So Friday I drove to the Red Mesa trail system outside of Page. Another brand new trailhead and trails. Many trail miles crammed into a small area. Perimeter loop trail was machine scraped. Single tracks went off hither and yon. Most places paint dashes told the route. Some signage.
I was not whole heartedly involved for this ride. The blue color ability trails were technical, and as much as I wanted to stay on top of my bike, I feared the blacks would be really black for me to avoid.
BLM, different jurisdictions, spending $ to build new trail systems.
Changed form bike rider to van driver then pointed S down RT 89 to Flag to an interstate jog to exit onto 89A down Oak Creek canyon. Spectacular geology and colors. Today the sun was at late afternoon height casting the E facing canyon walls in shadow plus it was in my eyes. Sedona traffic backed up just short of uptown mass of vehicles and just 1 lane instead of 2. Sheesh, driving up Cook’s hill solid backup to get down to Y. Yes, back in Sedona, recall traffic flow. This is like a spring break. Familiarity.
Destination was Doug and Leia’s rental. Made their driveway. Warm greetings shared. Swift, their dog, and I have an established relationship so she nosed in for greeting. Comfortable evening somewhat lubricated by Scotch. Warm evening in their driveway, the furnace actually reached the lower thermostat setting and turned off eliminating the blower noise. I slid out of bed pleasantly warm.
Doug and I ride together. We both know trails here. Again, I become a follower as Doug figures a ride. Sat we met out at Cultural park which is now a signed city facility, closed from 10PM to 5 AM. Today at the beginning Doug routed us in a new way to me. Variation to get to the same place. System trails till we crossed dry Dry Creek connecting bunches of social trails to rejoin system trails up the way. Beautiful day
Doug, being faster, led and would stop when he wanted. I would catch up then we would visit for minutes. The riding gave us the opportunity to soak up being outside Dec 30th in light weight jerseys. Welcome to Sedona ride. I am recalibrating my reflexes to match Sedona tread. I pedaled for 2 hr 2 mins covering 14 miles climbing 1198′; by the clock, elapsed time was 4 1/2 hours. Towards then end I developed strong hunger pains from light lunch energy uptake and I failed to prepare for a long day from all the gab stops. Finale was climb up Axis.
Back at D & L’s place to continue friendship and to refuel on Leia’s home fixins’.
Back in my house parked in their driveway for the night. Pleasant temp evening. Sunday breakfast is my scratch blueberry pancakes. I ate entire batch to not even save several for later snack. I cleaned up kitchen and was just staring to gather the makings of my skillet cornbread. The skillet was on the propane fueled stove burner preheating for only a short moment when the burned faded: Ran out of propane. I retuned the cornmeal fixings back to storage. A short morning visit with Doug then I headed out. Hardware store for propane, full fill-up, fridge fired back up. Visited at Thunder Mountain with past connections. I bought a pair of their shop socks as they are a Revel dealer. Then down to VOC for reconnects. Spent time at Absolute for only 1 new guy to meet, others were known and reconnects.
D & L drove down. I met them here. Our group finally agreed on a hike out Turkey Creek area. I rode with then to a turnout on Verde Valley School road. Our hike was on trails that Doug and I have ridden. We well traveled when we heard a woman’s voice we answered back, she joined us. She asked for directions as she and her sister were lost and she was on 911 asking for help. We learned where they needed to go then acted as their guide as we were going in their direction. The trail is on FS land with private built up against the boundary. We saw a social trail heading in their desired direction so we hiked it to fence line of private property. It was now up to them to figure out the streets to get back to their car. Us 3 did a good deed.
New Year’s eve sleep spot is behind outlet mall in VOC. Might walk over to PJs to expose myself to revelry. Tomorrow Ian invited me on a ride. Grocery store ran out of broccoli that I wanted for my dinner. Run on other groceries also.
Zags lost as did Ohio State. I have allowed their misfortune to adversely affect me.
And that is all he created.