Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Palo Verde - California here we come!

Day 68: Palo Verde, California

Hello from Palo Verde, CALIFORNIA! Today’s ride was hot and humid. We departed Salome, AZ around 6:00 a.m. and arrived in Quartzsite, AZ (about 38 miles) by 8:30 a.m. We had planned to visit a bookstore in Quartzsite that Marcia had recommended however it did not open until 10 a.m. and with it being hot and humid we didn’t want to wait around in the heat. In Ehrenburg, AZ we crossed the Colorado River into California at around mile 60 for the day. We then stopped for lunch at the library in Blythe, CA where we ate, napped and hung out in the library while Jon and Anish went looking for food donations.

After a short nap I went with Alex and Andrew to the eye doctor to try and get Alex a replacement contact lens after she unfortunately lost one of hers in Wickenburg. Because she has a special kind of contact they were unable to replace it however she was able to get her eye doctor to fax a copy of her prescription to the optometrist in Blythe so she could get a regular contact allowing her to see a little better. While we were waiting for the fax to come through we went to the ice cream shop next door and had ice cream! I had a “dirt & worm” freeze which was fresh California night crawlers mixed in dirt and frozen… ok, I’m kidding it was the normal chocolate and vanilla ice cream with gummy worms and crushed Oreo cookies. After we got Alex’s contact we headed back to the church where we found the majority of people had left for Palo Verde. I quickly ran to the gas station down the street to fill my water bottle with ice water and then returned to the Library where I checked my email before heading toward Palo Verde with Alex, Sehee, Andrew, Sean, Drew and Brandt. We met Keith and Dan who were driving the van at a gas station about 10 miles out of Palo Verde where we filled up on water before continuing on to finish the days ride.

When we arrived in Palo Verde we met everyone at the Lagoon Lodge where Alex’s aunt had generously purchased us hotel rooms for the night so we wouldn’t have to camp in the heat. (Thank you!) Alex, Sehee and Brandt made an amazing dinner of sweet & sour chicken and rice along with fruit cocktail for dessert.

After dinner I showered before heading to bed on one of the couches in the suite. It’s amazingly nice to have air conditioning in this weather!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Short day to Salome

Day 67: Salome, AZ

Tonight is our last night in Arizona as tomorrow we will head to Palo Verde, California. Our ride today was perhaps one of our easiest yet as we got tailwinds the majority of the way and arrived at the Lion’s Club here in Salome around 10:15 a.m.

We woke up this morning at 4:15 a.m. and were on the road by 5:30 a.m. A bunch of us wanted to stop at Marcia’s before leaving Wickenburg so we split into two groups today with one heading straight for Salome and the other to Marcia’s. I was in the group that stopped at Marcia’s and when we arrived at her home about a mile from the church she was outside waiting for us. After showing us her garden and fascinating Peace Pole she brought us out more goodies with a little something for everyone. For me she had a juggling kit as I told her the night before that I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and thus she thought I could figure it out while learning to juggle. James who did not have an “ornament” on his handlebars now has a squeaky foot! We left her house with a bike bag full of goodies that are sure to entertain us throughout the remainder of our journey. After departing her home we met up with Drew who was driving the van about 15 miles down the road. We then caught tailwinds and cruised the next 15 miles to our second rest stop before catching up to the first group at rest stop number three. From there we finished the rest of the ride arriving in Salome around 10:15 a.m. It was a short day as we only covered 55 miles.

Once at the Lion’s Club (our host here in Salome) we unpacked our coolers and ate lunch after which the majority of the team decided to take advantage of the extra time and catch up on sleep. I took advantage of the chance to use James’s computer while no one was on it and downloaded all (1,500+) of my digital photos to his computer. His computer is the holder of the photos so that after we finish the ride DVD’s can be made for everyone containing everyone’s photos.

I have to admit I’m rather glad that we got in early today as I stepped outside mid-afternoon and quickly returned inside as it was unbearably hot out. At dinner time Sean and I made Chili and rice and then had our master watermelon carver Brandt cut watermelon for desert.

After dinner I began working on transcribing Marcia’s Portrait Project interview to for presentation in San Diego. We are hoping to be able to get at least three Portrait Projects transcribed and put on boards to show at our welcoming picnic in San Diego.

Goodnight from Salome.... California here we come!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Wickenburg Part II

Day 66: Wickenburg, AZ

We are now once again in Wickenburg after having traveled a much shorter route from Chandler this morning. We managed to get on the road around 5:30 a.m. and were able to enjoy riding through the neighborhoods of Phoenix with relatively little traffic with it being a Sunday morning. My riding group today consisted of Allison and Andrew. Within the first hour of the ride Andrew had two flats (apparently there are tire sharks in the streets of Phoenix!) I gave him a patch to repair his second tube and luckily it seemed to hold up the rest of the day. After stopping for the second flat we figured that we were most likely a ways behind the rest of the group, however to our surprise we were soon caught by the “coffee boys” (Mark, Mike and Sean) who unbeknownst to us had made a detour to Starbucks shortly after we left the Temple in Chandler. We followed them for awhile until we reached the canal path at which time they turned it up a notch and took off. After riding the canal path into Phoenix two days ago I realized that we were entering the canal route in the middle of the route rather than the start where our first water stop was so I called Dan (today’s driver) to tell him not to wait on us and that we would be fine until the next stop. At this point we thought we were still playing catch up however about 10 miles after we got off the canal path Allison got a call from a group who had just gotten off the canal path meaning somewhere we managed to pass about ¾ of the team without realizing it. Andrew, Allison and I then stopped at a gas station for a mid-morning snack and to refill our water bottles before proceeding on to meet Dan in Surprise, AZ for a quick water break. Soon after we left Dan we got a call from the group behind us telling us to flag Dan down as they were having trouble with flats and needed van assistance. We successfully flagged him down and refilled our own water before continuing on and sending him back. At this point we were only about 20 miles from Wickenburg so we decided we would finish the ride and wait to eat lunch once we got into Wickenburg.

