Utah to New Mexico to Texas

Moab, Utah has an interesting phenomena. Every year in the week before Easter, off road enthusiasts congregate to drive the hills and canyons of the red rock country around town. They are everywhere! Mostly the jeeps are caked in mud - and so are the drivers. Our RV park was full of them too. They leave every morning in groups of 20 - 50 and follow a guide through various routes - the more challenging, the more fun they are. The RV right next to us even ran a "welding" business to fix things that broke during the day of fun.
On Monday, April 6, we left Moab and headed south with the TerHaars for the Four Corners area. This is the only place in the US where four states meet - Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. It's fun to see if you can get one limb in each of the states.
From here, we headed south east, going through Shiprock and Farmington, New Mexico to the Jemez Trail. Elevations are high here - 6600' - making the nights cold but the days warmed up nicely to 18 - 20C. This is an area of pinyon pines and canyons and winding roads. Many pueblos still have people living there after 500 years and follow traditional methods of cooking and speaking their native languages. We were fortunate enough to meet and elderly gentleman who grew up in the Jemez Pueblo and told us he only spoke Towa until he was a teen. The roadside park where we met him as we had lunch, has platforms for the traditional pow wows and dances that they hold in the summer.
A geological phenomena that we saw along the "trail" was Soda Dam. The area has several hot springs and one bubbled to the surface bringing heavily laden mineral waters. The water evaporated, leaving calcite and it created a dam that blocked the Jemez River. Eventually, the river bore a hole through the calcite and broke through but you can see the spring still bubbling in a small cave and the river flowing along the side. See the picture.
We spent the next day in Santa Fe - a very old city. Navajos still sell handmade turquoise jewelry and pottery on the porch of the Government House after 300 years.
From Santa Fe, we drove the "Turquoise Trail" passing through samll towns that used to boom in the gold and coal mining eras. Now they are little more that ghost towns. Eventually, we connected with I-40 heading east. In Amarillo, Texas our RV park was right next door to the Big Texan Roadhouse. They feature the 72 oz steak dinner. If you can eat the steak plus salad, potatoes, and rolls, you get it free! If you cannot do it - you pay $72. Few make it!