It’s over a hundred about a month too soon! I planned to get out of here before this happened! Oops … We were suppose to be in Montana before it went triple-digits in Fruita. Maybe next time
The cacti bloom was a delight this year
Size matters. Although the little guy is the Alpha. I like seeing them together (awwww)
The shepherd watches over his flock of mice
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Since I rode about 4,000 miles in the desert last year there are not a lot of places left to explore around here. One of the last is the area between Arches N.P. and I-70 in Utah. There is an old mine out there named Yellow Cat and a highway off ramp by that name that leads to it. I always wondered …
I spent a day out there on some surprisingly smooth dirt roads. Thanks Grand County Utah! I don’t know what they were mining out here but if I was to guess I’d say uranium
Near the end of the day the clutch slave on the Huskie ADV 450 failed – AGAIN! This is the second time it failed and left me without a clutch. The original one lasted two years (40 miles!!); only got 18 months out of the second one. I ordered a rebuild kit this time and I think I figured out why the factory ones fail. Maybe I avoided that pit-fall when I rebuilt it
I rode the gas-line road out to the border of Arches N.P. There is a big parking spot out there and I suspect there are some kewl canyon hikes to be had from there. From the rim I could see tall trees in the canyons and a bunch of slick-rock
The mining roads out here predate the Park. The Park installed fencing to keep the wheels out, but feet and hooves are welcome
There a a ton of roads out here which are not on any maps I have. Most of them are gas-line roads and end at a well-head. One of the intersections had a sign that says “arch” and pointed toward this delightful place
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Climate Change is Real
The weather has gone to poop around here. High winds, fire watches, and freeze warnings – Oh My!
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!
There are a TON of people camped out in the desert now. I saw a cute little guard-bull on the Rabbit Valley road
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
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~ Jef Mallett
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!
The Easter Bunny was out hiding eggs on the trails and I found one! YaY!
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
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
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
Cats are weird
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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 …
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!
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!
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The views on the way to Colorado were nice. We did have to beat into the wind the entire way though
I keep making the mistake of coming to Colorado in the winter. I need to smarten up some
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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
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
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
Found a place to let the boiz out
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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
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
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?)
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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!
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.
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.
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