Colorado after Independence Day

So after the 4th we rode with John and Alex into Durango, the town everyone's been telling us to check out.

It was sweet. We ended up riding bikes on our off day with John along the river. We bought lunch at an organic shoppe (1 bag of spinach, goat cheese, and rosemary bread) and ate it with our feet in the Animas (river).
Jocelyn and I bought blue mugs at the thrift store so that we can share hot chocolate with all the bikers we see on the road (yes, we are the HOT CHOCOLATE girls!).

That night we watched 'Oh Brother Where art thou' at John's. "We're gonna RUNNOFT!"

The next morning, we enjoyed continental breakfast at the holiday, courtesy of Jonathan, who told us we ABSOLUTELY had to go to Mesa Verde.

On the way, we met the 30 bike and build cyclists for lunch. They look like a crazy army of biker chicks and dudes in their identical outfits, gear, and bikes. THEY'RE ALL THE SAME!
Well they look that way, but they are a somewhat socially diverse group.

Mesa Verde was not nearly as cool as it should have been. First of all it was about 30 miles off route, with gravel road and terrible traffic. We ditched the bikes at the bottom of the Mesa and became part of some family's vacation for the day. We saw the Ancestral Puebloan ruins at balcony House, which is a series of dwellings and kivas built into and inside of the Mesa cliffs. The architecture was amazing. The tour guide was NOT. She moved us around like sheep. All the tourists had to snap one million photos and hold up the tour. People asked the stupidest questions that the tour guide for some reason had no answers for (for example: what are the houses made of, how long did it take to build them, etc). Pretty much we didn't learn anything from the tour.

However, Mesa Verde is an amazing place to see because of the ancient architecture.


After the Mesa, we ended up in Cortez, Colorado.
I felt soooo tired and ANTI SOCIAL. I didn't think I could talk to anybody. Jocelyn luckily had it together and was on top of simple transactions like buying canned peas and spinach.

We ended up sleeping under the stars because I flooded the tent with one of my jumbo water bottles that i can never seem to close all the way. Sorry Jocelyn!

We slept next to a Catholic church and the next morning, pastor Pat prepared breakfast for us. It was really nice.

We then hopped back on the bikes we call home this summer and zoomed toward Moab Utah.

As we crossed the Colorado-Utah line, the landscape began to change (along with the laws, religious affiliations, and distribution of people). We started to see HUGE cliffs begging us to climb them. So we did. It was beautiful. we could see for dozens of miles in all directions. Jocelyn was become quite the climber. We lay on our bellies on top of the cliff with our heads sticking out over the edge so we could see the cars drive through the pass 300 feet below. We made it to the Moab rest area and met Chief. He is a Cherokee Indian who has been riding throughout the country on his wheel chair for 4 years!
He was intense. He told us that he only needs one 20 oz bottle of water for two days. He also said he can zoom at 50mph down hills on his wheel chair, passing cars and all.
He explained he had grown up on the reservation, speaking only Cherokee. He married at 13 and had children soon after. Tragically, he and his wife and kids were in a car accident 4 years ago. He was the only one to survive, but without function in his legs.
Chief told us about the power of mind over matter. He said when you're out there and you think you will die from the heat or lack of water, you control your mind and calm your breathing. You don't allow emotions to take hold of the situation. Chief made me realize how capable the human body is. How strong its potential. How amazing our bodies are in all they can do. He is pushing himself all over the US even though his body is broken.

In the winter he will be the first man in a wheel chair to ride the trail of tears, so look out for chief as he breaks world records.



Alicia and Albey, with whom we were to stay in Moab, we extraordinarily nice and picked us up from the rest stop so we wouldn't have to ride up the dangerous hill to their house.

Their desert home is beautiful. It feels like a ship with all the windows that open up to vast desert: distant islands of cliffs and canyons, expansive sunsets, star-filled skies, wandering thunderstorms. It's incredible.

Alicia and Albey cooked us yummy organic and wholesome food (much needed and appreciated on this trip:).


The next morning, Albey took us on some of his favorite secret hikes through Arches National Park. we climbed cliffs and scrambled over boulders. We crept into canyons and followed ancient river beds (dry, of course). Up on the red rocks of the canyons we felt we had been transported to another world.

It was awesome. We just stood there grocking (new word that means something like 'taking it in' but i don't think we're of the right generation to really understand the term "to grock").

We hiked up to one of the natural arches. it was HUGE. another gateway to the west, but this one was natural!

we took a somewhat sketchy shortcut back to the car (there was one traversing move that was questionable.. actually albey threw us the rope so we could spot him as he crossed this section of rock). We all made it just fine.


It is HOT in Moab. REAL desert experience. I chugged about 2 liters of car-heated water when we made it back.

We did some bike shop things in town and then went back to the house for dinner (which was amazing).

That night as the sunset left the sky and one million stars popped into sight, we watched the most incredible process in nature.

We watched the datura flower bloom. We saw 3 closed buds open to the night creatures. A plump moth came to the datura as soon as it had unfolded to drink its nectar and spread pollen from plant to plaant.
This was astounding.

I am going to sleep now, but promise to finish catching up on the Moab stories tomorrow mornign
goodnight