Today was a hiking/biking day for the gang in Moab. Some hiked at Dead Horse State Park and some bike what ended up being the most technical and probably most fun ride of the whole trip, Gemini Bridges.

 

mmmmmm . . . nine old guys all taking the same photo . . .

. . . but what a photo as we see part of our route of the last 4 days from above.

This group was making a new wall in an area most of us were happy not to get too close! Tough job . . . but someone has to do it!

Part of the White Rim Trail we biked over.

At this point, two of the group went hiking and the rest of us headed for the 24 mile Gemini Bridge downhill. A rock and rolling technical downhill ride.

Riding towards the La Sal Mountains and the Lil Canyon single track trail.

BillyB heading over the top of the rise . . .

Let’ boogie . . .

 

 

. . . well maybe not that fast!

. . . top of the world!

After our hearts stopped pounding from our run down Gemini Bridges we took the 13 mile paved trail back to Moab. BillyB says good bye to the trails of Moab . . .  until the next trip!

One last time to load the bikes . . . and disassemble at the condo. Clean up and off to supper at the Desert Bistro.

A gift from the Chef . . .

A delightful pear walnut salad . . .

Gaylord’s salad wrapped with cucumber slices!

Greg’s’ gourmet mac and cheese with pheasant sausage.

Rick’s gorgonzola encrusted beef tenderloin . . .

Gaylord’s bison with chipotle pepper!

How about another martini, Tom . . . ?

Let’s all have a piece of Bailey’s Irish Crème cheesecake and call it a night. Sweeeeeet dreams!

Today we move on from Moab.

One last stop for breakfast at the Love Muffin . . .

. . and the Eclektica restaurants. Some ate at the condo. Then . . .  time to pack!

As we made one finally sweep of the condo we discovered Gaylord had forgot his ‘puff’. Here is the ‘G’ rate version of his demoing the use of the puff.

We say good bye to Moab until next year . . . maybe the Maze in Canyonlands?

BillyB signs the group in on the Corona Arch. We are in  the federal register!!!!

At this altitude things were really blooming . . .

 

. . . even the cactus!

Visitors in even the most remote areas of BLM property seem to feel they need to leave their personal statement in the form of constructing a cairn. Here is one in a tree . . .

. . .  and here is an area of MANY personal statements. Could have been made my an mbbt contingent. We have a lot to say!!!!

Corona Arch . . . over 150 tall. People bungee jump from the top of it (some not successfully) and planes have flown though it! See mbbt video here.

20th century petroglyphs

Wow . . .some people knowhow to travel!!

After our Corona Arch tour we headed back to Moab for lunch at the infamous Milt’s Drive Inn. Then a quick drive out to the Slick Rock area . . .

. . . where those in the know say it was no more difficult than the Lil Canyon single track we ran.

Soon we were on the road along the scenic Colorado River on the way to Grand Junction where we would stay for the night and catch the train for Chicago in the morning.

On the way to our hotel, we dropped our bikes and checked luggage at the Amtrak station  in Grand Junction. No need to use the restroom to change into our travel clothes . . . just do it on the street. We are old guys who is going to arrest us!!!!!

One less thing to worry about in the morning. And the Amtrak staff were happy too!

Nice digs at Spring Hill Suites!

Local wheels  available to get around town, for only $35. Cheaper than a taxi!

Happy hour at the hotel and then time to eat.

Relaxing   . . .  and winding down from the adventure part of the trip.

Some went northern Italian and some went to the brew pub.

Gaylord helping out a local with a riding lesson along the way . . .

. . .  and BillyB making friends.

Yum!!

Gaylord’s pear gorgonzola salad . . . YUM!

TommyH has Osso Bucho . . .

Our dining neighbor Jennie and her three week old granddaughter, Kiara. Very sweet!

Christy delivers the goods . . . .

BillyB makes the right decision . . . !!!!

Time for sweet dreams in Grand Junction. Tomorrow we board the train!

Today we would board the Amtrak and head back to our worlds in MSN. At 6:00am word from the railroad was the trail was running an hour late. Considering we at one point were running two hours late and the train made it up depositing us in Grand Junction right on time, The one hour delay is hopefully no big deal.

So, in the mean time . . .

