May 10, 2009 MOAB, UTAH
I kept telling people I would be gone a month.
My training was not what I would have liked; there was very little of it so it will be a hard ride. Like I tell people, “you pay the piper one way or the other.”
Training: Hood River to The Dalles for lunch. Start at about 200 feet. There was a short cut, oh yeah 1800 feet up, but the view was worth it and so was the down. There was lots of wind so I kept it under 40. I have to be careful who I take. I almost had to go get the car but Robert did fine. He was hurting. We took the long way back. It was a 500 foot climb. There is no flat in the Columbia River Gorge.
On one of the training rides I started where I-205 and I-5 in Washington go together. I had a new toy, a GPS, on my bike. I put in an address on 164th. There was a light rain and a little wind as I started out. These will change. I know the way - 8 miles, but I wanted to see what the GPS would do. Over I-205 four times and 15 miles later I was where I wanted to be. Now I live in Milwaukie, OR - 11 miles from here, so I pushed “home.” It said turn left on 24th. That couldn’t be right so I pushed for a smaller map. It was going to take me east 50 or so miles to Cascade Locks and then back. The I-205 bridge over the Columbia has a bike lane in the middle of the 8 lanes, and a bike road on the side of I-205 to Milwaukie, then on to the Spring Water Corridor trail which is 28 miles long and home. I turned the GPS off. Over the bridge was fun - 20 mile an hour, wind, and lots of rain. NO, it was not at my back. I had to pedal to go downhill. The good part was it was not cold – 52 degrees. There was so much water the drains were not getting it done and you could only get so wet. Riding in six inch of water is not a problem. It took me a long time to get my bike clean again.
I had been working on packing for two months but I do odd jobs for people. Finding time is not working out very well for my packing. It is the day before I am to leave and I think I am done packing - just clothes in my suitcase to go. The only thing that will keep me home now is if I am in the obituaries.
I filled my 2.5 horse motor and laid it in the garage. I didn’t get the cap on right so it leaked all over the garage floor. Well, the pint it holds leaked out. I am so happy I didn’t put it in the maxi van.
May 7 – I am on the road. It is a day of high winds and hail. I tried to fish but the anchor I brought would not hold. I would try again tomorrow. I did get in some good stunt kite flying.
May 8 - Finally a day of rest and do what I want. I was up at 8:00 a.m. or so - no clock that I wanted to look at. There was a big horned owl’s nest with two little ones in the nest. I have a 40 power scope that I tried to charge people to look at the owls. They all said they would pay me the $500.00 for looking through the scope but didn’t have it with them. I am going to be rich. All the women who looked through it would say was, “Wow.” The men said not a thing - like it happened every day. I drove to Springs fifteen miles down the road. Camping was only $5.00 a night there. You can guess why. I am paying $17.00 with free showers and electric hook up at the State Park.
There was about 30 people fishing and doing good. On the way there I saw a historical sign with an arrow showing the way. I stopped. As all my friends know, I always do these things. Through the barb wire fence was a path to where the Van Ornum wagon train massacre happened. Six people were tortured and killed by the Indians.
I went to the restaurant. No cars there. When I walked in, no people. Finally the cook stuck his head out and I told him I wanted a hamburger and fries. He would talk to me then. As I would go to talk back, he would turn his back and I would answer no one. He did this a lot. I now know all about him. The food was really good. I think I will stop on the way back.
May 9 At Farewell Bend State Park I was up with the sun. It was a little cold so I did my thing and packed up and was soon on the road. No wind and the drive was good. As I was driving along, the gas gage light lit up. I hate to stop for gas. You have to pump your own and I have to read it to do it the first few times. So I kept going through Idaho and into Utah. The stations are 40 miles apart. After passing two of them and the gage on “E”, I finally filled up. It took on 31 gallons, 400 miles. No worry, it holds 35 gallons.
I picked up Ray at the Salt Lake City airport. It was a great airport to pick people up.
May 9- 12 - The weather at home was in the 50’s, It was in the 100’s here. The first day just about did me in. As the days went by, I started getting use to the heat and having a good time.
The next 8 Days – for Breakfast: eggs, bacon, gravy, and a biscuit at the motel.
If you like rocks, this is a place to look at them. They are forever breaking off. The light at night at Delicate Arch is something to see. As I laid on the rock I could feel the sand blowing off the rock into my face. OK, so they don’t break off very fast.
I gave out handkerchiefs and towels that Ilene made for the riders on Bicycle Adventure Club. They really liked them. I brought wine and hard stuff that I made. I must tell on Ray. He poured about an ounce and left almost all of it. I usually only pour about a tablespoon full for people and that is all they want. It is fun to see their faces when they take that first and only drink.
The Van that drove us to the different areas was picking up and Al went in to buy a book and came out; the van was gone. The head count didn’t come out so we went back to look for him. I bet that was a strange feeling being 80 miles out and no bike.
The bikers and Mary, our leader, were a lot of fun to be around. There were 20 riders. We had a meeting at the pool every night to plan the next day’s trip, drink a little wine and beer and some snacks. It is so much fun that it was hard to brake for dinner.
We went out on Hwy 128 from Moab then took a right up a hill. It was a cold day - 99 and no wind going up the hill. We rode to Castle Valley where John Wayne made 80% of his movies, and then stopped at the Red Cliffs Lodge for lunch. It was all you could eat for $10.50. It was really good.
We went out a lot from Moab. The rocks and Indian writings on the walls were great to see. There was a lot of history here and it was worth coming to see.
Ray and I did Klondike Slick Rock ride. (It is called slick rock because the horses steel shoes could not hold on very well. The bike tires had no problem; they stuck like glue.) All right Ray got 8 scars on his legs from the pedals I put on for him. Every time we did a trail that you could get hurt on Ray bled a lot.
Regarding the biking and rafting trip, I am going to copy what I wrote for the riders at the end of this narration. Biking and rafting was a thrill and even I got a rush from it.
