I settled on some dates, then shot off an email to a biking friend in California to see if he was interested in a short biking trip. Bruce wasn't sure he could fit a long weekend in with his workload, but he also thought Moab sounded good. We left it open-ended, and I assumed that I'd be doing a solo trip again. I booked flights and hotel (the same place!), and started counting the days until my trip. Close to my departure time, I got an email from Bruce; he decided to join me - especially since he could make it a 2-day flight in his own plane. There's a little airport north of Moab, very convenient. He's another Bike Friday owner, so he just pulled his bike out of his plane, hooked up the trailer, and rode into town. Since I was flying in to Grand Junction, I rented a car to get to Moab - so we had our alternate transportation for when we wanted (needed) a lift to our biking location.
Bruce arrived before I did, and since he'd ridden in from the airport his bike was already all set to ride. I pulled my bike out of the case and put it together, then headed outside to ride around the block to make sure everything was smooth. It felt great with smooth shifting and well-behaved brakes. With the bikes all set, we headed out to stretch our legs by walking a bit. First stop, one of Moab's many bike shops so Bruce could pick up a Camelbak. Next, time to hit the grocery store to pick up some snacks and Gatorade for tomorrow. We wandered by some restaurants to check out the menus, then headed back for a quick shower. I felt like I needed (OK, wanted) to wash off the travel grit before dinner. A good dinner, ice cream for desert, and then it was time to get some sleep. Can't wait to ride...
Unlike my trip in 2001 when I spent a day riding the roads in Arches National Park, then popped back into the park to hike Delicate Arch on a later day, on this trip Bruce and I decided not to ride in Arches. We headed out on our bikes every morning, and when we were done riding we grabbed shoes suitable for hiking and headed into Arches to do a little exploring.
For those of you who aren't interested in the non-biking half of our days, I've split the journal entries into two parts. The first journal page for each day is our morning jaunt with our bikes, and the second journal page for each day is from our wandering through Arches National Park by car and foot. The journal page titles reflect our activity so you can easily skip the non-biking part of our days (although the non-biking pages are primarily pictures).