. . . let’s have a BIG breakfast!

Since we had several hours to kill be participated in the most popular American recreational activity  – shopping!!! We descending on several bikes stores who must have thought at least one of us was in the market for a new bike, but alas, just looking. Greg is one of our more ‘senior’ riders, in the sense of the number of miles under his belt over the years. Here he ties up with one of his old riding buddies, the Bikus Trantisourus.

With all of us being in the senior age category, age demands respect (or are they trying to get us out of the way) so we get preferential senior treatment and go to the head of the boarding line. Terry’s big smile? at 50 he is not yet one of us but reaping the benefits!!!

The train comes to a stop many times during the journey due to westbound freight traffic having track priority on the track. Here we come head to head with our sister train heading west, Train 5. There was an ‘issue” on board Train 5 so we both came to a stop and once it was resolved away we both went. One eastbound one westbound.

The train stops for 5 minutes in Glenwood Springs and the train station is right across the street from the local brewery. TommyG attempts a repeat of his 5 minute track race to procure a growler of local brew. Unfortunately, as you can see in the photo the street was torn up due to road construction and he would have had to run around the block to get to the back door and into the retail area. On the eastbound trip he made the trip with only 1 minute to spare. This added detour would have probably put him over the 5 minute window and he would have been left sharing his growler of beer with fellow rail passengers still on the loading dock. So . . . no eastbound growler this time!!! A sad mood hung over our car until we all headed to the Lower Level Lounge to drown our sorrows.

If one really wants o see some wild areas, not assessable by car, the train is REALLY the way to travel, especially through the Rockies. Kodak moment around every corner as you climb through canyon after canyon.

Our eastbound conductor was more chatty than our previous westbound conductor as he pointed out points of interest along the way. Early in our climb into the mountains he pointed out Deadman’s Curve where in the past there had been two accidents on the road around the top of the mountain. This one involved a mother and her daughter in the mid 1980’s. They were both killed when the mother drove off the road curve and her orange car rolled down the hillside.

In the early 1970’s, this station wagon with three teenagers in the car miss navigating the curve, drove off the road and rolled 50 feet. Luckily, all three escaped with minimal injures.

Most of us had dinner in the Dining car including a nice mixed salad, medium rare steak, with garlic mashed potatoes, a split of Cabernet followed by strawberry cheesecake. Soon . . . zzzzzzzzzzzz!

We all slept with varying degrees of success throughout the night, except for Gaylord and TommyH who  of course shared the luxurious sleeper compartment. We rolled into the central time zone and soon the sun was coming up as we rolled into the BEAUTIFUL Omaha Train station. Word was there is a BIG renovation project going on with the result hopefully being a mini Chicago type Union Station. Lot’s of land based infrastructure improvements as well as rolling stock and system improvements needed on America’s passenger railroad system if they ever wish to be competitive with airline and car travel.

We headed to the dining car and had a nice breakfast as the trained rolled through the western Iowa landscape. The train was about 2 hours late and all bets were off when we might actually arrive in Chicago. Then a four hour bus ride to MSN. It ended up we were traveling for over 36 hours to get home, arriving about midnight Friday. A loooong journey.

 

OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS:

The trip turned out to be a rousing success. And no wonder with all the planning sessions (READ: beer drinking) we had! Of course the credit goes to Greg who did a fabulous job with the planning and pulling all the details together. The condo, hotel, truck transport, biking, hiking, outfitter and food were all wonderful. Compared to Wisconsin, the terrain, grades and elevations were a new experience to may of us mountain bikers. The openness of the terrain, canyons structure, natural bridges, arches and especially the vistas of the Utah landscape was nothing short of STUNNING. Next time, some may fly to save some time . . . of course when being retired, what’s the rush!

A big part of the trail experience and success was contracting with Escape Adventures and the services provided by our camp master, Merrick. We all agreed it would have been a very much different experience without Merrick there at the end of the day to do the cooking and dish washing. He is a great young man and I’m sure will excel in his journey through life in whatever future endeavors he pursues.

The mbbt gang that went had a great time and will relive the adventure many times over beers at Funk’s, where we will undoubtedly start planning the next one!

Safe Riding!

Ridin’ Rick