Israel Canyon

Victor's tire shop

If you are out in the west side, and you want to trick your ride, go to Victor's.

Other than being a place to get a set of low-pro chrome spinners, they make the best tamales anywhere.

Get the pork with red sauce. 

Seriously.

The San Rafael Swell: Goblin Valley and Temple Mountain

The Goblin Valley...

got a new Goblin

A nice goblin

Up and over rises, in the labyrinth of monsters.

Smiles all around.

The valley is on the south side of the Swell, with views of the snow-capped Henry mountains to the south.

We camped down the Temple Mountain road, right in the San Rafael Reef formation.

S'mores technology advance: flat, square marshmallows that fit better in the graham cracker sandwich.

Her first S'more---despite advances in s'more technology, they still make a perfect mess. 

This is why you don't give your kids the keys.

Walking away from the wreckage...

The Shoreline---millions of years old---a poem

Up the shore. Find a trail. Hike-a-bike.

The old shore, waters receded.

Springtime in the lowlands, looking to the highlands. Waiting for the adventures of Summer to come with snow melt.

But now we are the post-work crowd out on two wheels.

Over the city submerged in the valley beyond.

But up here we are dry.

And old trails are new again.

Going Home

This is home.

Five-days drive to get there, all by myself, although packing was the hardest. I really wanted to check out Vedauwoo in eastern Wyoming, but in the end I wanted to get back to this little one:

Shredding the gnar, for babies. 

So I settled for a few pics off the highway. Wyoming is beautiful in its desolation. 

In western Nebraska I finally saw the sun and boy was it serene at sunset.

This is all I got for Iowa, which is a shame, because Iowa is beautiful, particularly the eastern part. Lewis and Clark made this same journey, all the way to Oregon where I was born. And I forgot to take pictures of all the other states---the wind and rain and toll roads did not make good pictures. Oh well.