When we arrived in Wickenburg we stopped at the library to see if it was open before realizing that it was Sunday and most libraries are not open on Sunday. It’s easy to lose track of time/days when you’re on the road. After stopping at the church and finding nobody there we called the pastor to have him come unlock the church before heading downtown to find Mark, Mike and Sean who were relaxing in a coffee/sandwich shop. We still hadn’t eaten lunch so I had a small ice cream at the shop before heading up the road to Safeway to buy some fruit and Yogurt. When I got back to the church I ate my lunch and made a few phone calls while waiting for the van and rest of my teammates to arrive. Soon after the van arrived a woman from the community showed up for a portraits project interview. Mark and I spent about half an hour interviewing her before everyone else showed up.

The pastor and his wife then came by generously bringing us dinner consisting of an assortment of foods from Kentucky Fried Chicken and Long John Silver. As we were finishing up our dinner Marcia stopped by with some trinkets for us along with many more stories to tell. Shortly after Sean and I left to go get dinner for the following night since it was our turn to cook. After pricing everything down to the penny we found the ingredients to make Chili and had enough left over to buy Watermelon and still be within our budget!

I’m now sitting in the back of the fellowship hall where the “gas station boys” (Dan, Drew, Brandt, Keith) are watching Saw III while everyone else is either outside working on their bike or has headed downstairs to go to bed.

On a side note I found a little rubber ducky on the side of the road today in Surprise, so now my squeaky bike has its own squeaky toy to join Uncle Sam on my handlebars! Yes, I think my chain and derailleur need a good cleaning.

Also, Congratulations to the Hopkins 4K team as they finished their ride today in San Francisco!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Take me out to the ball game...

Day 65: Chandler, AZ (Off Day)

I awoke this morning bright and early covered in Arizona dirt after spending the night outside. Apparently I’d rolled off of my sleeping mat in the night leaving me covered in a nice coat of Arizona dust! All is good though as it is day 65 and a little dirt isn’t going to hurt me. With the luxury of having showers at the Temple the first thing I did upon waking was head for the shower. Alex was up and talking with Malcolm but it was still early and everyone else appeared to be sleeping. After my shower a few others had awoken and were in the kitchen helping Malcolm prepare breakfast so I joined Alex, James and Anish as we made tortillas and some kind of spicy rice.


After breakfast a group of us decided we were going to venture into Phoenix via public transportation to go watch the Diamondbacks play the Braves. We headed to the bus stop about a half a mile from the Temple where we boarded a bus and after one transfer made it to Chase Field a little over an hour later. On the second bus I met a guy who actually knew where Oneonta was and told me that his daughter had been shopping in Oneonta the day before. Apparently he had spent some time working in nearby Greene and his daughter is still in the area – it’s a small world! Once we got to the stadium we purchased $11 tickets at the window outside the stadium for the upper leftfield section. It was Carlos Quentin bobble head day meaning they gave each person who entered the stadium a bobble head doll of outfielder Carlos Quentin. Alex and I wandered around the stadium for awhile before finding our seats. Keith, Brandt, Sehee and Drew were already seated when we arrived while Dan and Andrew had wondered down to field level to try and snag some seats. In the middle of the fifth inning we suddenly heard “And now we have Andrew here…” announced over the PA system. We look up and there on the jumbotron is none other than ANDREW BARFIELD! Next thing we know we look down on the field and there he is out running around in the outfield after having been selected for a “between innings” promotional game. He had three chances to catch three fly balls, if he caught two of the balls he would win 3,000 US Airway miles and if he caught all three he would win 5,000 Airway miles. He ended up catching all three baseballs and came away with the 5,000 air miles, a t-shirt and a baseball. The game ended up going into extra innings with the Diamondbacks winning in the 10th inning 4-3.

After the game we took the bus back to the Temple where we had dinner donated by Keith’s cousin from Old Chicago Pizza of Chandler. Old Chicago gave us each an individual salad along with enough pan pizza’s to fill everyone. (Thank you to Old Chicago and Keith’s cousin for the delicious meal!) After dinner we had a team meeting to discuss some things before heading to bed. Tonight I’m opting to stay away from the dirt and sleeping on the sidewalk!

Video Update - Andrew on Chase Field!

Here is the video I captured of Andrew on the field in Phoenix!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Chandler - Part I Parking Lot Naps

Day 64: Chandler, AZ

I’m happy to say that after a loooong day, we have made it to Chandler!! Today’s ride was long and warm. We departed Wickenburg bright and early headed toward the Phoenix area. After our first water stop about 30 miles into the ride we continued on and quickly made our way into the suburbs of Phoenix. In Peoria, Anish, Jon, Nick and I stopped for a mid-morning breakfast snack off the McDonald’s breakfast menu before continuing onward.

We met Alex who was driving the van in the parking lot of an office complex and decide we would hang out there for awhile allowing the groups behind us to catch up so we could ride through Phoenix together. While waiting we got a call from one of the groups behind us saying that both Brandt and Keith had flats and needed van support. Soon afterward Dan and Drew showed up telling us the same thing. We called Alex who had left to support the group ahead of us telling her to come back but with the mid-day traffic in Phoenix this was easier said than done. We waited about an hour napping in the shade of the car shelters before Alex arrived with Brandt and his bike. Brandt’s back tire was in poor shape so after interchanging his back wheel with Alex’s back wheel, Alex left to go pick up Keith. After Alex left Brandt discovered that his helmet was still in the van and thus we decided to split up the group with Dan, Anish and I continuing on toward Chandler while Jon, Nick, Drew and Brandt waited for the van to return with Keith. Also while we were napping in the parking lot, James had called to tell us he was at the airport. This came as a surprise to us all as we didn’t think he was arriving until tomorrow. In order for Alex to get to the airport in a timely manner we decided it would be best for her to pick up Keith, drop off Brandt’s helmet and then continue on to the temple to drop off Keith and our lunch before going to get James at the airport.

Back on the road Anish, Dan and I decided we would take the bike route through Phoenix rather than deal with the traffic. It was extremely hot out and we made a few stops to fill up our water bottles and at a fruit stand purchase fresh mangos before stopping in Guadalupe for lunch. Anish and Dan each had some form of Mexican food while I enjoyed my mango and a protein bar. From lunch the temple was only about four more miles. When we arrived at the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center Iskcon Phoenix we found Alex and James there waiting for us. I was extremely excited to find out that there were showers at the temple and that we were allowed to use them as it had been an extremely warm day and a nice cool shower was perfect. Malcolm (who does the cooking at the temple) had prepared an Indian type of rice for us that was really good (sorry I can’t remember what it was called as it was different than normal rice). The rest of our teammates slowly began to trickle in within the next hour. After everyone arrived we had a short team meeting before a group of us attended a service in the temple that included music and singing. At the conclusion of the service the temple president brought our group into a circle and explained the different parts of the ceremony to us. I was impressed by the fact that they change the deities clothing everyday, dressing them in their pajamas at night and then redressing them every morning. The deities were dressed beautifully and I imagine a lot of work goes into dressing them.

