Three day holiday weekend and no crowds on the trails I chose to ride. Very exposed place where I am sleeping, junipers are the only shade and they only grow only so tall. I parked the van at a different angle to put the right side in the shade which shades the refrig helping keep stuff cold inside. Windy. One morning when my senses greeted the day I was astounded by the quietness outside: no wind. One night after dinner I walked a bit: once again no wind. It isn’t that the wind makes a lot of noise, when blowing it creates its affect. Getting very warm. Solar shower heated to 135 degrees sitting on the van hood. Way too hot to just stick my finger in the water. Too windy for a shower even when in the 80s. Low humidity and evaporative heat loss from wind makes for a chilly goose bumpy shower.
So I sat in the padded van driver seat studying the Navajo Rocks trail system. Big eyes want to feed the body on a big ride. Thought was to ride from camp the 1.5 miles of gravel road to pick up Chisholm then ride the entire Navajo Rocks returning the same way, ride would have been close to 30 miles. Now reality was going to meet my reality. I picked up Chisholm then turned right on Big Lonely to ride down Coney Island which again rides better this was as it is a lot of sand tread. I made Middle earth which is a cut thru kinda splitting the system in half and a bail point. I elected for the bail thus eliminating Rocky Tops and Ramblin. Still riding in full sunshine in 84 degrees and my age affected body and addled brain the ride was 23.77 miles climbing 1176′ pedaling 3 hrs 8 mins. Trail elevation gain per mile was less than 100′. The tread has a lot of slick rock patches while just a blue square trail the pounding of the rock irregularity surface sent I’m not happy signals to my destroyed right shoulder. I like these trails. Again, hardly anybody on the trails. Big Lonely in spite of its name had the most riders at about 6.
Back in ’78 while thru hiking the PCT and living that lifestyle on weekends I encountered lots of backpackers. We got uppity about them and called them Wally Weekenders because they only came out on weekends. On Monday the trail was mostly the thru hikers. Same thing about riding as gthe weekends are when the normal 40 hr per week workers show up. This weekend on Mon afternoon many of the weekenders were gone. I was all alone at my campsite. The Horsethief BLM XG fills to capacity by middle afternoon most days.
Tuesday I Headed out for Fruita and Grand Junction driving I70. Head wind @ 80mph speed limit me at maybe 65. Continued to Junction. I picked up my new helmet at REI. I found the local Best Buy and bought replacement speakers that BB says will fit in my dash. Curiosity caused me to look at Crutchfield where I bought my stuff. Their installation guide shows these speakers not fitting. I called them this AM who supplied additional speaker info. I drove to BB this AM before the install appointment and queried a sales rep who looked at their install info and said the speakers will fit. I am now waiting affirmation at my 11:00 install appointment.
I drove back to Fruita stopping first at Ov er the Edge right in downtown. Welcome greeting from familiar faces. I hung around a little while. Took a shower at a health club: nice to have clean hair. Then dinner and beers at Hot Tomato. Jan, a co-owner visited with me. She said they have added a coffee shop and are working on a bakery. I see Hot Tomato stickers around the country. Another beer at the Copper Club hoping to involve someone in a Craig conversation. No such happening. I sat on the bench outside facing the main street to get a feel for local community vibe. I noticed that everyone stopped for the 4 way intersection. I did see drivers not coming to a dead stop but slow enough to indicate compliance. Calm drivers.
I drove out to a BLM TH outside of town. In years past I had slept in the lot. This spin thru I say no camping signs. Cross that spot off. Back up was a dirt shoulder on a dead end road near the state police barracks. I waited till after sundown and lower temps to park my van for the night.
Speaker install time.