We left on a Saturday and picked up Kris about 10:15, only 15 minutes after what we said we would! Kind of amazing actually. 

We hit the road and drove for a few hours, and stopped to have lunch. Thanks to Kris being along, we were able to get out of the car and have Mexican! El Tapatio is always good, according to Kris. Well, he wasn’t wrong. 

Another hour or so and we arrived in Fruita. Grabbed some gas and firewood and headed to Robb to set up camp. 

After hanging out for awhile, Kris convinced us to head into town for awhile. Apparently he’d found a festival of some sort online – it was called Fall Fest, and it totally reminded me of festivals back in Ohio – the nice, downhome ones with all the greasy food and funnel cakes you could eat, and all the guys in their cowboy boots and hats… It was super pleasant to wander around for a little while. 

Eventually, we found Copper Club Brewery, which we were looking for and didn’t realize they had moved. Their new location is awesome, nice and big with a huge outdoor space complete with a stage and everything. The Tripel I got did NOT suck, either. 

Then we found some food (chicken fingers FTW!) and headed back to camp for some sleep. The boys say they’re getting up at 5:30 to get moving. We’ll see. 

Welp, 5:30 it was. I woke up a bit before that and was reading a book for a few, but Matt must’ve heard me rustling around and asked what time it was a few minutes before 5:30. 

We stuffed all the things and made some coffee… Ate some breakfast, packed up the car (which is laughable, really. The stuff fits, the humans, not quite so well..), and headed for the trailhead. 

The boys took off and I got my shoes on and went for a run. My favorite run, actually. Or one of them, anyway. Horsethief Bench is just mind-numbingly beautiful, every way you look. I know this, but I was reminded on every step today. I’m pretty sure my pace would’ve been way faster if I’d taken less pictures, but, well… 

When I was finished, I drove over to Westwater, where we had decided I should meet the boys. Been here about an hour now, I figure they’ll be here in the next half hour or so….

They came in shortly after I wrote the last paragraph… Or maybe it was another hour. It’s all a blur now. Anyway, they refueled and refilled their water bottles and took off again. 

I headed for Dewey Bridge. Good thing, too. When I got there, there were only two (of seven) spots left. I grabbed the one with the most flat space and pitched the tent. 

Funny story – There was an orange Gatorade-type cooler sitting on the table. I triple checked the tags to make sure no one was already at this spot, and I didn’t find today’s date on any of them, so I figured somebody had forgotten the cooler. I moved it to the picnic table at the next campsite over and didn’t think anything else of it. 

The boys came in hot (Kris, literally), sooner than I expected they would. We chilled out, made a fire, had some dinner (Kris made a ridiculous amount of a ground beef chili type thing which was really good), and went to bed. 

Sometime before we started the fire, some guy came up and was really confused aas to where his cooler had gone. I told him I figured someone had moved it… He was pissed, seems like he had stuck a reservation on the site. I swear, I looked four times, and all I saw was the last few nights, and one for 11/24-11/25, which just confused me. I didn’t think you could reserve these sites, and who the hell would already have a reservation for November, anyway? It’s only September. Later we figured out he must’ve written down the wrong month. Oops….

Monday dawned stupidly early as usual, waking up at 5:30 on the nose. We heard Kris rustling around, so we got up and broke camp. 

Had some breakfast, mixed some bottles, realized we weren’t going to have enough water… Somehow we went through most of the seven gallon jug we’d brought with. There was a sign at the campground saying there was a park with water in town. I said I’d go to the park and refill our jug. 

The boys took off, and I had to figure out what to do with myself for the day. I looked at the map and saw it was not exactly close to the park with the water, so I decided to go to the next campground first and then see what I would do. 

The drive through Castle Valley is always beautiful. The river, the rock formations, the red cliffs… More mind numbingly beautiful landscape. I took my sweet old time, stopped at every pull off I wanted to, and took lots of photos and videos. 

I set up camp by 9:00 am. When I looked at the map again, I realized it’s about 30 miles to the park with the water, and I remembered seeing the LaSalle Loop scenic drive just back a bit on the road. I got just enough internet to see that the loop is 65 miles, and goes right past the park, so off I went. 

Also beautiful. And slightly more pleasant than driving out, then back, the same road I’ll drive to Moab tomorrow. 

I stopped at the grocery and got more Coke, then found the park. They had water, alright. They had a drinking fountain. A fucking DRINKING FOUNTAIN. 

Thankfully, I got smart and went across the street where the other half of the park was, where at least they had a bottle filler and a bathroom with running water. I sincerely hope 10 Nalgenes worth of water is enough for tonight and tomorrow. 

I headed back to camp and read a book and worked on videos for awhile… Until I got a text from Matt saying his pedal fell off. 🙄🙄🙄

We don’t have any spares with us, and I don’t know HOW his pedal fell off, and we have no pedal wrench, either, so I decided to just wait and see the deal before I drive to town (45 minutes each way), only to maybe have to drive the bike BACK to town….

Needless to say, it’s been two hours longer than they thought they’d take, and they’re not here yet. It’s gonna be an interesting evening, I suspect. 

Well, they made it back just fine, Matt on one pedal and one pedal spindle, Kris on two chain ring bolts instead of four, laughing their asses off at the whole situation… 

Matt decided he would just ride the road instead of the Whole Enchilada back to town tomorrow and so we didn’t have to go back to town, which I was quite grateful for. 

Kris chugged about four Dale’s Pale Ales in five minutes and then felt better himself. They both ran out of water again, but they made it!

Then dinner and bed. Last day tomorrow!

We woke up pretty early when we heard Kris moving about this morning. We tore down camp, had a quick breakfast, and they were off! 

I drove in a different direction for a few miles, going up high to a pretty spectacular overlook that also had some dinosaur footprint fossils. More mind blowingly beautiful scenery. And the leaves are starting to turn up there, so it was even more gorgeous. 

I turned around and headed back to town and the pick up point, stopping at every other pull off along the Colorado River… Once again being blown away by how beautiful this place is. Okay, we don’t live here, exactly, but it’s a five our drive from home. Still our backyard. We used to have to drive for days and take a whole week to get out here, and now a long weekend is an easy trip. Mind. BLOWN. 

Now, I’m sitting at a beautiful little park, about to go take a walk around it while I wait for the boys. This life, let me tell ya…

Want more? Here’s the video: