Green River is a small town right off of I-70 in Utah, one exit West of Crescent Junction (highway to Moab) that is the perfect place to stop and stay if you’d like a quieter base camp for a weekend in Moab and the surrounding sandstone playground. I highly recommend the River Rock Inn B&B. It is adult only but it has very lovely & new rooms AND breakfast is included. You must get the pancakes. They were the best I’ve ever had. The owners are Southerners (like yours truly) and they were very kind and accommodating. I couldn’t recommend the spot enough. My wife and I will be back.

Green River has a strange history though. Not only is it close to the very awesome and haunting Sego Canyon Rock Art Interpretive Site, but it has ties to White Sands National Park way down in New Mexico. They used to launch ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) from the desert just south of Green River (the Green River Test Site or Utah Launch Complex) all the way to White Sands Missile Range! The Air Force took over an old Uranium Milling Site south of the town and began just launching missiles over the American Southwest. According to the plaque at the park not far from the B&B: “It was activated in December 1962 in support of the Air Force's Advanced Ballistic Re-entry System (ABRES) test program As one of three national missile range hosts WSMR provided major support the construction and operation of the GRTS. The ABRES program was developed to study missiles re-entry behavior and test anti-ballistic missile defenses through the simulation of the full flight dynamics of an ICBM within the confines of the U.S.” They launched 141 missiles over the beautiful Colorado Plateau until 1973. From then until 1975 they then launched 61 Pershing missiles. But they brought in East German troops to train for those firings. Imagine being an East German training in the desert near Arches National Park! Eventually launching moved to other locations and the town hasn’t been the same. Imagine 100 other towns around the nation like this and the Military Industrial Complex makes a little bit more sense. Just a little…