double session

 By working extra M-W, and bringing a little work home with me, we were able to head south Thursday evening, avoiding the crush of holiday weekend traffic that would be flooding into Moab Friday afternoon.  For Friday morning, we went MTBing at MOAB Brand Trails, getting a slow-ish start because the temperatures had not yet climbed, and leaving the house around 8:30 a.m.  It was sunny and the day's high would only get to 90 F - it wasn't nearly there yet so it was pretty pleasant.

Session 1.  Despite our late start, it still wasn't too crowded at the trailhead.  We climbed up the parking lot cutoff to Copper Ridge Road, then connected to Rusty Spur, to Lazy-EZ, to Bar M, to Circle O.  I didn't ride Circle O particularly well even though Milton and I had walked it so many times over the winter and spring.  At the end of Circle O, H continued around the north end of Bar M while I doubled back to the parking lot cutoff.  We met back at the truck for sandwiches and beers.

Nice day out on the rock

Session 2.  When we got home, we tackled the weeds in the front yard, then put down a cover of weed-block fabric.  We refuse to plant a lawn in the desert but our neighbors on either side of us have been putting in some effort with native plants and we've felt badly about our dirt-with-weeds.  After we rolled out the black weed-block, however, we realized that it was going to radiate heat something crazy and needed to be covered up.  There was an ad for unscreened mulch from the dump, $15/yard, so we hopped in the truck and got 'er filled up.  One load was enough for a thin layer so H went back for a second.  That provided good coverage and will hopefully discourage the weeds for a while.

Load #1

After unloading and spreading both loads of mulch by hand - via shovel and bucket, and H got a nasty blister from wielding the shovel for multiple hours - we were filthy with sweaty mulch dust.  And, needless to say, very thirsty.  A quick brush-off/hose-down later, we were at the bar at Woody's, chatting up locals and tourists and drinking our well-earned beers.

And, as we were sitting there, we mentioned being from Maine, which caused a girl across the bar to look up.  I know you guys, she exclaimed - and we realized that we had talked with her about a year ago, right on those bar stools there in Woody's.  She was a Delta flight attendant from Oklahoma and had been on a solo road trip during the pandemic furloughs.  After her trip, she'd gone home, gotten a boyfriend and then moved to SLC (a Delta hub) with him in November.  "You changed my life!" she said, as the boyfriend grinned and waved to us from the pool table.  That was pretty cool - and proof that talking to folks at bars is often worthwhile.