We’re not going to have much internet during the actual race and my keyboard isn’t pairing with my phone so most blogging will be done after the end of this trip... but at the moment we are sitting in our favorite Moab haunt, Eklecticafe, and I have a few photos to share from the first 24 hours of our trip.
We got the senior discount since Bill is >55. I got some CBD (non-psychoactive part of marijuana) balm for my sore calf. Who knows, might help. Makes for easier muscle massage at any rate.
For some reason I can’t remember— a combination of flight availability/schedule options — we flew into Denver this time rather than getting the connecting flight to Grand Junction. This meant many more hours driving and a chance to see a lot of roadside dispensaries that weren’t here when we made the same drive 14 years ago. We’re coming back to Colorado later this summer, me alone for two weeks at the Aspen Music Festival and then Bill will join me for a couple weeks of bike touring in the Rockies. So it was cool to get a little preview of that landscape before entering the desert.
People have asked if I’m going “defend the title” and that seems even more absurd than my unlikely win last year. This year looks like it will be cooler so there should be fewer heat casualties, and from the Facebook posts I’ve seen there will once again be a lot of much better/faster runners in the group. I’m curious to see what kind of mental adventure I have this time, where I already know what lies ahead each day. In high school I went to the same music festival three years in a row, and every summer was totally different. Maybe a poor analogy cause at that age things change a lot year to year. For example I got a lot more solos the third year and made out with a lot more boys. But we’ll see. One thing we are really looking forward to is more time with some of the people we met last time. I just hope my legs hold out. If they don’t, I brought a couple books and a hammock.
No running water, I slept on the floor, and we had to burn our TP in the outhouse. At $80 including fees I’d say we overpaid but we didn’t want to have to worry about finding camping our first night.
We stayed in this crazy little Airbnb in Cisco, Utah, a tiny little ghost town about an hour outside Moab. The one resident was our host and she came out to meet us with her handgun holstered prominently on her hip. To be fair I guess there is no way for a gun not to appear prominent to me and Bill if you’re not a cop or security guard. We just aren’t used to that. She was cool. Buzz cut (just like Emma Gonzales!), fantastic glasses frames, filthy clothes, and a pit-type dog for us to play with. She had left the dog in the house because some guests are scared of dogs but we insisted she spring her.
Bill commented that there was no way Bella would do this with guests she had just met. She’d have run out to greet them and then returned to following us around. Both of these friendly pitties are TERRIBLE watch dogs, unless you're pre-disposed to be afraid of them.
my new best friend. Sit. Good dog.
Wider view of Bill and dog on porch. Love the boxspring fencing.
It actually rained during the night and storms are predicted for the weekend so our mountain biking plans might have to be modified. We don’t have skill on this terrain even when it’s dry, and the slick rock gets, duh, slick when wet. Plus lightning sounds scary in big open spaces. Anyway we’ll figure it out. Now that we know there’s an animal shelter in town maybe we can go walk the doggies. We grabbed a campsite along the Colorado River on the drive into Moab and paid for two days, so housing is all set.
Arriving at Westworld