Forrest Gump

This is Highway 128 near Moab, UT; it is a Utah Scenic Byway, runs right along beside Colorado River; goes for about 45 miles, every inch of it beautiful; many movies have been filmed in this area; remember when Forrest Gump decided to run across the US? Remember when he finally stopped and said "I think I'll stop now"; this is the stretch of Highway 128 where that scene was filmed

Open Range

In lots of places out west, there is open range land; cows and horses are free to roam wherever they want, such as right beside (or in) roads; no fences to hold them in; signs warn drivers about open range areas; you really do need to be careful and watch out for animals

Part of Monument Valley

Riley does not seem to be impressed; all he wants is for me to let him off his leash!

Toyota Commercial

The area between Moab, UT and Monument Valley, AZ has long been a region where many movies and commercials have been made; while Riley and I were taking a hike here in Monument Valley, they were filming a Toyota commercial; funny thing, most all of the trucks that the film people were using were Fords!

Monument Valley, AZ

Monument Valley is entirely within the Navajo Indian Reservation, which is mostly in AZ, but also in parts of UT and NM; it is largest reservation in US, about size of West Virginia! The rock formations are huge; there is a 15 mile loop road running through the valley; extremely rugged road, hills, rocks, potholes; rarely can you get above 10mph; I needed four wheel drive in several places; my truck will never be the same! It took me and Riley about 3.5 hours to make the loop

Cottonwood Tree

All throughout the west, there are these beautiful trees called Cottonwoods; they are found usually around streams or rivers, even in small desert gulches with some running water; they are brilliantly deep yellow this time of year, very beautiful, particularly when there are a bunch of them together

Delicate Arch in Arches NP

That is me under the arch! It was a rugged 1.5 mile hike, up the whole way, to even get here; I wanted to be here at sunset; started hike at 5:50PM and only had short time before sun went down; huffing and puffing, I made it in about 30 minutes; came down in dark, but worth every step; to get underneath this massive arch, you had to walk around the inside of a rock bowl; if rocks had not been dry, you would not want to attempt this