Phil’s World today! Not an early rise, ’cause it was COLD again. Late breakfast, but when we finally got going just after noon, we were primed for the ride.

We’d heard rumors from a lot of people that this was a great place to ride, and have been looking forward to it for a long time. The good news is that The Bear is mostly over her cold (it’s been with her a few days), the bad news, of course, is that now I’ve got it. I’ve felt it coming on for a couple of days, but today I had a serious sore throat and a hellaciously runny nose. I rode anyway. Not a lot of miles, only got in ten … actually I wanted to ride a bit more, but since we didn’t know the trail, I took an early out, lest I got on a loop that went too far.

Phil’s World is Phun! It really is – no monster climbs, biggest elevation gain in the whole park is about two hundred feet, and they never take you up for that long before they give you a break. And the downhills are sweeeet! Lots of slaloms and dips – almost really scary, but not quite, just really huge smile-makers! I wish I’d felt better, I’d have put in twice as many miles. I can’t wait to come back, but it won’t be this trip – tomorrow we head for Moab, UT.

Oh, yeah, I did leave some DNA there:

About a half-dozen other bushes tried to get me, but none of them did as good a job as the last guy – looked like he would give way like the others, but not so! Can’t believe they led that much – they’re actually pretty small scratches. Well, long, but not very deep. But they did bleed! That’s ok, chicks dig blood and scars!

Onward we go – as I said, tomorrow we head for THE mountain bike mecca – Moab, UT. Can’t wait!

COLD this morning, but we were roasty-toasty, thanks to the electric mattresses on The Beast. What a great idea! Because these are “tent” trailers, so really no insulation. Took until almost nine to get the nerve to get out of bed. It’s that old 747 thing again …

Anyway, The Bear is feeling better, but better not to push it. No riding today, but we did go visit the bike shop in town, Kokopelli Bike & Board. Pretty good selection, considering how small the town is, and friendly staff. We already knew about stuff in and around here, so no info needed. Tomorrow we’ll go ride out at Phil’s World. Heard a lot about it, we’ll probably spend a few hours out there, if The Bear can hold up. Need to watch that, of course.

Ok, this morning I got brave and tried the furnace … no fire! Well, ok, there WAS fire, but only where there was supposed to be fire. No unexpected fires anywhere else. And it put out heat – a LOT of heat, so life is good! We’ll still use the electric heater, because it’s a lot cheaper. Gas furnaces use gas – a LOT of gas, and gas is not cheap, so it will only get used when we need extra heat on super cold days or nights. Could have used it last night!

We also went out to Phil’s World, to see what we’re in for tomorrow. This place looks really cool! Reminds me of the Texas Hill Country. Can’t wait to come back and ride it tomorrow!

Well, no riding today – The Bear is not feeling terribly well, so we decide to stay off the bikes. What to do? Let’s go to Mesa Verde! It’s just down the road, so what the heck! It was on the itinerary anyway. I’ve been there before, but it was a quick trip, so maybe this time I’ll actually stop and crawl through the ruins.

We stop at the Visitor’s Center:

where I see this sign as I’m using the rest room:

Ok. “Do not flush anything other than toilet paper.”. Really? So, I do my business in the sink? That way I only flush the toilet paper? Really? I think this could be worded better.

Anyway, as we head to the ruins, I see a sign we need on the trails in Texas:

Only downside? The signs would be EVERYWHERE! This was at Spruce House. After that, we went to Cliff Palace. This is where I came last time,  except I didn’t take the tour. It had only been a year since my surgery, and I didn’t know if I could do it. Good decision! Tough hike, but worth it!

And a closeup:

Cool ruins. There’s a bike ride out here Saturday – might happen for us!

Ah, get up early, let’s go hit the bike shop! We go to Mountain Bike Specialists on Main, because it’s a block away from the Irish Embassy. No. Not the REAL embassy – it’s a pub … and it has … Guinness on tap! We went there for dinner last night. So today, the bike shop! Super friendly folks, great shop dog (Ruby!), we buy a map and a book, get some really good trail advice (one REALLY good thing the guy did, was tell us what direction the trails should be ridden in!), so off we go to ride. We decide to ride Horse Gulch trails Well, Horse Gulch is a dirt road (almost – well, ok, it IS a road, but it doesn’t look like it!), and there are many, many trails that come off of it.

Anyway, we get there, saddle up, and start the ride up the road. It”s hard! VERY rocky, and quite steep, and even though we’re 2,300 feet below Crested Butte, I’m still having trouble breathing. The Bear gets ahead of me, and starts to widen the gap. I hear a woman’s voice … “Are you from Texas?”. I stop (gladly! I already need a rest!), turn to look back, and look for the truck … maybe they saw it … nope, it’s too far away, out of sight (though just barely!), and again she asks “Are you from Texas?”. Ever the smart-ass, I answer as I usually do … “Maybe …”. She says “It’s Mo. Do you remember me?”. Mo … yes! “Mo Monahan? Yes, I remember you!” I yell to Barri, tell her to come back down. She’s maybe 50 yards ahead, and doesn’t want to come back down – she just climbed this! But back she comes, and boy, is she ever glad she does! Twenty years ago, they were both racing for the same bike shop, and each is very happy to see the other. Mo is with her husband Randy, they’ve been here a few years, and love it (duh!)! We chat a little while, do a lot of catching up, and promise to stay in touch. Yup, that definitely has to happen! We’ll stop by next year for sure, and get together. Looking forward to it, especially because next year we’ll be in much better shape to ride.