Something you don’t need to know, the river was running at 50,000 cu. feet per second. How fast is that and how much water is it? I did the math:
100 feet by 100 feet by 5 feet per second.
86,400 sec in a day times 5 divided into 5280 feet = 81.818 miles in a day.
So as you put an image in your mind of water 100 feet by 100 feet and 81.818 miles long that is the water running down the Colorado in one day.
I dropped Ray off at the SLC airport and picked Ilene up - something about wanting to do the rest of the vacation with me. Two weeks out. Where has the time gone? Only two weeks to go. Darn, I want more.
After I picked up Ilene, the brake pad on the van started scraping metal on metal. It would not last long. I didn’t know any one in Utah so off to Gunnison, Colorado where Jim lived and could tell me what shop to go to - only 500 miles with a bad brake - no big deal. We made it just fine and they had all the parts. They were also able to fix the air conditioning which had gone out earlier. Dave, at Mechanic on Duty, was fun to talk to and seemed confident in what he was doing.
From Gunnison we drove 30 miles to Pitkin, Co. to visit my army friend, Jim, and Ilene’s girl friend, Joanne. We played cards for three days because it was raining and there was lots of mud and snow. Yes, we got to hear about the drought they were having. So far there are two times two kinds of weather plus one – rain, snow, hail, dry and hot.
We left Pitkin May 23 and headed for Denver. I don’t think Valli was expecting us yet, but the van repairs changed our agenda. We talked about doing a side trip to a casino so I asked Ilene to check the GPS and see how far it was to the nearest one. We were about 50 miles from Denver at this point and the casino was supposed to be around 25. We didn’t have a lot of gas because I didn’t want to pay $2.65/gal. So, anyway I knew I had plenty. Gretchen (we named our GPS) took us up and over, around, and through, and finally we were in Black Hawk. Gas pump light had been showing quite a while but we got there – didn’t know if we would make it to Denver and we hadn’t seen any stations in Black Hawk.
Getting to Black Hawk we encountered very interesting drivers: one made a U-turn right in front of us, but waved; one backed up in front of us in our lane, but waved too; and one lady was combing her hair while driving. This is on the only road to Black Hock.
Parking in Black Hawk is mainly for cars, not big red 15-passenger vans, but I did find a place and backed into it. I wanted to take a nap so while Ilene was playing I sat in the seat of the van and was sleeping nicely until a lady backed into me. She said she was sorry. It wasn’t like the big red van with the boat on top was hard to see. Oh well, no damage, so I got up and we had dinner in the casino. Really good and quite reasonable.
We left Black Hawk around 7:30 p.m. with our money still in tack after two hours of gambling and headed for Valli’s. Of course it had to start raining, hailing, and lightning, and the gas light was still on, but Gretchen got us right to her door. Valli wasn’t home. It was 10:00 p.m. Looked up the closest motel (still haven’t found gas). The Anchor Motel (a little better than the Roche Motel) was only a mile or so away. They only took cash ($39). The mattress was firm – I believe it you jumped on it, you would have bounced to the ceiling. The shower door was broken but you could sneak in around the end. The place was pretty clean though and that was good.
The next morning Valli still wasn’t answering her phone so we looked up Don and Gloria, who we were planning to see anyway, and had a very nice visit. Valli called and since she only had this day off; we left for her house. She was invited to a Memorial Day barbeque at her nephew’s family and they included us. On the way there it hailed (big time) and rained, and we saw a funnel cloud. Fortunately it didn’t touch down. Heather and Ben fixed a wonderful meal, Tyler (15?) baked a chocolate cake (Jake’s birthday was coming up in a few days - 10). After dinner we played Texas Hold-em. We lost. Had to go back to Valli’s in the nude.
May 25 – Valli had to work today. Don (83) and I went for a 40 mile bike ride. Gloria (74) was doing a 6 mile Boulder-Boulder run. I had a little trouble getting my bike together, but Don was patient with me. Ilene took the van back to Valli’s with Gretchen’s help and waited for my call to pick me up. The weather was more rain, hail, and thunder. Don and I got our signals mixed up and left me at the Chatterton dam. I tried to find him. He waited 20 minutes and rode back in the downpour. I waited an hour where he left me and rode back in the sunshine. (I did it without Gretchen’s help.)
May 26 - Ilene caught the bus to Black Hawk with $400.00 and come back with $1,100.00. I just bummed around. I sent her off again the next day. More bike parts for me or even a new bike. Why was she laughing when I told her this? Her old sewing machine is just fine.
May 27 – Ilene left with $500.00 and come back with $200.00.
May 28 – Valli said she needed to cash in a coupon at Black Hawk. On the way there was a trailer that lost a tire. As the people were looking at it, we drove down the hill and there is was going along the rail at a fair clip - at least 2 miles from where they lost it. It would have been fun to take it to them but there was no place to stop.
As I stared at the rock walls, Valli and Ilene were in the casino playing. Oh good, something to read – “Black Hawk city limits, elevation 8042 ft.” Oh good another Casino Opportunity - 303-666-0534. Well that takes care of the signs. Time to see if they were staying the night. Finally, we leave for Twin Lakes.
May 29 – Boat in and Valli, Karen and I went fishing. We tried all over the lake and finally found the fish. Then it was one every cast or at least a bite or two.
May 30- Marilane and Jerry dropped by on their way home from South Dakota, the Mickelson trail, and other points of interest. We went to our fishing spot and it was the same.
May 31 – Jerry and I did a down hill bike ride from Independence Pass 12,095 feet. I am not riding up or even flat. Marilane drove the car back the 17 miles. More fishing with Valli, Karen, and Gary. It is like the trout farm where you pay for the fish. If you cast your lure out, you get one or more bites or a fish, and if it was under a foot, you put it back. One fish was all I wanted to eat.
Yes, while we were out in the boat, a hail, wind, and rain storm came through. I put my coat over my head and the hail still hurt.