After we got done talking with the temple president a few riders meet individually with our leaders to voice their concerns on certain issues. When the meetings concluded Andrew, Dan, Drew, Keith and I headed up the street to get ice cream at the Circle K gas station. While the ice cream at the Circle K could not compare to that of Woody’s in Monticello, UT it was still delicious! I was rather tired from the long day so after eating my ice cream Dan and I decided to head back to the temple. It’s beautiful out so I’m sleeping under the stars on the “Arizona dirt lawn” outside the back door. Goodnight!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Wickenburg Part I

Day 63: Wickenburg, AZ

We are now in Wickenburg, AZ a small town of about 5,000 people 50 or so miles northwest of Phoenix. Today’s ride was a good one and I’m happy to report that after my two flats yesterday the tires held up fine today! The morning began like any other morning with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, Sehee then presented the daily Mosher before we picked our groups and were on the road by 5:20 am!

My group today consisted of Allison, Jon and Andrew. About 10 miles into the ride Allison and Brandt (who was in the group right in front of us) both got flats simultaneously at a stop light. After Allison changed her flat our group headed onward to Prescott, our first water stop of the day. In Prescott some groups stopped for coffee however with a climb right ahead my group opted to continue on and get the climb out of the way before the temperatures rose to high. We climbed some very curvy roads for awhile before descending down some very similar roads. Apparently we were making good time because we pulled into Yarnell, our lunch stop, at 9:45 a.m. and stopped at Cornerstone Bakery to wait for the van and get a little bite to eat. By this time we had gone 30+ miles since our last stop in Prescott and I was rather hungry so I had a small maple frosted doughnut from the Bakery and then made myself a peanut butter-oatmeal cookie-apple butter sandwich when the van showed up.

From lunch we climbed a small hill before beginning our decent down into a small town called Congress. The view at the top of the hill before the decent was rather amazing as everything below looked extremely miniaturized. The rest of the ride was mostly flat and we were able to reach Wickenburg by noon.

Once in town our first stop was at the Wickenburg library where we stopped to check our email and take care of a few things before heading over to the church. Our host in Wickenburg was St. Albans Church and they opened their fellowship hall for us to use while also letting us use a couple of rooms down stairs that had extremely soft carpeting which made for comfortable sleeping! When we arrived at the church we took turns taking showers with the hose in the small courtyard and rested as we waited for all of our teammates to arrive.

Late afternoon a woman named Marcia stopped by to share her experience with Leukemia with us as part of the Portrait Project. Marcia is an artist and also shared some of her work with us. She also gave us each two postcards which she had made. If you get a chance you can check out some of her work on her website at YellowMoon Rising. As we were talking with Marcia the pastor’s wife stopped by with pizza for dinner. While we were eating dinner she left and went to the grocery store where she bought us apples, oranges and bananas along with pretzels and chips to go with the cookies Marcia had brought us for dessert! A special thank you to both women for their generosity in making sure we were fed properly! After dinner we spent a little more time talking with Marcia about how cancer has impacted her life before she headed home for the night. We will be back in Wickenburg in three days and hope to be able to visit her home and see her peace poll then. It’s getting late and we have a long ride to Chandler tomorrow so I’m heading to bed. Goodnight!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

One Flat, Two Flat...

Day 62: Chino Valley, AZ

Today’s ride was a rather easy and good despite the fact that I got my first two flats of the trip – both within a 20 mile stretch! Congrats go out to Keith on being the lone survivor in the no flats club!

We got to sleep in an extra hour this morning due to the fact that the Pine Country Restaurant where we ate lunch yesterday, loved us so much they decided to have us back for breakfast at 5:30 am! The generosity of the people we meet continues to amaze me and the Pine Country Restaurant is definitely one awesome place in my book. I enjoyed a delicious Cinnamon Roll French Toast breakfast that came with sausage and scrambled eggs along with coffee. (Yes, French Toast!) After breakfast Zach had the famous Mosher card and did the daily Mosher inspiration/quote before saying goodbye as he left for the final time before he rejoins us in San Diego.

Shortly before 7:00 am I set off with Jon, Andrew and Sehee. The first 20 miles of the ride was all highway as I-40 was the only way to Ash Fork. There was quite a bit of metal and other garbage along the side of the highway and when I got to our water stop in Ash Fork I noticed my back tire appeared a little soft so I added some air. After the water stop we headed south on SR 89 for about 26 miles. Just about a mile before we reached our third water stop in Paulden I encountered my first flat tire. I was going down a hill when my front tire suddenly started making a zipping sound. I knew immediately what it was and yelled to the guys ahead to stop. (The photo on the left is the site of flat #1 - AZ SR89 South Mile 340) Having seen flats changed numerous times but never having actually changed a flat myself Jon, Sehee and Andrew assisted me. They pulled a piece of glass and a small pebble out of the tire before I finished changing the tube. We then continued on to Paulden where we found numerous people changing flat tires at the water stop – apparently it was a day for flats. After everyone was set and ready to go we made our way toward Chino Valley. The dark sky finally opened up just as we arrived in Chino Valley so Jon, Andrew, Sehee and I pulled into Walgreens to take shelter and get directions to the library where we were meeting everyone for lunch. As we were leaving Walgreens I noticed that my back tire was now completely flat and because I had used my one tube already I did not have another one on me. Jon, Andrew and Sehee then left to go track down Sean who was driving the van and see if I could get another tube out of my bag. While waiting I noticed Sean drive by in the support van and turn into the Safeway across the street. Once at Safeway I found Sean and Drew (who had also gotten a flat) and retrieved a spare tube from my bag before they headed back to the library to provide lunch to the rest of the team. Thankfully I was able to change the back flat myself, pulling three staples out of the tire before changing the tube. After changing the tire I headed to the library for lunch covered in dirt and grease.

