moab long weekend (day 1)

On a bit of a whim, we decided to go to Moab, Utah, for a long weekend getaway.  There was a big road ride going on - the Moab Century Tour - so when I managed to snag a last minute motel room due to a fortuitous cancellation, H registered for the century, we tossed B in the kennel and loaded up the truck.  We really need to get a bike rack but H managed to fit it all in: two MTBs and a tub of gear in the back of the truck; his road bike and our overnight bags behind us in the cab.  It's about a four hour drive from our house to Moab so we got up and got going Friday morning, and rocked out to country music the whole way down.  (You really have to listen to country music when you're driving through the back of beyond in Utah.)

We made one brief refueling stop in Green River, where I picked up a Crenshaw melon from a Vetere family melon stand - growing the famed Green River melons since 1958.  We arrived in Moab in time for a late lunch at the Moab Brewery, the only microbrewery in town; I had a Deadhorse Ale, a traditional English mild ale, and H had their Scorpion Pale Ale, which is a tasty and hoppy brew.  Next door to the brewery is one of Moab's many bike shops, the Chile Pepper Bike Shop.  There, a cute MTB chick gave us a suggestion on some beginner MTB trails.  Moab is a mecca for outdoors sports - hiking, river running, canyoneering, climbing, 4x4ing, and especially MTBing - the surrounding slickrock is pretty gnarly, though, and much of it way above my skill level, so we wanted some advice from the locals.

Kokopelli Lodge in downtown Moab

First, however, we checked into our motel, the funky little Kokopelli Lodge (72 South 100 East).  Built in the 1950s, this eight-unit motel was just what I hoped for: extremely reasonable, quiet, just a block off Main Street, colorful and not a cookie-cutter chain.  The room was small but comfortable, with a private bath, mini-fridge, microwave and coffee maker, and the A/C cranked.  Two office dogs, Ruby and Jed, helped check us in; we kind of wished we could have borrowed Ruby for the night since we hadn't brought B.  We will absolutely stay there again.

After we'd checked in, we changed into MTB duds and drove a few miles north of town, as recommended, to the Moab Brand trails.  We opted for one of the two easy rides, the Bar M trail, an 8-mile loop with only about 300 feet of elevation change.  The trail surface was hard pack, a little loose rock and slickrock, and the terrain was rolling ups-and-downs, much more enjoyable to me than the all-up/all-down canyon riding I've attempted along the Wasatch Front.  The scenery was pretty good too - lots of fun.

Always check your brakes before a ride

We only made one loop, though, because the thunderclouds were rolling in.  By the time we'd gotten back to town, the storm was in full force - thunder, crazy lightning and lots of rain - and it rained off and on all night, letting up enough to let us scurry around the block for a quick dinner at Eddie McStiff's (used to be a brewpub but now they contract the brewing out to SLC).  We called it an early night since it was going to be a big day tomorrow - H's 100 mile ride, for instance - and fell asleep to the sound of rain on the roof.  So far, Moab was looking to be a good choice for the weekend.