Living the Dream, to the Extreme

We arrived at Moab, the heart of Red Rock Canyon County.  The city is surrounded by breathtaking sites and several national parks…

Canyonlands: 337,598 acres

Arches: 76,960 acres

Dead Horse: 5,300 acres

Normally people would take Jeep tours or group excurssions or maybe drive through the scenic byways. Andrew and I opted to use our trusty mode of transportation; the bicycle… Epic Fail. We decided to tour Arches… We biked 13 miles up and down to Delicate Arches, are supposedly beautiful hike. However, we realized that we did not have enough water. Had lunch. Turned around. And biked bak to the visitor’s center. We kicked it there for an hour, enjoying the air condiditoning of the lobby.

Still optimistic about viewing parks via bike…

Before we realized that dehydration was a possibility, we had a nice ride through the park.

Biking through Arches

Andrew balancing at Balancing Rock

Before we took off from Moab we met some wonderful people… As usual.

Miguel and Silvia are brother and sister from Spain enjoying the mountain and road bike scene in Moab

The sole Russian resident of Moab, Utah. Energetic and fun, makes fantastic goat cheese, and was very surprised to meet another Russian speaking person. It lit up my morning and excited my taste buds!

We then biked our way to a campsite down the road. We had a quick dinner and a gas sation and planned on sitting tight until dark and setting up our tent behind the gas station. No go. An employee at teh gas station was more than on to us and asked us every so nicely, “It is getting dark, do you guys have a place to stay tonight?” Instead of telling him, “yes, right behind your store,” we chickened out and hit the road. Luckyily we didn’t have to go too far…

Our campsite post-expulsion.

Back to our dilemma… One day left, there was no reasonable way that Andrew and I could see the two other parks (and the majority of Arches that we missed). So we decided on the next best thing….

Skydiving!

After some brief  instruction and a corny video, Andrew and I found ourselves at 10,000 feet overlooking 300,000 acres of land. Within 20 minutes we were able to see the two other parks and most of Arches, and even Moab Valley (albeit from very, very far away).

Chilling in the hangar before takeoff

Super excited as we prepare to takeoff. Cannot believe we are actually jumping out a of a plane…

Andrew didn’t seem half as phased, but don’t let his demeanor fool you. I heard him screaming like a little kid as he jumped out!

Moab Valley from the plane

Certificates to mark a once in a lifetime opportunity. So so cool!

We woke up, jumped out of a plane, and then carried on West. We had a hot thirty mile stretch of highway riding (no other option) to Green River where we took an extended lunch break/nap before pedaling another 60 miles… There have been tough parts on this trip, whether it be the endless hills of Iowa, or the wind of Nebraska, or the passes of Colorado, but those 60 miles took the cake. We began the slog at 430PM and did not pull into our planned destination until 1130PM. Yikes. I never thought that the neon green and yellow Subway light would be the equivalent to the light at the end of the tunnel, but believe when I tell you, I was never more excited to see those lights in my life-period.

Our new lunches. Why had we not thought of this before? Lunch break before the 60 mile slog.

The one and only picture taken. We were still in semi-good spirits, with a little water, and not super hungry. Things took a turn for the worst several miles later…

This morning we took off from Wellington, Utah after a really really nice sleep in a truck stop parking lot. Yea, we were tired. We made our way to Price and stopped at a really cute diner with the slogan, “Where the locals eat.” And they eat there for good reason.

We had a fantastic breakfast to fuel us for the 15 mile climb out of Price Canyon.

Today enroute to Salem, Utah we hit 3,000 miles.

3,000 miles baby! And still strong and smiling!

It’s been one heck of a trip, definitely more testing in the past couple of days, but really loving and looking forward to all the miles to come. Well, kind of. I’m not super stoked about the Nevada Desert, BUT we’ll keep you posted as things progress. Who knows, maybe Nevada will surprise us; it wouldn’t be the first time on this trip.

Much love,

Anna

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