Sunday, May 17, 2009

Adventure Week Part 3: Cheyenne

Gus has had a troubled spring. Coming back from Washington after spring break he started getting the shakes really bad. Eventually this lead to replacing the pitman and idler arms (which got rid of the brain-jarring part of the shaking), then getting a front end alignment, and eventually replacing the leaf springs and u-joint. It was a long journey, but Saturday I got Gus back. He was behaving very well on my way to Denver. He was doing even better on the way back, then I took the interchange between I-25 and I-80 and my clutch stopped working. It was mildly alarming, because I thought it was all my pedals. I did manage to pull my truck out of gear and stop on the side of the clover-leaf interchange. From there I managed to procure a tow truck, which left me in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Cheyenne (it was the only place I could think of stopping, it seemed convenient). I spent the rest of the day wondering what time it was and where to explore in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There wasn't a lot to see, but I managed to enjoy my day.
I found a green way that was entertaining to walk down. There was some interesting information about the solar system on signs around there. Plus, they had constructed a wetland through the center. Very nice.
I spent quite a lot of time trying to find 'balance.'
I love tunnels. It has something to do with Golom from "Lord of the Rings" and the fact that tunnels are awesome. I found it entertaining that these tunnels were so well labeled, I would hate to see the type of pedestrian-bicycle-tunnel accident that could result in there.
I want to go to Superday, just so I could wake up knowing its Superday, rather than Saturday.
Then I found some weeds growing through AstroTurf that was laid down by the sidewalk. Ridiculous and awesome.
Then I went back to my domain, where I read a book and napped. I enjoyed my downtime, it forced me to relax a little. However, I must conclude that Cheyenne doesn't have much to offer.
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Adventure Week Part 2: Denver

Thursday morning I headed out for Denver. As much as it makes my legs stiff, I really enjoy long drives. A few people have lost faith in Gus's ability to road trip, I hoping he gets it back, because I like to road trip in him.

Thursday night I rolled into Aurora (a mildly shady suburb of Denver) and spent the evening chatting with my friend Tiffany. The next morning we got up to explore downtown Denver. It was kind of crowded and scary working to find a parking lot. First stop was the 16th Street Mall, a great pedestrian friendly street with a lot of places to eat and shop. After stopping by and talking to a lovely woman who gave us a map and explained some of the places we could go. Next stop, the Colorado State Capitol Building.
We found some phone booths that were wicked awesome, but they didn't have any phones in them. Weird.
We wandered around the building for quite some time before we found our way to the top. After 4 floors and 99 stairs, we made it. It was a pretty good view from up there. And it was totally cool to wander around place we shouldn't be in the capitol.
Next we went to the Denver Botanical Gardens. They had this awesome exhibit about plants that were around during the Jurassic Period. It was great. And sunny.
Later that night we went to a club in downtown Denver, it was a debaucherous good time. I ended up tripping in the middle of the road a bruising myself up quite nicely. All in all, it was a great trip.
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Adventure Week Part 1: Southern Utah

Whew, its been a busy week. Monday morning I headed out with my buddy Lou to southern Utah. First stop was Little Wild Horse Canyon. It took a while to find, but it was totally worth it.There was a little rock climbing to be done. Fun!
There was an awesome old juniper to climb in. I had this obsession with "bad ass" trees (they're all over Southern Utah), this one was not only old, but it had survived flash floods.
It was a gorgeous canyon. Unfortunately, areas like this had water pots full of old poo-smelling water. I was happy I was slogging through it in my Chacos instead of tennis shoes. But unhappy to be putting my basically bare feet in the poop water.
I had to make this shot happen. When Mom saw it she said "You could have gotten your arm smashed by that!" And I laughed.
We had to haul tail out of the canyon (as fast as you can speed walk through a slot canyon) because it was starting to rain a little. It would have been so awesome to see a flash flood while we were there, but also sort of dangerous.
We spent the night at this awesome primitive campsite on the east side of Capitol Reef called Cedar Mesa. It was really quite beautiful. Plus, the sand was wonderful, I could walk around our camp without my shoes on.
Tuesday morning we set out to do some hiking around the park. One of the first things we saw was this awesome lizard. I don't know what type it was, but it's cool.
This is the Strike Valley. I would like to put a house in here and become a hermit. It was epically gorgeous.
Surprise Canyon was the first hike we took that day. It was very pretty. I was counting on something surprising, but didn't encounter anything. It was still enjoyable though.
It was nice and shady up at the the top of the canyon. Mostly I just like this picture because Lou didn't think he was in it.
We took a really pretty drive down the Burr Trail Road, re-entered the park, and hiked up to some tanks. Usually these hold water, but it seemed like it hadn't rained there in a while (though there were also rain clouds there that afternoon).
We also hiked to the Golden Dome. Well, tried to hike to the Golden Dome. It was a pretty walk, with some great views of Capitol Reef.
I think that there in the back is the Golden Throne, but I suppose I won't know until I get back there again (and yes, I am going back).
There weren't any camp spots open in the park, but we found this Forest Service camp ground called Sunglow. It was quite pretty. Unfortunately, the wild blew almost all night long.

Wednesday morning we headed home. We ended up hiking about 20 miles in 2 days, which makes me declare that trip a success.
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