The weather has gone to poop around here. High winds, fire watches, and freeze warnings – Oh My!
My new ride on the Western Rim Trail
I rode the Western Rim last year on the Huskie Adventure 450 and I suspected it would be more fun on an ebike – I was right again!
The Western Rim Trail on a cloudy day
There are a TON of people camped out in the desert now. I saw a cute little guard-bull on the Rabbit Valley road
I saw this dude standing guard on the Rabbit Valley roadSlick Rock! This is on Mel’s loop. It’s the only good part of that ride. The rest of it is deep sand 😦
Mel’s loop is a moto trail and I’ve ridden it a couple times on bicycles. The part of Utah it’s in is mostly deep sand. It’s less busy than Moab or Fruita, but there are still peeps camped out there
I got my new bike a couple weeks ago. I’m liking the 27.5 x 2.8 tires on this bike. Rolls over a lot of things my 26 x 2.3’s can’t tackle. The motor makes it way more fun too!
Easter Sunday on the Wrangler trail
The Easter Bunny was out hiding eggs on the trails and I found one! YaY!
Mikel and I rode the Ribbon Trail again
Polly, Kai, and Mikel swung thru Fruita last weekend and we re-rode the Ribbon Trail. I remembered all the kewl parts and forgot all the parts where we had to hike-a-bike. Took the wrong steed, have to remember to take a 25-pound bike next time
Check out the “scoops” over the roof vents. That’ll blow the fart smell out of the bathroom
Sometimes I see the strangest things in this park. Vent covers on backwards is a first though. Later the owner went up and changed them around so they didn’t get ripped off
Sign of the times in Rangley Colorado
I took a little drive up to Rangely on a rainy/ snowy day last week. Cute little town built around ranching and the oil patch. Seems the oil boom let go and then COVID kicked the legs off the stool. The True Value and the Family Dollar are still open. The Italian restaurant was busy at lunch-time, but a lot of main street is vacant store-front
The boiz and I made it over the big hill between storms. We got to Fruita a couple weeks before the big storm shut Denver down. It’s been cold here so not many peeps coming to ride the rides. Park is nice and quiet, mmmm …
Got the mini and diggin’ some sewer line
We started right in on the big projects. Sewer line, new intake for the irrigation pumps, new fence. It’s like a big remodel here. Champagne taste – beer budget!
The spare tire has been too close to the new 4″ exhaust for awhile now. So I built a heat shield
I’ve had some time to make improvements to my stuff too. Built a heat shield for the spare tire/ exhaust pipe and got a new block heater. Between that and a trip to the Vet I spent my $1400 stimulus payment. I hope you feel stimulated now!
North is typically associated with snow and cold, but this season snow and cold came south to Oracle AZ and found me! I have been roundly snowed on every year since I started this epic road-trip
About 3″ of the white stuff fell from the skyPlus the wind is blowing 25 mph
After the snow had a chance to melt the boiz and I struck out into the wind (about 30 mph!) toward New Mexico. We got as far as Hatch where we found a vacant lot near the memorial park. Lots of brightly colored flowers and do-dads adorned many of the resting places. At night the solar-power lights came on and the park looked like houses lit up with fancy lights for Christmas
Camped near the memorial park in Hatch NM
The next day was a short trip up-valley to about 25 miles north of Truth or Consequences NM. Met and old rancher who said he’d been around here 75 years. He told me there have been a lot of people moving here from CA and WA. Getting away from fires and rain he said
North of T or C New Mexico. Plenty of brush for everyone
We’ve turned the corner and the days are getting longer! It’s still winter everywhere north of here, but we’re getting antsy to hit the road
Holiday javalinaSanta brought gifts!Fixing a sucked chain in a sand washGot the shop painted!Roadrunners looking for bugsFlowers bloom all year down here
Just to break up the week a friend and I went out to the 24 hours of Old Pueblo Race area and rode all the trails
Except for the pallet-nails everywhere this is a nice spot
It took me three days, but I rode all the rides! I was told the winners finish this 24 hour race with over 225 miles behind them. I did it with only 36. I win! (low score wins – right?)
Out riding the Bone trailCacti to the left of me, Cacti to the right. Here I am!Everything pokes, stabs, or slashes. Only the gravel is soft
I’ve been living with an intermittent coolant leak for a couple years now. Just waiting for the right time to BLOW all the coolant out on a big hill, YIKES!
Big ole crack in the aluminum part which holds the plastic tank onto the radiator core
So, now that I have some free time and some helpers I decided to tackle those pesky leaks and skip over the part where I’m stranded on the side of the road waiting all day for a tow truck. My friends and I managed to replace the radiator, water pump, fan clutch, and fan belt in about half-a-day. I decided to replace all the mission-critical stuff behind the radiator because it’s just so easy when the radiator is out and so hard when it’s not
And the propane hoses stared leaking just a week before the regulator died.
Out with the leaky, in with the new (again)
The propane regulator is the second one of that brand to die and all the hoses (4 of them) ended their lives with a leak. Thanks China
I bought what I hope is a better regulator and hoses from PPL motorhomes. Time will tell. I set it up the same way as I did them before without the double bend in the hose.
Old man winter has booted me out of Nevada. Just too much arctic cold!!!
So now we’re heading south to 70*F country. We stopped at Valley of fire to see the slot canyon and we saw it. Done.
Valley of fire is like a miniature Arches Nat’l Park just a few miles north of Lost Wages NV. Also very close to California judging by all the CA license plates. The campgrounds were mostly full when we arrived at noon. There were a few spots left until about 2. Popular place
Valley of Fire to Somewhere in the desert south of Kingman, AZ
Saguaro south of the snow
Down the paved trail to an overnight camp spot an hour south of Kingman. We camped among the saguaro cacti and it was only about freezing come the dawn
Cacti camp to Oracle AZ
Cacti Garden
More pave eastbound across Phoenix. Seventy miles of city-driving. Yuck
Now we can sit at friends place and get some projects done! YaY!
The Escalante River failing to get to my pant cuffs
The Escalante River in Escalante is not even deep enough to get my socks wet! To be fair we’re only 15 miles from its beginning and it’s November. Even so, the west needs rain!
A few weeks ago friends and I were looking at a map of the western US and wondering where it still rains. Turns out not many places are without a drought
Drought Map via NOAA
I also looked up the average annual rainfall in the US and it looks a bit like the drought map. If I want wet socks I’m going to have to move out of the desert
Rain fall map via NOAA
Cathedral Gorge State Park, Nevada
Slot Canyons in Cathedral Gorge State Park, NV
What a delightful surprise this place is. Plenty of slot canyons, cute little campground, and sand. Again with the sand. It was discovered by settlers in the late 1800’s along with the mining boom and became one of Nevada’s first state parks in the mid 1930’s. The campground has electric hook-ups and Verizon wireless service. Nice
Slot Canyons in NevadaSo many slot canyons within walking distance of the camp spotsThe stairs to a very cool view pointBridges!
