What else can I call this! I have already been asked why we are not out riding… well, we live on the road, we can ride anytime, we ride a lot and sometimes we are tired. Just waking up from 13 hours of sleep this morning, I guess we both just passed out late afternoon yesterday. I am surprised that Spirit did not wake me up or called the Animal abuse center, poor guy. Our riding has been scattered lately as I enjoy non paved roads more than anything else, but till I get a knobby tire Wednesday I have been a bit apprehensive finishing some of the trails as the sand got deeper and the gravel not as friendly with a street tire. It is called being wiser I guess, not as foolish as past years when waiting for help at times up to three days as I remember once in Arizona! I even caught Spirit dozing off when he is normally perky for those rides.

And some times the one ear crooked dog! But maybe you like his T-shirt picture better! Hint… trust me that it will put some smiles on many faces.

The town is actually getting ready for Jeep Safari week. Organized trail riding, rock crawling… all the places my rig cannot go. Hoping that our invitation to ride in one of the jeeps comes through so we can experience what rock crawling is all about. This above so far has been my favorite 4 wheeler. Toyota cab with truck bed on a Mercedes Unimack chassis. Simple… clean lines, great color and I am sure a very efficient Big Boy’s Toy!!! That is what they are called… with however many women driving also. This "International" below which I had never seen before, looks pricey as I am sure they all are. We sure could go to some lost back country camping with such a vehicle and it sure is a hobby I don’t need or could not for that matter afford!

We are going to brave the cold one early morning to check out their start at the trails. Specially the one called Hell’s Revenge. It forks off at the start of the much easier Sand Flats trail which we rode a bit the other day. I would like to check out how of some of those vehicles handle this first step of the blackened by tires steep rock.

We like Sand Flats because it is dog friendly, being run by the county and BLM together. Much camping also is available on the different sites on each side of the road going up, but not free as it use to be. Nothing is free anymore around here! They are a couple famous bicycle trails near by also, the Slickrock and the Porcupine Rim trail and almost 40 miles of jeep trails world renowned for their combination of challenge and scenery. 7300 acres! Sand Flats trail actually makes a loop, having the choice to turn right back toward Moab at its end or left toward the gorge of the Colorado River. We turned around, we are waiting for this one tire!

Being on dog friendly land is always great. We can stop a lot, a bit of hiking, a bit of picture taking and listening to the silence is part of it all. Spirit is starting to chase lizards now, something new which I don’t worry about because he will never catch one! Spirit is posing on top of this rock mount… we know he likes to…

We came across a few bicycles, going up and then down, not too many campers yet as we might go back today to find out how the Jeeps are doing. I understand that by next weekend the town will be packed. As we rode on at higher elevation, the snow had not melted yet and even the water falls were still frozen.

The further we went, up and up, the colder it was, the less crowded it was also. I am looking for new places to camp eventually at the higher elevations as the weather gets warmer. The opportunities for pictures around here just does not cease, sometimes I feel we would be better off walking instead of stopping every few hundred feet as every time the helmet comes off, ear plugs, at least one to hear for oncoming vehicles if any, the gloves, eyeglasses off and back on… The little point and shoot cameras sure are nice to do exactly what they are meant to do, but their picture quality will not compare specially when the conditions are not quite right.

I don’t know if any other area offers as many outdoor activities as here in Moab. On and off road bicycling and motorcycling, 4×4 off road, rock climbing, snow skiing in the winter, hiking, camping, fishing, rafting, photography or just pure and simple black top driving through the many Parks. I am sure I am forgetting something here… People are nice, everyone just about here is from out of town, I did meet a native however and needless to say he has seen a lot of changes these past years.

And the time always comes around to go back, the views are spectacular, Moab at its best, truly an overwhelming Island of Paradise with so many destinations and never a dull moment for the senses and the camera!

Till next time… be well as always…

Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 8:15 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.