After fishing, we drove toward Moab, but stopped at Mt. Gabriel where you hiked up to an old coal mine. The only access to the trail was through a little town and under the freeway. The van and boat only cleared by about 4 inches.
Ilene and I went back to Moab for two days to look around. There was so much to see; you could spend weeks there. The only problems were the heat and altitude. Ilene and I walked to Landscape Arch 1.8 miles but worth every step.
We went to all the parks in the area and even Dead Horse State Park. The darn people lied. I couldn’t find a dead horse anywhere up there. We talked to some people from Germany and on the way out stopped at the brush fence they put across to keep the horses corralled. How the name came to pass is that they corralled horses in there and forgot to water them and they died. ,
June 3 – On the road all day, picked up Myran’s new/used Jet Ski in Salt Lake City and then stayed at Farewell Bend, OR and then caught cat fish the next day. One thing about this trip is that we got rain, wind, or hail, or all of the above almost every day.
Now what do you think happened when I came home? Vellen and Myran wanted to try out their jet skis. They worked so good we planned a trip to Netarts Bay where we caught our limit of clams and then went out over the bar and caught our limit of bottom fish. It was one of those days where the wind was blowing a little and just kind of beat you up all day long. When you are catching fish, you never seem to notice the cold water splashing on you or the cold wind. It was a great fishing trip even though my hands went numb from the cold.
So what do you do after a month’s vacation? It’s a hard life but somebody has to do it! I am now really stiff and sore! And my wife says “another Boohoo!” The only bad part is that you aren’t there to suffer with me.
ARCHES & CANYONLANDS BAC RIDE
MAY 10 – MAY 19, 2009
The drive here was good - no problems. I love my new GPS.
Day 1 - Evening Orientation Meeting: The room at the Canyonlands Inn was so big and the best I have seen in a long time. I must get one of those beds. The weather was in the 80's and a little overcast. Ray and I put our bikes together and we were ready to ride. In the hotel’s basement there is a secured bike storage room. You keep your bike there in a cubby hole. It works like a hat-check. You need someone from the office to get to them.There was a meeting the first night and everyone got to see who was going to be on the bike ride, raft and fly trip. It went like this. At the start everyone is talking. As time goes by, it gets louder and you get to find out about everyone in the group. Mary started the meeting. Everyone shared their name and how many times they had done a ride with Bicycle Adventure Club. Sarah from the rafting company came and told us about the rafting trip. Then we all went to dinner at Zax's and talked some more.
Day 2 - Ride to Potash: Some of us were up at 6 a.m. and others up later-much later. Ray and I ate and were ready to go. It was a nice 70 or so degrees. We rode out to the Intrepid Mine at the end of Potash Rd., right along the Colorado River. Then we turned back and joined some other riders at the Corona Arch trailhead and parking lot where Mary had cold drinks for us. We went on a 3 mile round trip hike to the Corona and Bowtie Arches.Some of us rode to the potash mine just a little farther down the road and some of us went to the train engines up on the hill. The ride along the river is something you have to see. There are no words to describe it. Everyone just falls in love with the rocks because there are so many shapes. You get to see Indian writings on the walls. The ride back to thehotel was up the river but it wasn't steep enough to notice. The temperature was now in the low 100's. It was so dry so it didn't seem that warm.At the social hour Mary talked about the bus ride to the top of Arches National Park that was planned for the next day. The idea was that we would ride the bus to the furthest point in the park so we could ride our bikes back down to the hotel. A few people opted to ride their bikes both up and then back. The meeting was moved out beside the pool which was a whole lot better than being crammed in a room. Ten of us went to the local brew pub for dinner, another great place to eat. This town is full of them and they aren't too costly.
Day 3 - Arches National Park: It was 8:00 a.m. The driver put our bikes on the trailer and us in a bus to go as far as Devil's Garden trailhead 30 miles away. Some of us got off sooner and rode out there and back. Others rode the whole way from the motel. Most just took the bus out and rode back looking at the rock formations along the way. The good part was when you are on a bike, you don't need a turnout to pull over; any place would work as long as you can get off the road. This made for great pictures. There was some traffic but the drivers gave us lots of room. Weather was a little windy with gusts up to 48 mph and the temperature rose from 70 to 103.
At Devil Garden's trailhead, most people went for a hike to look at the rock formations. The best walk was to Landscape Arch. From a long way away it blended in but as soon as you got close there it was - the longest one in the park - 306 feet long. The bus driver and Mary kept us in cold drinks.After the poolside social hour, some of us drove back to Arches NP and hiked out to Delicate Arch to watch the sunset. Then we had 3 mile walk back to our cars in the dusk. That was a fun thing to do.
Day 4 - Canyonlands, Island in the Sky Section: Up and out to the two vans at 8:00, people and bikes. Temperature was 50 to 78 degrees. It was a great day to ride. Some of us rode 30 miles, others a lot more. The vans took us to the end of Canyonlands Park, to the Grand View Overlook. From there it was all mostly down hill to the different pick-up points. One option was to turn to the right and head off to Dead Horse Point StatePark. Just about everyone took that option.The canyon was so big and the Colorado River looked so small. I know my camera will not do it justice. We rode back to the hotel in the vans but others just rode their bikes all the way to the hotel The van people were where they said they would be when they said they would be there.5:30 p.m. - Mary had the meeting at the pool and told us where we will be going the next day. A few drinks and snacks and everyone just wanted to hang out. Dinner didn't seem important.
Day 5 - Canyonlands, Needles Section: If you like rocks and Indian writings, this was the rides for you. Some people went on a hike along the Slickrock Trail before riding downhill to the Visitors’ Center to be picked up by the van. It was 78 degrees with a light wind at the end of the day. They dropped off walkers and riders wherever they wanted to be let off. Get this. The same number of folks who rode out on the bus came back on the bus even though one guy thought for a moment we had left him. He was in the Visitor's Center buying a book and almost didn't make it to the bus in time.
