I had a free breakfast at the hotel which was actually excellent. Scrambled eggs and pancakes was perfect for me. Got on 64 and immediately saw this gorge.
I continued on down Highway 64 into the San Juan Mountains and it was an incredible drive. The road went to about 11000 feet and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. I tried running about 100 yards back to my car and felt like I was in a Tuesday night crit. 2 days is not enough time to make any sort of adjustment to the altitude but at least I feel like I am getting some sort of training benefit by being way above sea level.
Those pictures are kind of the same but it is difficult to convey the amazing terrain with my little digital camera. I need some sort of super wide angle large format contraption.
Driving through the mountains I wouldn’t see a car for 20-30 minutes. It was awesome. I thought about the people that live out there and how they have to drive 30 miles to get a cup of coffee. In Dallas I get mad if I have to wait behind 2 people in line for a cup of coffee.
Once I got into the Moab area I came upon a tourist trap. I usually don't stop at these obnoxious things but it looked kind of cool. There was a petting zoo and I'm a sucker for those sorts of things. Like a little kid sticking my hand in the cages even when there is a sign warning me against such activity. Here is a shot of my new ostrich friend.
Near Moab I came across this road to nowhere. It is definitely a goal of mine in the future to get a full suspension mountain bike and head off into the gravel roads that navigate over a pass or some other amazing part of Colorado. I think that it would be amazing to just head off into authentic mountain biking country in the pure wilderness. I need to learn to camp first but anything is possible.
The drive around Moab.
A cool sign showing how far I had come. Not really that far but I liked the sign. Only 2498 miles to Miami.
Crazy statue made of golf irons and shafts. Very creative. Interesting tidbits at the tourist trap. The postcards were cheap for a tourist spot. 3 for $1.
I’m a really late laptop convert. I just sold the huge desktop I had and joined the wireless revolution. I made it to Moab today and was going to stay in town but it started raining and all the hotels were $100 or more. I looked online and found a motel 6!!! For $36 about 40 miles North. I just pulled up to a random Best Western and logged on. Bandit style internet access. It’s great. I also booked a room for tomorrow evening while I was at it in Park City, UT. I rode my bike there a few years ago and thought I would do the same tomorrow. I booked the room online and found an amazing deal for this awesome resort for $56. Another beauty of having a laptop on the road. The only problem, after checking the weather, is that it’s going to be 38 degrees tomorrow. That is nuts. I didn’t even consider that it might be cold a week before June. The last time I was there it was late May and I was dripping sweat after the ride.
This was the view from my wonderful Motel 6 room. Can't beat that in these off the beaten path cities. It was actually a decent room and I hooked into the Ramadas wifi down the road.
I was thinking today about my ability to handle being alone for extended periods. This is my 3rd extended roadtrip where I am basically alone for weeks at a time and I find that for the most part I love it. I will say though that the best times on the last 2 trips I had were when I visited friends in various parts of the country. The rest of the trip kind of blurred together but the really memorable parts were visiting friends. I guess I really am a Gemini, I need that contrast.
I'm off to Park City to go freeze for the day. Hopefully they'll have a nice hottub.
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