Life is a highway!

In the past three or maybe four days, it seems as though we have been everywhere! You know that Johnny Cash song...I've been everywhere man? No? Well I'm sure that my dad and brother are on board here...that's what I feel like. If I was techy enough to add a link to the song I would do it, but it might take me all week.

Whew...I've got some ground to cover here. In our last blog Jeremy said that we were leaving for Mesa Verde and Moab. Well, we have been to both and are getting ready to leave...as soon as the AC is fixed:) You should know that Jeremy tolerates the heat very well and I feel like I will die from it. If the heat didn't make me so grumpy, I'm sure that Jeremy would not be so agreeable about trying to get the air conditioner fixed.

So anyway, we left Santa Fe on Tuesday morning and headed north toward Pagosa Springs Colorado. What a beautiful drive! I wasn't sure if I would enjoy just driving around all summer, but this particular route was well worth it (aside from being too hot in the van of course). Our atlas marks scenic routes as well as "best of the road" routes. The drive to Pagosa Springs was one of the best of the road routes. We loved it.

We arrived at Mesa Verde National Park around lunch time so we decided to make ourselves something to eat in the park then we headed to the visitor center and museum to learn more about the cliff dwellings in the park. They were originally inhabited by the Anasazi people and have been preserved and maintained by the park system. While we were in the museum, the strangest thing happened...we ran into my great uncle and his wife, Bill and Florence Wickey. What a small world. It is so strange to see people from home when you feel like you are a million miles away. After talking with Bill and Florence for a bit, we walked the relatively short trail to the cliff dwelling called Spruce Tree House. It's pretty amazing to imagine people living there so long ago.

After checking out Mesa Verde, Jeremy was anxious to move on to Moab, UT...the mountain bike capital of the world (at least according to Jeremy). So we drove most of the afternoon and arrived in Moab early in the evening, leaving us just enough time to find a campsite and make ourselves some beans and rice before heading to bed. Our next campsite was much nicer than our first Wal*Mart site. We camped on some BLM land which is public land. We thought it was free to camp there, but it did cost $12. It was a really nice little campground though.

Wednesday, we got up and got ready for my first mountain biking expedition. We asked around about beginner trails so that I could ride with Jeremy and found a spot north of town that had several trails to choose from. We had a fairly successful 8 mile ride, but it was really tiring for me and too easy for Jeremy. I really enjoyed most of it though.

In the afternoon we went and made an appointment to get the ac worked on, then headed out to Arches National Park just outside of Moab. It was a great little drive through the park, and we chose to take a short hike to one of the more noteable rock formations in the park, Delicate Arch. It was just a three mile round trip hike but it was mainly up hill the whole way there and down hill the whole way back. I'll let you in on a little secret...I suck at climbing up mountains. Even though I didn't like the climb up, I was not dissapointed when I got there. The wind was wipping so hard that I had to hold on to my hat and stay close to the rock wall so that I would not lose my balance. The formation of the rocks from years upon years of erosion from wind and water was just amazing. We also met this guy from the UK up there that was taking a 12 month trek around the world by himself...pretty crazy.

After going to Arches, we decided to find a real campground so that we could use their showers and laundry facility so we got a space for the night at the Slickrock RV Park in Moab. It was not the nicest campground I have ever been to, but I'm guessing that it is better than the Lazy Lizard Hostel in town.

The next morning we got up a little bit earlier and headed back out to the same mountain biking trails that we were on the day before. Having already completed the "Bar M" trail once successfully, we decided to try the "Rockin A" trail. Well...it rocked me. Most of this particular trail was on what is known as "slick rock" which is actually pretty difficult to ride on. I did okay for a bit, then I took a steep down hill that had a flat rock at the bottom and rode right over my handle bars. I am proud to say that I didn't even cry! It hurt a bit and made my legs really wobbly so I ended up letting Jeremy finish that portion of the trail on his own and I walked back to the main trail. Honestly, I was pretty proud of the riding that I did for being a first-timer.

After getting showers we headed off to get the van fixed. Wouldn't you know it? They said it was going to cost us around 600 to 1000 dollars to get the ac fixed. Arrggh! Man that made me grumpy! I might have thrown a little bit of a fit, but just when I thought things were at their worst, we drove on toward Bryce Canyon National Park and spent the night in a little campground nearby where Jeremy shivered all night from the cool mountain air! Oh...it's sort of funny really. I get mad about the hot and he got pretty mad about the cold. You know what they say...oposites attract. We'll get it balanced out one way or another!