonlands ( which is Not a Disney theme park based on the Grand Canyon) and both stunning. Mini version of the GC, at the confluence of the Colorado/Green rivers with amazing views and rock formations. We drive over a 100 miles stopping frequently and love every moment.
Next day we do the Arches National Park which is even more amazing. Take a million photos of......arches......never seen anything like it so wait till  I put pics on flicker or look it up on Google.
This is nearly it. We have to be back in Vegas on Friday, about 450 miles. One stop at Beaver .
Weather has got much warmer again especially at night.
Its been a terrific trip, met so many people,esp. the good ol  boys on trail bikes I had a beer with tonight (in a caravan bigger than our house and having a boys away trip to look at the flowers.........I think this was the bteam equivalent of parking the cars). The weather has been interesting, we only had rain once overnight and drove through a shower but it started at 102°, fell to -4° overnight, snowed just up the road, blew an almighty gale and then got lovely again.
I don't think for one moment that we have even started to scratch the surface but it has been an eye opener. Lot of poverty, lot of ramshackle, broken down towns with shut down shops and businesses and rotting property. RVs everywhere, every other house has one parked outside. Seen some fantastic scenery and love how the National Parks are run, but the roads between places are SO boring. Campsites have great facilities but are pricier than Europe at this time of year, fuel is much cheaper but the motorhomes are built like breeze blocks and only do 10 miles to the gallon, so fuel at a 1/3 price but mpg  1/3 of ours equals the same overall cost which is disappointing. We like the van, very spacious being wider, love the waste systems and all the electrics which are catered for by all sites having 30/50 amp hookups...unlike uk at 16 amp and Europe where 10 is good and 3 or 6 is not uncommon. This means we can run all the systems knowing we will not be blowing a trip switch which is luxury