Day 6 - Hwy 128 & Castle Valley: Weather same. Out of town and down to Hwy 128 and up the river. Two bad things - in the morning, wind down the river, and in theafternoon, wind up the river. This is a narrow road and there were jeep convoys and motor home convoys. The good thing was they gave you lots of room and were not really a problem. As we went up Castle Valley Road, to the left were a couple of famous mesas. Castle Valley is where John Wayne and others made lots of movies. It was also used for Chevy commercials. We then rode back down to Red Cliffs Lodge along the Colorado River (on Hwy 128) and enjoyed an all you can eat lunch (a '10' in my book). Well, as you do the ride, there were big rock cliffs on both sides of the road and a rockthe size of my house on the side of the road next to the river. Mary had drinks for us along the way and she was our hero. We were back by two and had time to talk and shop. There were lots of stores to look at.
Day 7 - First day of rafting: It was a day of tying the rafts together and having the three 30 hp motors push us along. The rafts were made of pontoons that the military used during the Vietnam War to float temporary bridges across rivers so trucks could drive over them. Lunch was in a cove in the shade. To get to the cove you had to jump off the raft in about 3 ft of water and wade up a little river. We had a sandwich wrap where you could eat the whole thing and not have any garbage to throw away. It had a lot of goodgreens and other really good things in it. From there it was off to the camp site about an hour down the river. The highlight was the toilet. It was what seemed like about a mile down the beach behind a rock. The view was worth every step. Before dinner everyone hung out together, told jokes, kidded around and drank margaritas. Dinner was vegetable pasta, green salad and garlic bread.
Day 8 - Second day of rafting: We ate omelets for breakfast and then formed fire lines to pass the gear from the beach to the guides who packed our stuff on the rafts. And we were off. The river was still calm so the rafts were still tied together. Then we came to where the Green River runs into the Colorado and we knew something was about to come down. Then off to lunch on the beach. After lunch we wondered what was going on. Everyone, including the guides this time, put on wetsuits and life jackets. Then the guides untied the boats. They double checked our life jackets and cinched them down. To be honest I was thinking we'd be in for a little white water -a few little waves and a splash on the side of the boat. Soon we heard the waves. I was sitting in the back of the boat and that was fun because I got to see what was happening. At first the rapids were good and big. Then we came to the ones that were the real thing! On the big waves the people sitting on the front ends of the pontoons were suspended about 20 feet in the air-give or take an inch, then the raft would crash down and sometimes washing them backward into the boat. You couldn't yell or scream because when you opened your mouth, you got a mouthful of silty water and found yourself spitting sand. Boy, was this a wake up call. Our guide was even having a great time in the back. Thirty minutes and it was over. Later, it was hard to tell your part of the ride because every one wanted to tell theirs. We made it to camp and had dinner (steaks). The guides built a fire.. The stars came out and the river roared us to sleep.
Day 9 - Final day of rafting: We were up and on our way. Over a mile of white water today all in one stretch. Some of the people who rode near the front yesterday wanted to move to the back of the raft and some of the ones in the back wanted to move to the front. I traded places with Ray. He moved back and I moved to the left front pontoon. My thought of a little rapid was gone. The guide said he had never seen them so big. One person said the Grand Canyon rapids were not this big. When we were there the water was running at 50,000 cubic ft per second and in the Grand Canyon it was running at only 12,000 cfs. So, why did people want to ride on the point of the boat and have the bejesus scared out of them? This person doesn't know and I was there riding the front of the left pontoon on that third day. You had to be there because it is hard to tell what it really was like and the worst part is people are going to say, "Yea, right! Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire." I will give it a try anyway.You are on the point of the boat; you look at the rapids. Oh darn! You're holding on with both hands thinking, "I want to be in the back of the boat." TOO LATE – MUCH TOO LATE! The boat goes up and up and you are what seems like 50 feet in the air. Actually, it's only about 20 feet, but there's no water under you. Then down you go, into the bottom of the trough and up the side of another wave where the curl is and a torrent of water hits you and tries to wash you off the raft. Once I found myself under water and lying on my back. As the water cleared I looked around and Alan was missing. He was there just a second ago on the middle pontoon to my right. As I look over closer, there was his hand, but not the rest of him. Yes, he was under the boat! Dave, the guide, pulled the boat into an eddy so Steve on the front of the right pontoon and I could pull Alan back up onto the boat. In the eddy we had time to think about what just happened. The danger we had just been in. But being a bike rider when you fall off, you just get back up and go on and that is what we did. We'd come for the thrill and it was almost more than we could stand. That particular drop is called Brahma Pit. It is part of what is known as Big Drop No. 3. We know why they call it that now. There were nine of these huge drops. It was a real rush.Once through Big Drop No. 3 we stopped in an eddy. We needed the rest. Up river from us, on the shore and preparing to go through Big Drop No. 3 was a group of Outward Bound instructors and instructor- trainees. We waited for them down river from Big Drop No. 3 because we knew they would flip their rafts. And sure enough. They flipped three of their five rafts. We rescued some of the swimmers and put them on the bank and then corralled their rafts and tied them to the bank for them to get later. After this excitement we had a few smaller rapids and then ate lunch on the boats. At the end of the day we beached the rafts at Hyte's Marina on Lake Powell. From there it was a 15 mile bus ride to the air strip. From the air strip four six person Cessna airplanes flew us over the river that we had just run and took us back to Moab. The view from the airplane made you feel so small in comparison to the grandeur of the scenery.
Dinner tonight in a fancy restaurant paid for by Mary. We are so tired but everyone talks anyway. Then a short walk back to the hotel and to bed. We leave early in the morning.We have made some life long friends. How much can you get in a day? There was not one bad thing that happened on this trip. You just had to be there or talk to someone who did it. A warning: If you get them started talking, plan on not getting away for a long, long time. Have food and water with you.
