Looking for Alice in a Wonderland

My Bobbie App rolled into camp just before noon on Sunday. Oh how absence grows fonder hearts. She'd been gone only a week, but we embraced as if it had been a year.

It's less than three hours from Lovely Ouray to Moab, and in that span of miles and time the world beyond the windshield morphs from high country forests of spruce and fir into red rock canyons with pinion and cedar. One is not better or worse than the other. It's just oppositional, a convenient truth, something to chose between, like should I have light or dark chocolate. Always allow mood, forecast, and toy preference to guide important life choices such as these. 

I'm not built to recreate, much less live, in one place for long, not even Lovely Ouray. Experiencing the outdoors in dissimilar landscapes gives me something to look forward to; it keeps me moving, motivated... excited for tomorrow. When I've had enough or it's time to go home, I can actually look forward to that, too. Just can't stay there too long.

Bobbie put groceries away while I unloaded her bike from the rack. It was dusty from her long drive back to my remote camp. I dusted it off, cleaned and lubed the gear train and chain. Finally she came around back and saw my new Cannondale for the first time. 
"Wow, look at that." 
"Ain't she a beaut? Look at these fat tires."

I was anxious to show her a couple of new trails over in "The Klondike."  We shoved off about noon. The air was crisp, as were the views. So many shades of weird green soils and sparkly rocks. About 6 back road miles later we arrived at Klondike Trailhead. Temps had warmed enough for us to shed a layer of clothes. From here on would be single track trails. We started easy, allowing Bobbie to shake off some "rust." It didn't take long. 

Join in, as we rise and fall with the trail, thread our way through boulder fields, and take in the far views of a strange wonderland.
  

It was a grand, albeit long, hard ride... four hours and change. Bobbie was spent. It's takes a while to get back up to full speed after being sedentary for over two weeks due to the Wally Virus. Her shoulders and butt were pretty sore the next day so it was a hike day... from camp over into a remote section of West Arches National Park. We roamed nooks and crannies via slick rock sidewalks, soaking up the full spectrum of all shades Red.  
Ah, it's so good to be "home," one of several, actually, my favorite in spring and fall.