road to redemption

Earlier this month, when we were in Moab, it rained every day and for most of those days, all day.  We were determined to redeem ourselves and actually experience some southern Utah desert-like weather, so we went back, driving down Saturday morning.  We left around 7 a.m., which meant that the traffic on I-15 through the Utah Valley wasn't too terrible for a change.

 Loki steals the truck

We got to the Moab Brand Trails at 10:30 a.m. and the sun was out!  As we puttered around, getting ready to ride, a woman parked next to us; her sweet rescue dog Loki made himself right at home by climbing into our truck and curling up on the driver's side floor.  Two circuits of Rusty Spur/Bar M loop were in order and, as usual, we pretty much had those trails to ourselves, despite the 60-odd cars in the parking lot.  We had post-ride peanut butter and banana sandwiches with our beers afterwards, chatting with Loki's mom and surveying the parking lot scene.

Cattle guard

At 3 p.m., we checked into the Kokopelli motel, got cleaned up and walked (not in the rain) to Woody's for beers.  The bartender not only recognized us but remembered our beer order - we felt like we were taking the first steps to becoming locals!

Yay MTBing!

We strolled over to Zax's for an early dinner - veggie pizza and part of a World Series game - and then were back at the motel for cocktails on the patio.  With it so late in the year, we were bundled up pretty well and sitting in the dark, but it still felt like the right thing to do.

Yay beer!

Ride stats:  16.42 miles; 1:30 hours; 10.9 avg. m.p.h.; 23.2 m.p.h. H's max speed