Byran
Mary
I kept telling people I would be gone a month.
My training was not what I would have liked; there was very little of it so it will be a hard ride. Like I tell people, “you pay the piper one way or the other.”
Training: Hood River to The Dalles for lunch. Start at about 200 feet. There was a short cut, oh yeah 1800 feet up, but the view was worth it and so was the down. There was lots of wind so I kept it under 40. I have to be careful who I take. I almost had to go get the car but Robert did fine. He was hurting. We took the long way back. It was a 500 foot climb. There is no flat in the Columbia River Gorge.
On one of the training rides I started where I-205 and I-5 in Washington go together. I had a new toy, a GPS, on my bike. I put in an address on 164th. There was a light rain and a little wind as I started out. These will change. I know the way - 8 miles, but I wanted to see what the GPS would do. Over I-205 four times and 15 miles later I was where I wanted to be. Now I live in Milwaukie, OR - 11 miles from here, so I pushed “home.” It said turn left on 24th. That couldn’t be right so I pushed for a smaller map. It was going to take me east 50 or so miles to Cascade Locks and then back. The I-205 bridge over the Columbia has a bike lane in the middle of the 8 lanes, and a bike road on the side of I-205 to Milwaukie, then on to the Spring Water Corridor trail which is 28 miles long and home. I turned the GPS off. Over the bridge was fun - 20 mile an hour, wind, and lots of rain. NO, it was not at my back. I had to pedal to go downhill. The good part was it was not cold – 52 degrees. There was so much water the drains were not getting it done and you could only get so wet. Riding in six inch of water is not a problem. It took me a long time to get my bike clean again.
I had been working on packing for two months but I do odd jobs for people. Finding time is not working out very well for my packing. It is the day before I am to leave and I think I am done packing - just clothes in my suitcase to go. The only thing that will keep me home now is if I am in the obituaries.
I filled my 2.5 horse motor and laid it in the garage. I didn’t get the cap on right so it leaked all over the garage floor. Well, the pint it holds leaked out. I am so happy I didn’t put it in the maxi van.
May 7 – I am on the road. It is a day of high winds and hail. I tried to fish but the anchor I brought would not hold. I would try again tomorrow. I did get in some good stunt kite flying.
May 8 - Finally a day of rest and do what I want. I was up at 8:00 a.m. or so - no clock that I wanted to look at. There was a big horned owl’s nest with two little ones in the nest. I have a 40 power scope that I tried to charge people to look at the owls. They all said they would pay me the $500.00 for looking through the scope but didn’t have it with them. I am going to be rich. All the women who looked through it would say was, “Wow.” The men said not a thing - like it happened every day. I drove to Springs fifteen miles down the road. Camping was only $5.00 a night there. You can guess why. I am paying $17.00 with free showers and electric hook up at the State Park.
There was about 30 people fishing and doing good. On the way there I saw a historical sign with an arrow showing the way. I stopped. As all my friends know, I always do these things. Through the barb wire fence was a path to where the Van Ornum wagon train massacre happened. Six people were tortured and killed by the Indians.
I went to the restaurant. No cars there. When I walked in, no people. Finally the cook stuck his head out and I told him I wanted a hamburger and fries. He would talk to me then. As I would go to talk back, he would turn his back and I would answer no one. He did this a lot. I now know all about him. The food was really good. I think I will stop on the way back.
May 9 At Farewell Bend State Park I was up with the sun. It was a little cold so I did my thing and packed up and was soon on the road. No wind and the drive was good. As I was driving along, the gas gage light lit up. I hate to stop for gas. You have to pump your own and I have to read it to do it the first few times. So I kept going through Idaho and into Utah. The stations are 40 miles apart. After passing two of them and the gage on “E”, I finally filled up. It took on 31 gallons, 400 miles. No worry, it holds 35 gallons.
I picked up Ray at the Salt Lake City airport. It was a great airport to pick people up.
May 9- 12 - The weather at home was in the 50’s, It was in the 100’s here. The first day just about did me in. As the days went by, I started getting use to the heat and having a good time.
The next 8 Days – for Breakfast: eggs, bacon, gravy, and a biscuit at the motel.
If you like rocks, this is a place to look at them. They are forever breaking off. The light at night at Delicate Arch is something to see. As I laid on the rock I could feel the sand blowing off the rock into my face. OK, so they don’t break off very fast.
I gave out handkerchiefs and towels that Ilene made for the riders on Bicycle Adventure Club. They really liked them. I brought wine and hard stuff that I made. I must tell on Ray. He poured about an ounce and left almost all of it. I usually only pour about a tablespoon full for people and that is all they want. It is fun to see their faces when they take that first and only drink.
The Van that drove us to the different areas was picking up and Al went in to buy a book and came out; the van was gone. The head count didn’t come out so we went back to look for him. I bet that was a strange feeling being 80 miles out and no bike.
The bikers and Mary, our leader, were a lot of fun to be around. There were 20 riders. We had a meeting at the pool every night to plan the next day’s trip, drink a little wine and beer and some snacks. It is so much fun that it was hard to brake for dinner.
We went out on Hwy 128 from Moab then took a right up a hill. It was a cold day - 99 and no wind going up the hill. We rode to Castle Valley where John Wayne made 80% of his movies, and then stopped at the Red Cliffs Lodge for lunch. It was all you could eat for $10.50. It was really good.
We went out a lot from Moab. The rocks and Indian writings on the walls were great to see. There was a lot of history here and it was worth coming to see.
Ray and I did Klondike Slick Rock ride. (It is called slick rock because the horses steel shoes could not hold on very well. The bike tires had no problem; they stuck like glue.) All right Ray got 8 scars on his legs from the pedals I put on for him. Every time we did a trail that you could get hurt on Ray bled a lot.
Regarding the biking and rafting trip, I am going to copy what I wrote for the riders at the end of this narration. Biking and rafting was a thrill and even I got a rush from it.