At the library I ate a quick lunch and used the internet for a few minutes before departing for the church to unpack the van. Sean, Keith, Dan, Drew and I all needed things from a bike shop and since we were unable to locate one in Chino Valley we headed 15 miles south to Prescott, AZ where we found High Gear Bicycle Shop. After the piece of glass went through my front tire today leaving a rather large gap I figured I could probably use a new tire. I had purchased a spare in Springdale, UT that I could use on the front. Despite the three staples and almost 5,000 total miles the back tire still looked ok however I decided to play on the safe side and purchase a spare to have on hand. I also purchased new break pads as my back breaks were wearing a bit thin.

When we got back to the church Allison and Andrew left to go find dinner and came back with personal pizzas, watermelon and ice cream! Alex and I added to the food supply by making the Christmas cookies that we were unable to make in Williams because the oven was broken.

Tomorrow morning it is off to Wickenburg at 5:00 AM!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Christmas in July

Day 61: Williams, AZ

Hello and Merry Christmas! Today is July 24th and we are celebrating Christmas in July! We would have celebrated on July 25th but Zach leaves us tomorrow morning and we wanted to share our Christmas in July festivities with him.

This morning we woke up at the Grand Canyon packed up camp and enjoyed Peanut Butter and Jelly for breakfast before getting on the road toward Williams, Arizona. It was my day to drive so after the group left I did one final sweep of the campsite to make sure nothing was forgotten before getting on the road. I had company in the van today as Zach is still with us so we enjoyed some old school songs on my iPod as we got on the road. Let's just say my music collection from HS was merged into my iTunes collection and thus are on my iPod.

At our first water stop just past Tusayan I had Brandt check the van as the speedometer had not been working. After a few minutes he was able to get it working however noticed that the gas seemed low so after making sure everyone was set I headed back to Tusayan to put some gas in the tank. Gas in Tusayan was $3.69, knowing that was a bit on the steep side due to Tusayan being right outside the Canyon I opted to only put enough in to get us to our destination.

The next place I met up with the group was in Valle, Arizona at Flintstone Bedrock City where part of the group stopped to take photos while others stopped across the street to wrestle the giant bear statue and visit the gas station. After stopping for a few minutes at Bedrock City I proceeded on a few miles before pulling over and waiting for the group to catch up, after they passed me I continued on to Red Lake (eight miles outside of Williams) where I waited for everyone before heading into Williams.

Once in Williams Zach and I found the church fairly easily and then found the rest of the team at a thrift shop where they were shopping for Christmas in July gifts. For our Christmas in July celebration we had each picked a name out of a hat while in Monticello, UT and had to find a gift for our person under $5.00. Upon hearing what we were doing the woman in the thrift store offered to let us borrow whatever we wanted and told us she would pick it up at our host church the following day. Alex, Allison and I all decided we would dress up for our Christmas in July dinner and each picked out dresses to wear. I also found a CD of Christmas music to play. While I was in the thrift shop Dan arrived and told me that Drew had a flat and needed a lift. I found Drew sitting alongside the road with Keith about six miles outside of Williams patiently waiting for my arrival. After loading Drew’s bike on the roof and giving Keith my cell phone in case he needed anything Drew and I drove on to Williams chalking the way for Keith.

When we arrived back at the Church we found the majority of the team there waiting and were informed that Alex had gotten the Pine Country Restaurant around the corner to donate lunch. We then walked to the restaurant where we were allowed to order anything we wanted for lunch and then pie for dessert! I got a turkey melt for lunch with potato salad and then coconut cream pie for dessert – it was very good and we all left the restaurant full. Before leaving we took a photo with the owner outside the restaurant (photo left) and then headed back to the church. We had been unable to get in touch with the pastor so we hung out on the front steps for awhile letting our food digest and hiding from the rain. While we waited Anish, Nick and Jon went to try and find showers and were successful as the Williams Aquatic Center said we could use their showers. I drove the van over to the Aquatic Center so people could get their stuff out and then walked back to the church to give everyone there directions (it was literally just around the corner). When I got back to the Aquatic Center Anish and Nick were done with their showers so Nick waited with the van while I went in to shower. After I showered I collected everyone’s stuff in the van and headed back to the church.
We were still trying to get in touch with the pastor of the church and I was also waiting for Mark to call from the grocery store as he and Mike were cooking Christmas dinner and had rode their bikes to the store to pick out the food. While I waited I decided to head back to the thrift shop to browse as it was just around the corner. The lady that runs the store recognized me from earlier and asked if we had gotten into the church yet. When I replied that we were still trying to get a hold of the pastor she made a few phone calls and got someone from the church to come unlock it for us as the pastor was not in town. I then headed back to the church once again and shortly after I got there a woman named Julia showed up to open the church. After unloading the van I headed to Safeway to pick up Mark’s dinner groceries and transport them back to the church. While dinner was being prepared I helped Alex do a little Christmas decorating, wrapped my secret Santa gift and got dressed in the black dress that I had borrowed from the thrift store. Alex and Allison also got dressed up in their dresses while Nick was dressed as Santa - white beard and all!

Dinner consisted of carrots, greens, rice and chicken with hot apple cider to drink. We then had Mark’s cookies and milk for dessert! After we were done eating we took turns going around the table passing out our gifts. I was Sean’s “secret Santa” and had gotten him a book on Cactus’s from the Grand Canyon, a sesame street Christmas coloring book (he and Andrew had a good time coloring in Hite, UT), crayons, silly putty, a little toy I found that looked like a giant Lego man, and a candy bar. Mike was my Santa and gave me a pair of sunglasses, a Cactus Egg Greenhouse and Sour Jelly Belly’s (Mark’s nickname for me is Sour Sandy). And that was our Christmas in July. Goodnight and Merry Christmas eve!

The following photos are from our Christmas in July celebration.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Grand Canyon - Part II The Grocery Store

Day 60: (Off Day) Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim

This morning I woke up at 5:00 am in order to get a little hiking in before heading to a Canon Photography workshop at 9:00 am. Our early morning hiking group consisting of Anish, Nick, Jon, Zach, Alex, Sehee and myself reached the top of the Bright Angel trail at 6:15 am. Around 7:00 am Sehee and I turned around in order to head back up and get to the photography workshop. We did not know how long the hike up would take and decided to play it safe however we reached the top a lot faster than expected and decided to go get coffee before heading over to the Canon Workshop.