We say our goodbyes, and continue our ride. It’s a grinder of a climb, but we get there. Start out the wrong way, but soon discover our error and turn around, going the way we’re supposed to. Well, it’s not required, it’s just more fun if you go the right direction. Here’s a view of the area:

Reminds us of Austin. The hill country in Texas, actually, not just Austin. Except this is a mile higher. A bit harder to breathe up here. The ride is fun for me, for The Bear, not so much – she’s having stomach cramps, and lets me know she also had them during our last ride in Crested Butte, is why she was so slow. Nice to know. Wish I’d known then. We cut the ride a bit short, though we still get over eight miles in. Eight hard miles, so it does count. Good ride. On the way home, we stop by Home Depot – they’re closing, so I can’t get what I want, but we see this outside:

Yes, solar panels! Actually, a totally self-contained solar power center, almost a kilowatt! I need to find out why we don’t have this in Dallas! Good day, but it’s time to go home and rest.

I do have a beef about Durango. Nice town, but not if you have a real truck. Junior is too big to park on the street, you have to find a parking lot! Here’s a shot of a Subaru in a parking spot:

It barely fits! Junior, with a front tire up against the curb, sticks out about two feet! And signs everywhere tell you you’ll get a ticket if you hang over the white line. You gotta love it – a ranching State, where if you own a ranch truck, you can’t park it! Ranchers don’t buy little trucks, they buy REAL trucks. We had a hard time finding Junior – it’s hard to find a four-door long-bed Dodge in Dallas. In South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Idaho, you can’t swing a dead cat that you don’t hit trucks like this one. Oh, and you know how Ford is number one in Texas? Not up here! Up in all these States I mentioned, Dodge is the big hitter! Not a lot of Fords or Chevys, and just try to find a Toyota Tundra! You find the smaller Toyotas, but the big ones? Yeah, one towed the shuttle, but in the real world, Dodge diesel is king.

ARGH!!! Just can’t catch a break! Yesterday, the mountains got a dusting of snow, but no big deal, we could still go four-wheeling. HAH! Until last night. Last night it was NOT a dusting of snow, it was full-on snow on the mountains. Looks beautiful, and I got some great shots, but four-wheeling is out. DAMN!

Well, at least try to enjoy what it looked like:

And another:

And another:

Beautiful, huh? Here’s more:

And my favorite:

Mount Crested Butte. Looks like a postcard, huh? Willy did good on that one – four shots from my D700, panoed in PhotoShop, a little clarity and vibrance in Lightroom. Click on it to see it bigger.

Went for a walk, but it was COLD. Jimmy went for a ride, and even with layers of bike clothes, jacket, long pants, he froze his ass off! And that’s exactly why I didn’t ride today!

I did receive my stuff from Amazon, though – a couple of meters, one for the trailer as a full-time Voltmeter and Ammeter, the other a clamp-on ammeter so I can troubleshoot some stuff on the trailer. I want to rewire the lift system winch when I add the power jack I bought.

Ok, enough torture, tomorrow we head a bit South to Durango.

Ugh! Dreary day today. Rainy, cloudy, yuck! Nothing to do but stay indoors, and really nowhere to go, so a wasted day, though a rest will be nice. Can’t even go sightseeing.

Ah! But tomorrow, we go four-wheeling! Woohoo! Looking forward to that!

Well, today was a wee bit nippy – maybe we’ll rest. BUT – we can go for breakfast! So, we decide to go back to Izzy’s for a pancake – we each try to order one, but they would really rather we just order one and split it. We know how big they are, and I’d kinda like to take half home for tomorrow, but we go ahead and go with their suggestion. Then they mention that the wait for food is up to 45 minutes – we’re fine – what else are we going to do today? Well, it actually takes one whole hour, but worth the wait. Here is my half of the pancake, and yes, it’s over an inch thick:

It’s more pancake than a full stack at IHOP, and it’s gooooood! Best pancake I’ve EVER had!

It’s supposed to freeze tonight, so I have to make sure all the water is out of the trailer – drain the water heater, and make sure all the lines drain out. Never warms quite enough to go do the ski lift thing, so we’re sad for that.

Early afternoon, Jimmy asks if we want to do Wagonwheel – sure! Why not? He says it’s easy, so we give it a go. Well, we’re pretty tired, and The Bear does her best to keep up, but she’s just slow today. She can ride, she’s just slow. So it’s like this – I wait for The Bear to catch up, and Jimmy waits for us both … repeatedly. But Jimmy’s a good sport, and takes it all in stride. He knew what he was getting into when he asked us to go ride, and that’s just one of the things I like about the guy. I wish more good riders were that understanding, and that willing to work with people of lesser skill/ability. Anyway, here’s a shot from the trail:

It’s single-track trail and road (as in asphalt and wide dirt), and by the time we’re done, we’ve gone 16 plus miles. But it’s a good ride, even though it takes us over two hours. We get back and showered, and Jimmy mentions that there’s going to be a bonfire tonight … hmmm … interesting. Turns out it’s a Solstice Celebration of some sort – truly pagan ritual, which sounds  … interesting. We go for dinner, and see this on the way. It’s GOT to be the biggest tricycle I’ve ever seen, or heard of:

and it’s part of the shindig tonight. When we leave the restaurant, the celebration is about to start. We stick around, there’s dancing, and a sort of play, and the decision is made to burn The Grump. Here he is, pre-barbeque:

I did mention the dancing:

Sorry for the crappy photos – phone and night don’t mix well. Anyway, here was the final outcome:

Poor Grump got all burned up!

That’s it, I’m beat, and going for some long, long sleep!