Something you don’t need to know, the river was running at 50,000 cu. feet per second. How fast is that and how much water is it? I did the math:
100 feet by 100 feet by 5 feet per second.
86,400 sec in a day times 5 divided into 5280 feet = 81.818 miles in a day.
So as you put an image in your mind of water 100 feet by 100 feet and 81.818 miles long that is the water running down the Colorado in one day.
I dropped Ray off at the SLC airport and picked Ilene up - something about wanting to do the rest of the vacation with me. Two weeks out. Where has the time gone? Only two weeks to go. Darn, I want more.
After I picked up Ilene, the brake pad on the van started scraping metal on metal. It would not last long. I didn’t know any one in Utah so off to Gunnison, Colorado where Jim lived and could tell me what shop to go to - only 500 miles with a bad brake - no big deal. We made it just fine and they had all the parts. They were also able to fix the air conditioning which had gone out earlier. Dave, at Mechanic on Duty, was fun to talk to and seemed confident in what he was doing.
From Gunnison we drove 30 miles to Pitkin, Co. to visit my army friend, Jim, and Ilene’s girl friend, Joanne. We played cards for three days because it was raining and there was lots of mud and snow. Yes, we got to hear about the drought they were having. So far there are two times two kinds of weather plus one – rain, snow, hail, dry and hot.
We left Pitkin May 23 and headed for Denver. I don’t think Valli was expecting us yet, but the van repairs changed our agenda. We talked about doing a side trip to a casino so I asked Ilene to check the GPS and see how far it was to the nearest one. We were about 50 miles from Denver at this point and the casino was supposed to be around 25. We didn’t have a lot of gas because I didn’t want to pay $2.65/gal. So, anyway I knew I had plenty. Gretchen (we named our GPS) took us up and over, around, and through, and finally we were in Black Hawk. Gas pump light had been showing quite a while but we got there – didn’t know if we would make it to Denver and we hadn’t seen any stations in Black Hawk.
Getting to Black Hawk we encountered very interesting drivers: one made a U-turn right in front of us, but waved; one backed up in front of us in our lane, but waved too; and one lady was combing her hair while driving. This is on the only road to Black Hock.
Parking in Black Hawk is mainly for cars, not big red 15-passenger vans, but I did find a place and backed into it. I wanted to take a nap so while Ilene was playing I sat in the seat of the van and was sleeping nicely until a lady backed into me. She said she was sorry. It wasn’t like the big red van with the boat on top was hard to see. Oh well, no damage, so I got up and we had dinner in the casino. Really good and quite reasonable.
We left Black Hawk around 7:30 p.m. with our money still in tack after two hours of gambling and headed for Valli’s. Of course it had to start raining, hailing, and lightning, and the gas light was still on, but Gretchen got us right to her door. Valli wasn’t home. It was 10:00 p.m. Looked up the closest motel (still haven’t found gas). The Anchor Motel (a little better than the Roche Motel) was only a mile or so away. They only took cash ($39). The mattress was firm – I believe it you jumped on it, you would have bounced to the ceiling. The shower door was broken but you could sneak in around the end. The place was pretty clean though and that was good.
The next morning Valli still wasn’t answering her phone so we looked up Don and Gloria, who we were planning to see anyway, and had a very nice visit. Valli called and since she only had this day off; we left for her house. She was invited to a Memorial Day barbeque at her nephew’s family and they included us. On the way there it hailed (big time) and rained, and we saw a funnel cloud. Fortunately it didn’t touch down. Heather and Ben fixed a wonderful meal, Tyler (15?) baked a chocolate cake (Jake’s birthday was coming up in a few days - 10). After dinner we played Texas Hold-em. We lost. Had to go back to Valli’s in the nude.
May 25 – Valli had to work today. Don (83) and I went for a 40 mile bike ride. Gloria (74) was doing a 6 mile Boulder-Boulder run. I had a little trouble getting my bike together, but Don was patient with me. Ilene took the van back to Valli’s with Gretchen’s help and waited for my call to pick me up. The weather was more rain, hail, and thunder. Don and I got our signals mixed up and left me at the Chatterton dam. I tried to find him. He waited 20 minutes and rode back in the downpour. I waited an hour where he left me and rode back in the sunshine. (I did it without Gretchen’s help.)
May 26 - Ilene caught the bus to Black Hawk with $400.00 and come back with $1,100.00. I just bummed around. I sent her off again the next day. More bike parts for me or even a new bike. Why was she laughing when I told her this? Her old sewing machine is just fine.
May 27 – Ilene left with $500.00 and come back with $200.00.
May 28 – Valli said she needed to cash in a coupon at Black Hawk. On the way there was a trailer that lost a tire. As the people were looking at it, we drove down the hill and there is was going along the rail at a fair clip - at least 2 miles from where they lost it. It would have been fun to take it to them but there was no place to stop.
As I stared at the rock walls, Valli and Ilene were in the casino playing. Oh good, something to read – “Black Hawk city limits, elevation 8042 ft.” Oh good another Casino Opportunity - 303-666-0534. Well that takes care of the signs. Time to see if they were staying the night. Finally, we leave for Twin Lakes.
May 29 – Boat in and Valli, Karen and I went fishing. We tried all over the lake and finally found the fish. Then it was one every cast or at least a bite or two.
May 30- Marilane and Jerry dropped by on their way home from South Dakota, the Mickelson trail, and other points of interest. We went to our fishing spot and it was the same.
May 31 – Jerry and I did a down hill bike ride from Independence Pass 12,095 feet. I am not riding up or even flat. Marilane drove the car back the 17 miles. More fishing with Valli, Karen, and Gary. It is like the trout farm where you pay for the fish. If you cast your lure out, you get one or more bites or a fish, and if it was under a foot, you put it back. One fish was all I wanted to eat.
Yes, while we were out in the boat, a hail, wind, and rain storm came through. I put my coat over my head and the hail still hurt.
