Biking and Beyond

We went to Gunnison, Colorado at the end of July to see Perry's parents and brother's family. The original intent was to leave from there to rejoin the cross-country bike trip. Alas, my knees had other plans, which was revealed on one of our training rides: a beautiful ride from Crested Butte to Gunnison with unloaded bikes, overall 1100' elevation drop in 28 miles (~ 1/2 of the touring mileage) and my knee pain returned, in spite of all the self care I'd been taught. For those interested, a summary of our vacation since then follows.

Highlights in Gunnison included visiting family, good local food, the Crested Butte art fair, and seeing Michael get acquainted with and ride a horse, under the patient guidance of the adaptive equestrian fellow named Mike.

After leaving Gunnison we drove to Denver and looked up a childhood friend of Perry's, Jim Ashe, and his wife Ruthie. They were both delightful for me to get to know, we should have been friends forever, though Jim and Perry haven't been in touch for ~30 years. They showed us around the Botanical Gardens, and we drove and walked through all Perry's old neighborhood haunts. Then we had lunch and a short visit with a Bend friend recently relocated in the Denver area. It was too short, but fun to see Shauna and her boys loving Denver.

We drove through Glenwood Canyon on the Colorado River which has a paved bike path beckoning us for another visit. In Glennwood Springs we stopped to try the hot springs this time, and on to camp at Rifle Gap Campground. Discovered in the morning that Rifle Gap was the location of a Christo art exhibit in the 70's, an orange fabric wall suspended across the Gap, and we saw the obvious location for it as we drove back to I-70.

We then drove to Nucla, by way of a gorgeous scenic drive on Hwy 141 through Delores Canyon. In Nucla we had a good visit with Vicki, a friend of mine from High School, also too long out of touch. Her home was an oasis for hummingbirds, and we also heard and saw some sandhill cranes. It was good to get filled in on some details of our adult lives.

Between Nucla and Durango we felt compelled to spend some time in Telluride. It's a touristy mountain town, but friendly and fun to visit. We lucked out getting there early enough to get a spot in the popular city campground. Even though we weren't there during the famed bluegrass or film festivals, there were multiple cultural offerings for us to choose among, as well as a free gondola ride up into the beautiful mountains above town.

We made a stop in the Anasazi Heritage Center on our way into Durango to visit my longest-time friend Judy. Though we've kept in better touch, it was good to reconnect and hear about the path her life is taking. We visited the fair while we were there, and learned that she and her neighbors have had home break-ins...from bears! Though Durango is having cooler and wetter weather than they might want for August, we soon had plenty of heat as we moved on into Utah.

First we went to the Visitor's Center at Mesa Verde, then on to camp in Natural Bridges National Park. We hiked some of the shorter trails along the loop road, and especially loved the last bridge, which we were able to walk underneath. Characteristic of summer weather in the southwest, we had afternoon clouds and frequent storms. Here we were treated to a long lasting rainbow, and Perry took many photos.

From Natural Bridges we drove to Capitol Reef National Park. Along the way we stopped in Hite where the highway crossed the Colorado River. We took some pictures of that end of what is normally Lake Powell, but so dry here that boats cannot launch. The Capitol Reef led us from one outstanding view to another, and we enjoyed camping in Fruita campground within the park, an old Mormon settlement with remaining orchards we were allowed to pick from.

Having had enough of the footloose life, especially camping with no showers, we headed home in 2 days, spending a night in a Winnemucca. NV motel.

~ Carol and Perry