The workshop was free and sponsored by Canon meaning they let us use all their top of the line equipment (while they held on to our credit cards as collateral.) Unfortunately it started raining right after they started talking about the Histogram and we had to turn the cameras in. While using the cameras we were allowed to take as many photos as our memory card would hold (mine held 111 photos) and they then burnt all of our photos onto a CD for us to keep while also printing one photo onto a photo postcard. I ended up taking over 70 photos while Sehee ended up with 13 after he deleted many of his.

After the photo workshop we went to the grocery store where I bought Raisin English Muffins, Apple Butter and a bottle of milk for lunch before heading back to the campsite. We had just begun to eat our lunch when it started pouring. With everyone else still out and about Sehee and I quickly gathered everybody’s stuff and threw it into the tents and van before seeking shelter for ourselves. Just as we were finishing gathering the stuff Dan, Drew and Brandt came running back to check on their things which they had left out. They were very thankful to find their stuff safely dry in the van with the exception of Brandt’s sleeping back which we missed as it was on the picnic table of a neighboring campsite where he slept the night before.

I then headed to Post Office to mail some postcards before catching the bus to the Yavapai Observation Station. About five minutes after I got there it started raining harder and began thundering sending me back to the grocery store where I bought a cup of French Vanilla/Hot Chocolate and sat with Anish, Nick, Sean, Andrew, Jon and Zach at the Canyon Village Deli for the next six hours. We spent the time refilling our cups of hot chocolate (numerous times), eating, reading magazines and books from the magazine/book area and trying to figure out Zach’s brain teaser games. Around 6:00 pm I left the grocery store to head over to the Shrine of the Ages where the people from Canon were doing a wildlife photo slideshow and were also handing out our photo CDs from the morning.

Following the wildlife slideshow I returned to the grocery store where I found everyone right where they were when I left. I then bought myself a grocery store dinner that consisted of a frozen pizza burrito which I was able to warm using my cup of very hot, hot chocolate. At 7:45 pm we all finally left the grocery store heading back to camp for a team meeting at 8:00 pm before heading to bed.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Grand Canyon - Part I

Day 59: Grand Canyon, AZ

Hello from the Grand Canyon! Today’s ride from Cameron was a nice change from recent days as we had cloud cover keeping it cool throughout the ride. My legs felt good today and considering we were on an uphill grade most of the way into the canyon we made excellent time. Our entire group was together at the first water stop before breaking off into groups so that we could enter the Grand Canyon staggered.

My riding group for the day consisted of Anish, Allison, Nick, Seheee and Alex. A few miles from the canyon a group of motorcyclist had passed us and as we approached the “Welcome to the Grand Canyon” sign we saw them stopped alongside the road. We thought this would be an awesome opportunity for a photo and stopped to ask if we could take a photo with them which they happily obliged, posing for a group photo with our small riding group.

After paying our entrance fees at the entrance we headed to the first viewpoint to check out what we had been anticipating for days. It was a rather cloudy day so while the view was not quite as I had imagined it would be I was still in awe at the size of the canyon. After spending about half and hour at the viewpoint Allison, Anish and I decided we would head toward the campground in the Grand Canyon Village with the sky looking like it could pour at any given second. When we reached the village we made a quick stop at Mather Point before continuing on to the village where we found Jon, Mike and Sean sitting at the Grocery store dinning area eating. With it being lunch time I went and bought a Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal bar and small bottle of milk to hold me over until the van reached the village. When the van arrived we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly along with numerous other interesting combinations of sandwiches. Sean made an amazing discovery in that you could buy a small cup of hot chocolate for $1.27 and refill it as many times you wanted throughout the day so with it being a cool day we also enjoyed hot chocolate with our lunch.

As more and more of our riders started arriving at the grocery store some laid down to take naps while a few of us began plotting out possible hikes we could take before dinner. After settling on a shorter hike we headed toward the campground with the van to set up our tents in hopes that we would still have time to hike. When we reached the campground we found Mark and his father there waiting for us along with Allison and Mike. Mark had taken a two day hiatus from riding to spend some time with his father. Dr. Landreneau offered to treat the team to pizza for dinner so while we set up camp Mark and his father ran to pick up pizza. There was not enough time to hike before dinner so Zach, Alex and I took a walk up to the grocery store so Alex could get quarters to shower and then stopped at the showers before returning to camp. When we got back to camp Mark and his father were there with many varieties of pizza for us to enjoy. Then knowing our team Mark goes over to a bag and pulls out three cartons of ICE CREAM for dessert! (Thank you Dr. Landreneau for providing us with this awesome meal!) After dinner a group of us sat and talked with Dr. Landreneau before he and Mark left to head back to Tusayan for the night. We then headed to bed with an early hike planned for the morning.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Cameron, Arizona

Day 58: Cameron, AZ

We are now in Cameron, Arizona and staying at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Today’s ride was a hot one as we rode 75 miles in extreme heat. We departed camp in Lees Ferry as soon as the sun was up and were on the road shortly after 5:00 am. We got a pleasant surprise at breakfast when Mark showed up with a box of homemade Cookies! Mark’s father had flown in from Louisiana to spend a few days with him and had brought and entire suitcase full of homemade cookies made by Mrs. Landreneau. Mark had spent the night at a motel (the only motel) with his father in Marble Canyon but had woken up early to bring us all a special treat! Cookies are always a welcome addition to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Once we got on the road it got hot fast and most people had finished both of their water bottles by our first water stop at mile 18. After our second water stop at mile 30 Alex, Sehee and I made an exciting discovery alongside the road while riding. We found FOOD! Now while the thought of eating food off the side of the road may gross the majority of people out you have to understand, we are in the middle of the desert, it’s day 58, and we’ve been living off of peanut butter & jelly, pasta, and ugali for the most part. So we reacted like little children at the sight of FREE snack food dropping our bikes on the side of the road and running back to check it out. Meanwhile… Andrew who was driving the van and had just given us water at the water stop five miles back comes driving by with Zach. I can only imagine what they thought as they approached us scurrying around on the side of the road jumping up and down at our discovery! Among our findings were unopened boxes of Cheese-It, Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Gram Crackers and a new sealed jar of Strawberry Jelly. Thankfully Andrew came by just as we were pondering how we were going to carry our findings and we threw it all into the van.

