Well, slight change in plans today. Got up late, and we were both pretty sore from the hiking yesterday, so we figured we’d bypass the riding and go to Arches National Park, to knock that out.

Had Chinese for lunch, and headed out. Got some photos:

Those mountains are the Lasals, and the area in mid-photo are the Windows Arches.

Same place, different perspective.

This is Balance Rock – from this perspective, I think it looks a bit like E.T.

Beware of falling rocks!

That was Delicate Arch.

That was Fiery Furnace.

Landscape Arch, I think … and this last one – not sure what they call it – what would YOU call it?

Jolly Green Giant, maybe?

And that was our day!

Well, today we were going to ride, but decided it would be better to rest my wrist. Say that three times, fast! So, instead, we went to Canyonlands National Park. The plan is to also hit Arches National Park later in the week. Anyway, first we went to breakfast at the Jailhouse Cafe, where they had the most wonderful breakfasts. Excellent food! Sorry, forgot to take pics.

So then, off to Canyonlands! Actually took some photos! The ones from the phone will get posted later – here are the ones from my cameras:

There was also cool man-made stuff, like these granaries:

But I prefer just the landscape:

Of course, sometimes you see something in nature that reminds you of something man-made, so you have to take the joke photo of The Bear wearing a sombrero:

Then we go back to the landscape:

Yeah, yeah, those three were almost identical. ALMOST. I like the differences. Here’s one more:

That one, believe it or not, was done with my fisheye lens! But this one is my favorite – Right at sunset, and I saw this guy way out there, photographing the sunset. I though “Cool! It’ll be interesting to get a photographer in the photo!”. And then, he started to walk off! Caught him walking, which was a disappointment, much worse than standing there, and then I got THIS:

COOL!!! I like it!

And just like that, the day was done.

Got up at the CRACK OF FRIGGING DAWN. On purpose, even. My most excellent friend Leslee had mentioned that there was a lunar eclipse, and it might be a good idea to shoot it, so I got up at 5:00. UGH. Well, it would have been ok, had I got even ONE decent photo, but there were clouds, so many that the moon was just barely visible as a VERY blurry blood-red orb. No way I was getting a shot, so back to bed I went, to try and get more sleep.

Ok, woke up at a much more reasonable hour, and proceeded to get the truck ready to carry the tandem. Rearrange the back – take almost everything out except the trunk and the bike rack, and it JUST fit. I’ll get a photo later. Off to ride!

We figured Kokopelli, maybe the Rustler Loop, because it’s easy. When we got there, we remembered it was kind of sandy and twisty, and for a first tandem ride off-road, probably not the best choice. Well, ok then, we decided to do Mary’s Loop. This is a REALLY nice trail, except the very start is STRAIGHT UP a hill, for quite a ways, but … whatcha gonna do? Off we went up the hill. Luckily, the bike has LOTS of gears, and I put it in a very low one, and started grinding up the hill. Maybe 50 yards up, I was out of breath (it’s been almost a month of sitting on my ass!), so we stopped to try and catch it. A bit of a flat spot, so no problems getting started again. Up the hill we go … maybe another 50 yards, maybe a bit more. Stop to catch our breath. Walk the bike a bit, as there were some stair steps going up, and there is NO WAY I was comfortable trying that, put the bike in its lowest gear, and took off back up the rest of the hill. Very close to the top (of this climb, there’s always ONE . MORE . CLIMB in Colorado), we stopped a third time, to catch our breath, and this is where I displayed my very special talent. I crashed on the tandem. Think about that for a moment. “We” did not crash – “I” crashed. And yes, we were both riding the tandem out on the trail. I have VERY special talents! And a hurt wrist … and a booboo on my knee … and a sore elbow. And a VERY embarrassed look on my face! Nothing broken (I don’t think!), on me OR the bike, so life is good. Unfortunately, that cut the ride a bit short. No, we did not stop at that point, we kept on going until we got to the part where we would have had to carry the tandem over a bunch of rock obstacles, and then we turned around. The return was sweet, as it’s mostly downhill, and we had a blast! Never got going terribly fast, maybe 12-15 mph, but on a tandem, when you’re not used to it, off road – plenty fast! Sweet, sweet ride, just way too short. Well, we’ll see what happens in Moab!

Well, as planned, we headed into Cheyenne mid-morning, to get my Thule handlebar adapter for the tandem. Then, breakfast at IHOP! Of course, while we’re eating, Dan texts The Bear and asks her to bring him some stuff from the cabin – sorry, Dan, not gonna happen this trip.

The truck is doing well, and that’s a very good thing. Since we got it about a year and a half ago, we’ve spent more in fuel and repairs than we did for the truck itself. Oh, well.

Got up late, lazed around, then late in the day decided to go into town for dinner. Back to Casbah Pizza for diner, then back to The Mayor of Old Town, then of course, the obligatory milk shake at Coldstone Creamery. Truck feels fine. Tomorrow, we go up to Cheyenne to pick up a package, then head back here for the last time. Tuesday we head out.

Well, we got the call late yesterday that it WOULD be ready to pick up, so we got up early and called to verify and yes, it IS ready for pick up. Yay!

Went in to town and had breakfast at our semi-favorite breakfast place, The Breakfast Club, and this time I had the Corned Beef Hash Eggs Benedict. Pretty good.

Got the truck, and of course, it feels different. I was not overly fond of the rental, but I did get somewhat used to it over the time we had it, but it’s still good to have our truck back.

We’ll see how it does. Hopefully all the issues are done for a couple of years, at least, though we know it’ll need tires come spring.

Still waiting …

Got a call from the dealer again – they’ve found something else wrong. Number one injector needs replacing. I really think they’re just trying to get the cost of repairs up above the cost of the tandem. So far, it’s been close.

Ok, they managed to do it – they JUST edged out the tandem for largest expenditure on the trip. Damn. Truck better run REAL good now! Might get to pick it up tomorrow – we’ll see!

Still waiting. Did get a call from the dealer, and they are working on the truck, finally! Put two guys on it to get it knocked out. I guess it finally dawned on them they’ve had it for almost three weeks!