After fishing, we drove toward Moab, but stopped at Mt. Gabriel where you hiked up to an old coal mine. The only access to the trail was through a little town and under the freeway. The van and boat only cleared by about 4 inches.
Ilene and I went back to Moab for two days to look around. There was so much to see; you could spend weeks there. The only problems were the heat and altitude. Ilene and I walked to Landscape Arch 1.8 miles but worth every step.
We went to all the parks in the area and even Dead Horse State Park. The darn people lied. I couldn’t find a dead horse anywhere up there. We talked to some people from Germany and on the way out stopped at the brush fence they put across to keep the horses corralled. How the name came to pass is that they corralled horses in there and forgot to water them and they died. ,
June 3 – On the road all day, picked up Myran’s new/used Jet Ski in Salt Lake City and then stayed at Farewell Bend, OR and then caught cat fish the next day. One thing about this trip is that we got rain, wind, or hail, or all of the above almost every day.
Now what do you think happened when I came home? Vellen and Myran wanted to try out their jet skis. They worked so good we planned a trip to Netarts Bay where we caught our limit of clams and then went out over the bar and caught our limit of bottom fish. It was one of those days where the wind was blowing a little and just kind of beat you up all day long. When you are catching fish, you never seem to notice the cold water splashing on you or the cold wind. It was a great fishing trip even though my hands went numb from the cold.
So what do you do after a month’s vacation? It’s a hard life but somebody has to do it! I am now really stiff and sore! And my wife says “another Boohoo!” The only bad part is that you aren’t there to suffer with me.
ARCHES & CANYONLANDS BAC RIDE
MAY 10 – MAY 19, 2009
The drive here was good - no problems. I love my new GPS.
Day 1 - Evening Orientation Meeting: The room at the Canyonlands Inn was so big and the best I have seen in a long time. I must get one of those beds. The weather was in the 80's and a little overcast. Ray and I put our bikes together and we were ready to ride. In the hotel’s basement there is a secured bike storage room. You keep your bike there in a cubby hole. It works like a hat-check. You need someone from the office to get to them.There was a meeting the first night and everyone got to see who was going to be on the bike ride, raft and fly trip. It went like this. At the start everyone is talking. As time goes by, it gets louder and you get to find out about everyone in the group. Mary started the meeting. Everyone shared their name and how many times they had done a ride with Bicycle Adventure Club. Sarah from the rafting company came and told us about the rafting trip. Then we all went to dinner at Zax's and talked some more.
Day 2 - Ride to Potash: Some of us were up at 6 a.m. and others up later-much later. Ray and I ate and were ready to go. It was a nice 70 or so degrees. We rode out to the Intrepid Mine at the end of Potash Rd., right along the Colorado River. Then we turned back and joined some other riders at the Corona Arch trailhead and parking lot where Mary had cold drinks for us. We went on a 3 mile round trip hike to the Corona and Bowtie Arches.Some of us rode to the potash mine just a little farther down the road and some of us went to the train engines up on the hill. The ride along the river is something you have to see. There are no words to describe it. Everyone just falls in love with the rocks because there are so many shapes. You get to see Indian writings on the walls. The ride back to thehotel was up the river but it wasn't steep enough to notice. The temperature was now in the low 100's. It was so dry so it didn't seem that warm.At the social hour Mary talked about the bus ride to the top of Arches National Park that was planned for the next day. The idea was that we would ride the bus to the furthest point in the park so we could ride our bikes back down to the hotel. A few people opted to ride their bikes both up and then back. The meeting was moved out beside the pool which was a whole lot better than being crammed in a room. Ten of us went to the local brew pub for dinner, another great place to eat. This town is full of them and they aren't too costly.
Day 3 - Arches National Park: It was 8:00 a.m. The driver put our bikes on the trailer and us in a bus to go as far as Devil's Garden trailhead 30 miles away. Some of us got off sooner and rode out there and back. Others rode the whole way from the motel. Most just took the bus out and rode back looking at the rock formations along the way. The good part was when you are on a bike, you don't need a turnout to pull over; any place would work as long as you can get off the road. This made for great pictures. There was some traffic but the drivers gave us lots of room. Weather was a little windy with gusts up to 48 mph and the temperature rose from 70 to 103.
At Devil Garden's trailhead, most people went for a hike to look at the rock formations. The best walk was to Landscape Arch. From a long way away it blended in but as soon as you got close there it was - the longest one in the park - 306 feet long. The bus driver and Mary kept us in cold drinks.After the poolside social hour, some of us drove back to Arches NP and hiked out to Delicate Arch to watch the sunset. Then we had 3 mile walk back to our cars in the dusk. That was a fun thing to do.
Day 4 - Canyonlands, Island in the Sky Section: Up and out to the two vans at 8:00, people and bikes. Temperature was 50 to 78 degrees. It was a great day to ride. Some of us rode 30 miles, others a lot more. The vans took us to the end of Canyonlands Park, to the Grand View Overlook. From there it was all mostly down hill to the different pick-up points. One option was to turn to the right and head off to Dead Horse Point StatePark. Just about everyone took that option.The canyon was so big and the Colorado River looked so small. I know my camera will not do it justice. We rode back to the hotel in the vans but others just rode their bikes all the way to the hotel The van people were where they said they would be when they said they would be there.5:30 p.m. - Mary had the meeting at the pool and told us where we will be going the next day. A few drinks and snacks and everyone just wanted to hang out. Dinner didn't seem important.
Day 5 - Canyonlands, Needles Section: If you like rocks and Indian writings, this was the rides for you. Some people went on a hike along the Slickrock Trail before riding downhill to the Visitors’ Center to be picked up by the van. It was 78 degrees with a light wind at the end of the day. They dropped off walkers and riders wherever they wanted to be let off. Get this. The same number of folks who rode out on the bus came back on the bus even though one guy thought for a moment we had left him. He was in the Visitor's Center buying a book and almost didn't make it to the bus in time.