Our next stop was in a small town called Gap where I stocked up on fluid downing a small 12 oz. jug of 2% milk and a peach Snapple while also eating a Reese’s Fast Break bar for some quick sugar energy. Alex, Sehee and I left Gap and cruised the next 16 miles to our lunch stop where we stopped for about five minutes before continuing on to Cameron. When we reached Cameron we stopped at a Shell station to ask for directions. Once we got to the church we found that it was locked and that the pastor would not be returning until late in the evening so we sat in the shade of the front overhang for awhile before a group of us headed to the grocery store to buy food for dinner.

While we were at the store Alex called and said that she had gone next door to the Church of Latter Day Saints to use the bathroom and upon hearing what we were doing they invited us all to stay at their church and that they would feed us as they were just wrapping up an outdoor barbeque in celebration of Pioneer Day and had food left over! After checking out at the grocery store we headed over to the Church of Latter Day Saints (which was right next door to the first church we had talked to) and enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, chips and fruit. We spent quite a while talking with members of the church after we ate before they put on a small music program which Dan took part in playing the guitar. There were numerous young children at the church all of whom seemed to have a great time throwing water balloons around outside with a few of our riders.

Around 8:30 pm we began to head to bed with another 4:00 am wake up in the morning as we head to our final National Park the Grand Canyon!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Rising Temperatures...

Day 57: Marble Canyon, AZ

Tonight we are camping out once again, this time near Marble Canyon, Arizona at Lees Ferry – right on the Colorado River.

This morning we got an unexpectedly early wake up as some of our cell phones didn’t register the time change from Mountain Time to Pacific leading those on wake up duty to think it was 4:00 am when it was actually only 3:00 am. I had changed my watch to Pacific Time the night before so I could only laugh when I looked at it and it said 3:00 am. After double checking the time I promptly laid back down and fell back to sleep until it actually was 4:00 am.

I enjoyed oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast along with Birthday Cake which Allison had bought to celebrate Mark’s birthday.

We took full advantage of the fact that we had crossed time zones without going west and were on the road by 5:00 am! The first 30 miles involved a bit of climbing before we stopped at Jacob Lake for a short “snack break”. From Jacob’s Lake we descended into a valley where we stopped alongside the road at mile 50 for a van lunch of peanut butter and jelly or baloney. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with a raisin bagel that I had left over from the package I had bought in Zion.

After lunch we continued about 15 miles to Cliff Dwellers where we stopped to refill our water bottles before the final 10 mile ride to Marble Canyon. It was extremely hot today so when my group reached Marble Canyon we found the first group who had bypassed lunch in an attempt to beat the heat eating at a small restaurant and another group of riders enjoying slushies and ice cream at the gas station. The van had missed everyone and gone past Marble Canyon so Jon, Nick and Sehee set off to find the campsite four miles down the road at Lees Ferry and check to see if the van was there. When they did not return after a little while the rest of our team began departing for Lees Ferry in small groups. After the majority of our group reached the campground we set up our tents before heading down to the Colorado River to cool off.

With the temperature hovering near 110 degrees the extremely cold water felt good. Zach had asked Alex and I to cannonball into the water however there was no dock so we decided that we would just run straight into the water without feeling it. After Alex and I ran into the water Anish, Nick, Jon and Sehee who were sitting on the shore did the same along with Zach. A few other members of our team showed up to test the waters before we all headed back up to camp where Mike and Mark had fixed us spaghetti for dinner. Sean and I were on dish duty tonight and cleaned up after dinner.

The view from where we are camping tonight is amazing but because we are surrounded by red rock cliffs it also makes it extremely hot. So hot that when we turn on the water spicket only hot water comes out! We actually took our water bottles down to the river to cool the water while we swam this afternoon. I’m hoping to get to bed by 8:00 pm tonight with a 72 mile ride and 4:00 am wake up tomorrow morning.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Hello Arizona!

Day 56: Fredonia, Arizona!

Hello from Arizona! We have now left Utah as our ride today took us from Zion National Park to Fredonia, Arizona.

This morning we awoke at 5:00 am, packed up camp and ate breakfast before forming groups to shuttle out of the park. We were forced to use the van to shuttle out of the park as bicycles are not allowed in one of the tunnels in the middle of the parks eastern entrance route.

We could really smell the wildfires burning this morning as the winds had shifted and were blowing the smoke from the fires in the northern part of the park southward.

I was in the second group to shuttle out of the park along with Brandt, Keith and Dan. Allison was driving the van today and shuttled us through the first tunnel before dropping us off and going back to get the next group. After getting dropped off we rode about six miles, leaving the park and stopping at the Zion Trading Post where we met up with the first group of riders and got coffee while waiting for the final two groups to arrive. After shuttling the final group of riders through the tunnel Allison had to return to camp one final time to pick up Zach and load all of our gear.

I left the Trading Post with Dan and Jon continuing on to Mt. Carmel Jct. where we stopped at a gas station for water before continuing on to Kanab, UT (our last stop in Utah) where we stopped at the Library to use the internet and eat lunch. Jon taught me how to use the big gear on my bike today while riding the hills between Mt. Carmel Jct. and Kanab. The big gear is a gear that I honestly had ignored until this point, to me it just always seemed to make it harder to pedal but today I learned how to use it going downhill. I must say it seems to make everything else soooo much easier! Thank you Jon!

Around 3:30 pm I left the library with Jon, Nick and Keith and headed to a thrift shop in Kanab to do some Christmas in July shopping. I found a few little things that I could use along with a Santa hat for Nick as he plans to dress up as Santa for our festivities in Williams, Arizona on July 25th!

From Kanab the ride to Fredonia was extremely short as Kanab basically sits on the Utah side of the Utah/Arizona border and Fredonia on the Arizona side. When we crossed the state line we stopped for a photo next to the Welcome to Arizona sign, propping my camera up on my bike in self-timer mode so we could all be included. From the welcome to Arizona sign it was about two miles to the Trinity Church of God where we were staying in Fredonia. The pastor was outside waiting for us when we got there and took us inside to give us a tour of the building. The building smelt of fresh popcorn as the pastor had made us fresh popcorn in the church’s movie theater style popcorn machine and gave us permission to make more (which we did numerous times throughout the night!)

