The desert is not for me

We really had no plan for where to camp or stay that night.  We left Arches as the shadows were lengthening and our stomachs began to growl.  Our plan developed, somewhat tentatively, to head into Moab, grab a bite to eat, and then figure out where to throw our tent for the night.  Moab is a pretty little desert town, very southwest in color and style with plenty of adobe pueblo style buildings.  We wandered into Miguel's Baja Grill after peeking in and seeing the open air dining area.  The margaritas and fish tacos were a good enticement, as well.  I ordered the Baja Fish Tacos ("The traditional way of cooking fish tacos in Baja, Mexico. Breaded Mahi-Mahi, deep fried, served with a special sauce, flour tortillas, cabbage, cucumbers, and pico-de-gallo"). Scott ordered the Santa Rosalia Enchiladas with lamb ("Two corn tortillas filled with melted Jack cheese. Covered with your choice of green tomatillo sauce, molé or red sauce. Served with Baja Grill rice, beans of the day and sour cream. Available with your choice of steak, shrimp, lamb, chicken, pork, Portobello mushroom, or Poblano Chile, Onion, and Tomato.")  The meal was delicious, the service was great, and the margs were tasty and just enough.  We were pleasantly full and content when we walked out.

After consulting our map, we decided to head to Canyonlands National Park to check out campgrounds. We had done well so far with the park campgrounds and thought it might be far enough away from the more touristy campgrounds closer to Moab.  

We ended up in Horsethief Campground.  The name alone made us wonder.  For $12 we got a campground with no access to water, a campground bathroom (a fancier, non-portable port-o-potty basically which we were accustomed to) that was not terribly clean, noisy, and drunk neighbors out on their dirtbikes.  The stars were amazing that night, though, and we opted to sleep without the rain fly so we could see them and get a bit of the cool breeze.  

The next morning we were driven from the tent by the extreme sunshine beating in and the heat.  Right--it was the desert.  No water, check. Heat, check.  Dirt, check.  The minute we were out of the tent we were assaulted by clouds of angry black flies.  Bugs, check.  They were everywhere.  Even Asher was annoyed.  We packed down the tent as fast as we could, loaded up, and jumped in the car.  Probably won't return to Horsethief Campground.  The rock formations as we drove away were interesting, however.

We tried to skydive Moab but the pilots weren't flying and the tandem jumpers had the day off.  We were told that it is better to book with them a few days out because they do fill up quickly.  The guy was impressed that our first jump had been with Skydive Chicago (apparently on of the best outfits in the country) and was apologetic about the kink in our plans.  He gave us coupons to use next time we were in Moab.  With that we left Utah and began our march west.