Feel The Burn

After sitting on my butt for the majority of the winter I decided it was really time to go out and get some exercise, so we took a trip to Moab, Utah for some leg pounding, lung burning fun. It was my first trip to the famed mountain bike mecca, and it definately lived up to its reputation, although I quickly learned that slickrock does not equal smoothrock. Of course Mama Meeshell, although not able to rage on the rock, came along to document the experience. Here is our story.


Since it's about 5 hours from Flagstaff to Moab we first camped at the Navajo National Monument in Northern Arizona, which was especially nice because it was free. It's still a little cold in the high desert of Arizona at night, but luckily the Skamper has a nice cook-your-shorts heater that cozies things up nicely. You can't see it but there's a old Navajo village in the big cave.



After leaving Arizona we arrived in Moab. After a mandatory stop at the Moab Brewery for a Derailleur Ale we headed up to slickrock to claim a camping spot. Luckily, by arriving early on Friday we got our pick, I think we found one with a nice view, don't you? There was till a lot of snow in the La Sal mountains which made for a nice contrast with the red rocks and dirt of Moab. I met a long lost friend from my college days in South Carolina, we hadn't seen each other in 10 years so it was nice to catch up again.




Luckily we were both in the same physical shape, which I would generously describe as poor. We both dug deep, however, and managed to get a few great rides in. I would really like to go back there when my lungs didn't feel like they were going to explode, there's a lot more trails I would like to tackle.



Luckily I escaped with all my bones in one piece and my skin intact, those trails are insanely steep, both up and down, one wrong turn and you could find yourself airborn, attached to a vehicle with no airbags.









Mama Meeshell had a good time, hiking while we were out riding. She even got a little trail run in and took some good pics of us extreme mountain bikers.









After spending 3 days and 2 nights in Moab we opted for a change of scenery and headed down to Southern Utah to camp in the Valley of the Gods. Once we arrived I understood the name immediately, it was a religious experience. The Valley was on BLM lands and so it was pretty much wide open, we camped without another soul in sight, just the distant sounds of coyotes and the occasional raven flapping overhead. We've marked this down as another sight to revisit, and luckily it's on the way to many other adventures we have planned.




Well, that's all folks, hope everyone out there is having fun and misbehavin'. We're getting ready to move into our new digs soon, a nice 3 bedroom house on 2.5 acres. It has a separate workshop which I intend to put to good use, and it will be a great place for us to finally celebrate Clarity's arrival. You can really feel her kicking around in there, eager to join the world, although not half as eager as we are. Take care and hope to see you soon.