We then talked with the pastor for awhile as we waited for the rest of our team to arrive. When the van arrived we unpacked it and enjoyed popcorn while Drew and Keith made Taco’s for dinner. After dinner I walked to the pastor’s home for a real shower before heading back to the church for a team meeting. After dinner I walked to the gas station in front of the church with Anish, Allison and Zach to get ice cream! I got Cookies & Cream in a cone – which was very good! Later on that night the pastor’s wife sent a plate of fresh chocolate chip cookies over to the church and we enjoyed them along with our popcorn and hot chocolate before heading to bed. So far Arizona has been very good to us!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Zion National Park - Part II

Day 55 (Off day, Zion National Park) - This morning Jon, Anish, Nick, Alex, Zach, Sehee and I all awoke at 5:30 am in order to hit the trails early for a day of hiking. Our designation, the top of the Angels Landing trail. We took the shuttle to the start of the trail to begin our hike. Jon and Zach hiked ahead while the rest of us took our time exploring the caves in the rocks on our way up. When we reached the final part of the climb we were basically using the metal chains to pull ourselves up the rocks. When we got to the top the view was amazing looking down on the canyon below, and well worth the climb.

After taking a break at the top we headed back down the trail. About halfway down we got a scare when we heard two children screaming at the top of their lungs. Not knowing exactly what was going on Nick started running back up the trail until a woman around the corner pointed down trail and shouted that she thought a man was having a heart attack. Nick took off down the trail while Anish dialed 911 and the rest of our hiking group followed them. We were at the top of a switch back trail when we heard the screams and the man and his family were about halfway up the same switch back so we were unable to see anything until we reached them. When we arrived the man was conscious and appeared a bit dehydrated but insisted that he would be ok. We let the park officials who had answered the 911 call know where the man and his family were in the trail and made sure they had water before leaving them to continue our hike downward. When we got to the bottom of the trail we were met by a park ranger who was on his way to check out the situation. He asked us a few questions before beginning his trek up the trail. (I don't know if the family finished hiking the Angels Landing trail or not but I did see them later in the day while hiking the Riverside Walk trail so I know the man made it back down ok.)


We took the shuttle back to camp and then Anish, Sehee and I headed to the grocery store to buy food for lunch where I got a bagel and ice cream (no I didn't eat the ice cream on the bagel but maybe I'll try that sometime!). By this point it was mid-afternoon and the majority of our group was scattered, either off hiking, sleeping or escaping the warm temperatures someplace in town. I hung around the campsite for a little while writing some postcards before setting off to explore more of Zion.


After stopping at the Zion Welcome Center to mail my postcards I took the shuttle up the canyon getting on and off to take pictures along the way. When I reached the top of the canyon I headed to do the Riverside Walk and found Jon there as well. The Riverside Walk leads to a number of trails in the upper part of the canyon, some of which were closed due to the wildfires currently burning in the park.

When we returned to camp we found dinner ready and ugali waiting for us. All in all an adventurous day in Zion!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Zion National Park

Day 54 - Today we rode from Cedar City to Springdale, Utah and Zion National Park. With a 5 AM wake up we were able to get on the road around 6 AM. Today's ride was fairly easy as the grade was downhill the majority of the way and my group reached Springdale (just outside of Zion) by 11:30 AM - just in time for some PBJ! After lunch we broke into groups to enter the park a few at a time. After finding our campsite we unloaded the van before jumping on the shuttle to head up the canyon a bit where we found a swimming spot in the Virgin River that runs through the park. The water was cold but very refreshing. When we got back to camp we enjoyed a delicious dinner of Spaghetti, bread and watermelon prepared by Nick, Alex and Sehee. Many of us headed to bed early as we will rise early tomorrow to hike Angels Landing before it gets warm.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Photo Update!

The group gathers before departing Natural Bridges National Monument.
Jon, Sehee and Nick en route to Hite, Utah.
Andrew and Sean show of their artwork in Hite - this is talent!
Alex and I pose next to the summit of one of our climbs in Utah.
Making Smore's while camping out on our rest day in Escalante, Utah.
Zach, Nick and Alex in the river during our first climbing day in Colorado.
Drew, Alicia, Zach and Brandt and I fighting rapids in the river in Salida, Colorado.
The Illini4000 and the Johns Hopkins 4K before saying our goodbyes near Telluride.
The Illini4000 with our hosts in Telluride, CO.
Welcome to Utah - thats Alex and Nick atop the sign.

The ups and downs of Utah...

Days 45-52:

Hello! It's been over a week since I last touched a computer (YES - life does go on without the Internet!). Since my last update we have entered into the HOT State of Utah, seen many amazing sites and changed up our schedule a bit.

We entered into Utah on July 8th, making our first stop at the First Baptist Church in Monticello, Utah. Drew and Keith had discovered an ice cream stop in Monticello at lunch time so after dinner Drew, Keith, Dan and I headed to Woody's for massive amounts of ice cream! I got Moose Tracks with Cookies-n-Cream sandwiched in the middle while Drew and Dan each went four four giant scoops while Keith topped us all with his five flavor, five scoop mountain of ice cream - which I must say he did finish! (See photo)

From Monticello we rode to Natural Bridges National Park. After realizing how hot it was and that we had limited resources we decided as a team to continue riding the following day rather than spend an off day in Natural Bridges. Nick, Sehee and I got up early the next morning to see the Bridge Arches before we departed while Alex caught up to us on her bike while we were out sightseeing.

After leaving Arches we headed to Hite, Utah where we enjoyed the afternoon swimming in Lake Powell escaping the extreme heat - with very little shade. Jon, Nick, Alex, Mike and I all decided to swim across the lake to explore the rock cliff on the other side - it didn't seem very far from shore but ended up being a good workout. We spent over an hour on the other side of the lake before Alex and Mike swam over to join Nick in a little cliff jumping.

