Moab with Friends

November 19
Below freezing but sunny! We took bikes onto the Klonzo trails - I explored more of the south trails this time, seemed easier than north trails, a nice time in the sun!

Apparently dinosaur tracks on the edges of the picture

Mid-day, Tim from Duluth and his friends Josh and Sarah (and their two dogs) from Salt Lake City arrived. Once they got a tent set up and unwound a bit, we all headed to the Amasa trails - run for me, hiking with the dogs for Sarah, and some biking for the boys. Tim and Josh visit Moab regularly and we tried one of their favorite Mexican restaurants after recovering from our activities, but closed for the season - so we went to another, I believe the name was something like 'Choco Loco'. There was a long wait and service was not perfect, but ended up being pretty good food, and awesome horchatas! It was fairly late, and cold again, once we returned to Willow Springs Road, so very little hanging out before sleep time.

November 20
Cloudy overnight, so a warmer morning, but the sun never ended up coming out, so remained a cool day. Biking the whole Mag Seven route for the guys by our own 'shuttling' took up the bulk of the day. I biked and ran at the top, hanging out with the van, while Sarah did some exploring at the bottom and picked up the guys when they were done. Another visit to Milt's, then back to Willow Springs to camp. Done a little earlier today, so slightly more hanging out until dark and chilly drove us to van and tent.

November 21
Little bits of rain overnight, not enough to impact roads or trails though! A couple of hours at Navajo Rocks (run for me, hike for Sarah, bike for the boys), then back to SLC for the visitors. The rainy afternoon was good for Rudy and I to start making our way south. We get to enjoy Thanksgiving at Tim's sister's place in Phoenix! We made it to Valley of the Gods Road near Mexican Hat, had some lentils and rice for dinner, and got in a game of Trivial Pursuit - this one a little more drawn out then usual ending up with a win for Rudy. We completed the evening by finishing Season 2 of Gotham - little Bruce Wayne is growing up so fast!

Valley of the Gods sunset - more impressive in person

November 22
We started the cold morning with a little drive along Highway 261 that we were told was 'mind-blowing' - pretty cool, but we both agreed we've seen crazier roads.

Awesome views of Valley of the Gods

Top of the road

Hard to get a good picture of the experience

Then on to Mexican Hat and into Arizona.


No major plans for the day besides driving, but we did take a short biking break on the south side of Flagstaff to ride the Soldier Trail from Fort Tuthill County Park - a nice little area and an easy loop to get in some movement! We drove a little more before parking for the night just outside Sedona in Coconino National Forest. Simple bean burritos for dinner, then Tim showed up and we all enjoyed some Trivial Pursuit! Rudy won again. Tim got to be our first van floor guest for the night - he said it was fine...