Day 6 - Hwy 128 & Castle Valley: Weather same. Out of town and down to Hwy 128 and up the river. Two bad things - in the morning, wind down the river, and in theafternoon, wind up the river. This is a narrow road and there were jeep convoys and motor home convoys. The good thing was they gave you lots of room and were not really a problem. As we went up Castle Valley Road, to the left were a couple of famous mesas. Castle Valley is where John Wayne and others made lots of movies. It was also used for Chevy commercials. We then rode back down to Red Cliffs Lodge along the Colorado River (on Hwy 128) and enjoyed an all you can eat lunch (a '10' in my book). Well, as you do the ride, there were big rock cliffs on both sides of the road and a rockthe size of my house on the side of the road next to the river. Mary had drinks for us along the way and she was our hero. We were back by two and had time to talk and shop. There were lots of stores to look at.
Day 7 - First day of rafting: It was a day of tying the rafts together and having the three 30 hp motors push us along. The rafts were made of pontoons that the military used during the Vietnam War to float temporary bridges across rivers so trucks could drive over them. Lunch was in a cove in the shade. To get to the cove you had to jump off the raft in about 3 ft of water and wade up a little river. We had a sandwich wrap where you could eat the whole thing and not have any garbage to throw away. It had a lot of goodgreens and other really good things in it. From there it was off to the camp site about an hour down the river. The highlight was the toilet. It was what seemed like about a mile down the beach behind a rock. The view was worth every step. Before dinner everyone hung out together, told jokes, kidded around and drank margaritas. Dinner was vegetable pasta, green salad and garlic bread.
Day 8 - Second day of rafting: We ate omelets for breakfast and then formed fire lines to pass the gear from the beach to the guides who packed our stuff on the rafts. And we were off. The river was still calm so the rafts were still tied together. Then we came to where the Green River runs into the Colorado and we knew something was about to come down. Then off to lunch on the beach. After lunch we wondered what was going on. Everyone, including the guides this time, put on wetsuits and life jackets. Then the guides untied the boats. They double checked our life jackets and cinched them down. To be honest I was thinking we'd be in for a little white water -a few little waves and a splash on the side of the boat. Soon we heard the waves. I was sitting in the back of the boat and that was fun because I got to see what was happening. At first the rapids were good and big. Then we came to the ones that were the real thing! On the big waves the people sitting on the front ends of the pontoons were suspended about 20 feet in the air-give or take an inch, then the raft would crash down and sometimes washing them backward into the boat. You couldn't yell or scream because when you opened your mouth, you got a mouthful of silty water and found yourself spitting sand. Boy, was this a wake up call. Our guide was even having a great time in the back. Thirty minutes and it was over. Later, it was hard to tell your part of the ride because every one wanted to tell theirs. We made it to camp and had dinner (steaks). The guides built a fire.. The stars came out and the river roared us to sleep.
Day 9 - Final day of rafting: We were up and on our way. Over a mile of white water today all in one stretch. Some of the people who rode near the front yesterday wanted to move to the back of the raft and some of the ones in the back wanted to move to the front. I traded places with Ray. He moved back and I moved to the left front pontoon. My thought of a little rapid was gone. The guide said he had never seen them so big. One person said the Grand Canyon rapids were not this big. When we were there the water was running at 50,000 cubic ft per second and in the Grand Canyon it was running at only 12,000 cfs. So, why did people want to ride on the point of the boat and have the bejesus scared out of them? This person doesn't know and I was there riding the front of the left pontoon on that third day. You had to be there because it is hard to tell what it really was like and the worst part is people are going to say, "Yea, right! Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire." I will give it a try anyway.You are on the point of the boat; you look at the rapids. Oh darn! You're holding on with both hands thinking, "I want to be in the back of the boat." TOO LATE – MUCH TOO LATE! The boat goes up and up and you are what seems like 50 feet in the air. Actually, it's only about 20 feet, but there's no water under you. Then down you go, into the bottom of the trough and up the side of another wave where the curl is and a torrent of water hits you and tries to wash you off the raft. Once I found myself under water and lying on my back. As the water cleared I looked around and Alan was missing. He was there just a second ago on the middle pontoon to my right. As I look over closer, there was his hand, but not the rest of him. Yes, he was under the boat! Dave, the guide, pulled the boat into an eddy so Steve on the front of the right pontoon and I could pull Alan back up onto the boat. In the eddy we had time to think about what just happened. The danger we had just been in. But being a bike rider when you fall off, you just get back up and go on and that is what we did. We'd come for the thrill and it was almost more than we could stand. That particular drop is called Brahma Pit. It is part of what is known as Big Drop No. 3. We know why they call it that now. There were nine of these huge drops. It was a real rush.Once through Big Drop No. 3 we stopped in an eddy. We needed the rest. Up river from us, on the shore and preparing to go through Big Drop No. 3 was a group of Outward Bound instructors and instructor- trainees. We waited for them down river from Big Drop No. 3 because we knew they would flip their rafts. And sure enough. They flipped three of their five rafts. We rescued some of the swimmers and put them on the bank and then corralled their rafts and tied them to the bank for them to get later. After this excitement we had a few smaller rapids and then ate lunch on the boats. At the end of the day we beached the rafts at Hyte's Marina on Lake Powell. From there it was a 15 mile bus ride to the air strip. From the air strip four six person Cessna airplanes flew us over the river that we had just run and took us back to Moab. The view from the airplane made you feel so small in comparison to the grandeur of the scenery.
Dinner tonight in a fancy restaurant paid for by Mary. We are so tired but everyone talks anyway. Then a short walk back to the hotel and to bed. We leave early in the morning.We have made some life long friends. How much can you get in a day? There was not one bad thing that happened on this trip. You just had to be there or talk to someone who did it. A warning: If you get them started talking, plan on not getting away for a long, long time. Have food and water with you.
Byran
Mary
posted by Byran on the side at 12:22 PM
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