Getting Ready for the River

....... but first a little bike trip..............

I think I got out of Calgary just in time.  Air quality warnings every day due to the BC forest fires, and one in particular close to the Sunshine Ski Resort.

I meant to get up early and go for a bike ride before it got too hot.  Oops - good idea but bad execution.  Bright sunshine and not too bad to start (about 22C), but got up to 33C before I was done.  I rode the Murdock Canal to Provo Canyon, up the bike path there and then up a quiet rode for 4 miles to the end.  A pretty route and best of all - mostly bike paths and then just a quiet road.

Here are some pictures from the ride (66km, 1503' of elevation gain and loss).

Bridal Veil Falls along the Provo Canyon bike path.

This is the gate to Trefoil Ranch at the "end of the road".  This is a girl scout camp.

A couple of views near the top of the road.

This is a nice little park long the quiet road.

                                                          

Here's a nice house along the road and a gate to one of the ranches.  I loved the name of the ranch; thought I would use it if I ever come into possession of a ranch.

A few more views along the road/path on the way back.

Here's a good view of the Murdock Canal pathway - what a treat!  Smooth, wide, scenic.

I took this pic because it is classic Utah - an LDS church on every corner and every high school (near a mountain) has their letter up on it.  This "G" is for Pleasant Grove - the school that Mark teaches and coaches at.

And - getting close to "home", a view of Utah Lake from the trail.

These pictures are from Tuesday.  I repeated the same ride on Wednesday - a bit later start, so it got up to 36C before I got back.  Can't wait to get on the river, where I think it will be even hotter - yikes!

We're finishing up packing today and heading down to Moab this afternoon.  On the river tomorrow.  No connectivity for a while.

Getting to Utah

I had a good drive down to Utah.  Took a leisurely two days.  To Idaho Falls on Sunday and then on to south of Salt Lake City on Monday.  Sunday was great - hardly any traffic on the road, and a pretty drive that took about 12 hours including stops and slow zones through construction.  I especially love the area in Montana where the interstate parallels and crosses the Missouri River multiple times.  There were lots of people out on the river on rafts and in kayaks.  Here are some pictures from the scenic overlook in that area.  An advantage of being on a bike is that it is so much easier to stop for photos whenever the mood strikes.  Bottom line - pretty drive, but not much proof of it.

It was hot, though.  Pretty much at or over 30C the whole way.  I think I ran the a/c in my car more in 2 days than I have cumulatively in the last 15 years!  I have about 3 hours to the border from Calgary, so I was busily eating all the remaining fruits and vegetables from my fridge.  I didn't quite get through everything so I laid them out on the console, ready to give them up.  A really easy border crossing, though, and the officer didn't even ask about them.  For entertainment I was listening to "Learn to Speak Italian" CDs for as long as my brain could take.  I certainly don't have a head for languages, although I'm sure I entertained more than a few drivers if they looked in and saw me deep in concentration talking to myself.

On Monday I only had about 400km more to go, so had another leisurely start.  Being Monday, the traffic was a bit heavier but still not too bad until the Salt Lake City area.  Such a big city, and getting bigger everytime I'm through there!  Another beautiful and hot day.  Radio said 95 to 100F in SLC the next few days.  I decided that my brain wasn't ready for more Italian today so I started listening to right-wing talk radio.  Of course every topic was pretty much pro-Trump issues of one form or another.  Spent some philosophical time musing about the elusiveness of "truth" and "fact" and whether finding either of them was even possible in the complexities of the issues and personalities.  I wasn't passing judgement; just trying to understand the perspective of so many people who are still pro-Trump supporters.  Again, I fear my mind was boggled by what was coming out of my speakers.

I got to Sheila's about 12:30 and spent the rest of the day mostly getting in the way, I fear.  Such a busy household, with swimming lessons all day and family members going every which way.

Intro

Well, after a few months at home (probably the most consecutive weeks I've spent at or close to home since I retired!) it's time to hit the road again.  It would be nice to stick around Calgary for a while longer, especially since hiking season in the mountains is really just gearing up, but there are a couple of trips I'm really looking forward to.

First up is a river trip in Utah.  My good friend Sheila has managed to pull this together for us.  Back in March I sent her a message to say that if she were ever to do the Green River again and needed another body, I would like to go.  Well - a few days later she's got a plan and a few weeks after that we're pretty much booked.  Key to the plan was her friend Amy who knows the river quite well.  It seems that Amy didn't need much convincing............

For a number of years I had heard good things about the Ride Idaho annual bike ride, and had it somewhere on my radar.  Last fall one of the ladies from our 2015 Atlantic Coast ride gave us all the heads-up that registration would soon be open and that she had ridden it in 2016 & highly recommended it.  It sounded like the right time to do it.  In the end, we have 4 women from the Atlantic Coast ride - me, Barbara, Gishi & Patricia.  We will also have two friends of Barbara's from Georgia - Alice and KJ - joining us.  We won't be alone, though!  I believe the registration limit is 350 riders.  The ride is August 5th to 12th.