On Wednesday we left Hite headed to the tiny town of Caneville, Utah. We got up early leaving Hite at 5:30 AM in an effort to beat the heat. We arrived in Hanksville, Utah around 10:30 AM where many of us enjoyed lunch and milkshakes at Stan's Burger Shak. Around noon while some of the team slept in the booths at Stan's others got back on the road bound for Caneville. About halfway to our designation we stopped at a little organic farm/market called Mesa Market where some people had melon smoothies and I had an iced coffee. We spent over an hour at Mesa Market listening as the owner Randy told us story after story before we headed out. We had planned on spending the night at a campground west of Caneville however as we were preparing our dinner the owner showed up and told us we would have to leave due to "facility problems". Mark contacted Randy at Mesa Market who informed us of a spot we could camp at five miles down the road on public land off the side of the road. The site was very sandy so we ended up using large rocks to hold down our tent as the tent stakes were not holding. All was well until it got very windy and started pouring in the middle of the night causing some of the rocks to come loose. There were people sleeping outside who jumped into the tents when the rain came as we all tried to stay dry. It turned into a very muddy morning as the tents and much of our stuff were covered with sand.

On the 12th we headed to Escalante, Utah riding 85 miles on the day. We choose to combine two days in favor of a rest day in Escalante and dropping our stop in Dixie National Forest. The morning involved a climb before a 10 mile decent into lunch at a gas station in the small town of Boulder, Utah. After lunch I headed toward Escalante with Drew. We climbed for awhile before passing over the hogs back which provided an amazing view. Riding over the hogs back was almost like a video game where your riding over a small strip of road up in the air. The drops from both sides of the road were hundreds of feet and you could see miles in each direction. Nick took a video of it on Alex's camera which can be seen here. After riding over the hogs back we rode through a canyon and had one more climb before our decent into Escalante. The people at Escalante Outfitters were kind enough to let us stay at their very nice campground that had facilities including SHOWERS! (Our first showers since Monticello!) It was Sean and my turn to cook dinner so Sean made spaghetti and sauce while I went to the store to buy bread, fruit and ice tea to go with the dinner.

It was nice to sleep in the next morning as we hadn't had a day off since Westcliffe, Colorado on July 2nd. A group of us went to breakfast at a small place downtown where I had an amazing cheese omelet with hash browns and toast. I'd forgotten how nice it is to eat a warm breakfast as I'm so use to peanut butter and jelly. I spent the majority of our rest day just hanging around camp. We got yet another rain shower (with hail too!) mid-afternoon. So much for it never raining in Utah!

The next day we headed to Panguitch, Utah. Our lunch stop was near Bryce Canyon and a group of us decided to venture to see the Canyon after lunch. It was hot and I was unsure if I wanted to go at first but upon seeing the view from Bryce Point it was worth it and I was glad Alex talked me into it! When we reached Panguitch we learned that Allison had hooked us up with a church to spend the night in and dinner at Cowboy's Smokehouse Cafe where they provided us with an amazing meal. I had an appetizer platter of chicken wings, quesadillas, potato skins and jalapeno bites along with cottage cheese and potato salad. After dinner we headed to a free horse roping contest downtown. We stayed there until dusk before heading back to the church to get some rest.

That brings me up to Cedar City, Utah where we are today. We arrived in Cedar City yesterday and after a grueling 35+ mile climb enjoyed an amazing 20 mile decent. I'm not kidding when I say I went 20 miles without pedaling - it was awesome! For me the climb was one of the hardest yet as the dry air of Utah has been bothering me and my calves kept cramping. Nick and Jon got a grocery store to donate food for dinner last night so we all enjoyed our own personal pizza and then had ice cream for dessert. About 10 of us then went to the movie theatre near the church where we are staying for an Illini4000 movie night. Allison, Mike, Mark and Anish all went to see Transformers while Alex, Andrew, Nick, Sean, Sehee and I all went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was good although at that point I was so tired I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, its a good thing today is a rest day!

Now it's lunch time so I think I'll go grab something to eat.

Till next time,

Sandra

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Montrose, Colorado

Hello, from the library in Montrose! We are now in Montrose, Colorado after enjoying the Fourth of July in Gunnison. The 4th started with a nice little climb up Monarch Pass (elevation 11,312 feet) and ended with fire trucks and fireworks.

The climb up Monarch Pass was not nearly as tough as I anticipated - it was a good climb but rather gradual and when you ride with the Caboose the rides are always fun! Anish and Nick
stopped for a swim in a stream midway up the mountain and once we reached the top we stopped to check out the view, get a team photo by the Monarch Pass sign (see photo in Allison's blog) and do a little rock climbing.

I chose to climb the "little hill" across from the Monarch Pass visitors center with Zach and Alicia. We thought we could take a short cut and catch a trail that switched back but it ended up not switching back so we continued to climb the gravel and rocks until we reached a point where there was only gravel above and we could go no higher so we ended up climbing back down.

Once we reached the flat ground safety I headed toward Gunnison. Midway down the mountain it started to rain and the wind picked up making for a "fun" chilly ride down however 10 minutes later the sun was out and it was hot again... gotta love the weather!

Once I reached St. Peter's Parish Center where we were staying in Gunnison, Keith and I headed to the supermarket to buy groceries to make dinner. (Actually Keith made dinner and I treated the team to strawberry shortcake for our 4th of July dessert!) While we were eating dinner we smelt something burning and after checking to make sure it wasn't coming from the Kitchen we realized it was coming from the lighting fixture near the ceiling, prompting Jon to call 911 and have the fire department come check it out. After a 15 minute or so evacuation they told us everything was ok and just not to turn on the one set of lights until they could be replaced.

The night ended with fireworks in downtown Gunnison!

That's all for now,

Till next time,

Sandra

Also, Danielle if you read this - you and your family are in my thoughts.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July from me and Uncle Sam!!!

A day early as I'm not sure I will have access to a computer tomorrow.

Mountains!

We have reached the mountains and are currently in Salida, Colorado en route to Poncha Springs where we will be staying tonight. The mountains are a nice change from the Corn and Wheat fields of Kansas.

Our first day in the mountains was Sunday in which we traveled from Pueblo to Westcliffe. I rode with the back group and we took our time enjoying a swim in a stream a pop tart party and some rock climbing before reaching our destination in Westcliffe.

The ride was not nearly as hard as I anticipated it to be as we slowly wound through the mountains reaching the top where Alex, Nick and I had a pop tart party before we began our decent to the bottom.

We spent Monday in Westcliffe, CO a beautiful little town nestled in the mountains relaxing and taking care of things that needed to get done.

My computer time is running out so...

Till next time,

Sandra