I was watching the BCS Championship game the night before departing Lovely Ouray. As time ran out, I could have swore I heard Bear Bryant groan from his grave. Indeed, Clemson—down 14—came from behind, scored a touchdown with one second left on the clock, and beat almighty Alabama 35 to 31. Crimson Tide fans wept.
It was a National Championship game for the ages, save the Boston College/Miami game in '84, when a little 5 foot 9 inch Quarterback by the name of Doug Flutie threw a "Hail Mary" pass into a stiff wind as time expired on the clock and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for Boston College.
I was understandably tired...maybe a tad hung over...as I carried load after load down stairs to the garage Tuesday morning, packing the Subaru for our breakout south to Hurricane, Utah, and weather that better suits my wardrobe.
It snowed the night before, of course. Roads were slick leaving Las Lovely Ouray, but changed from ice to snow-packed, and finally slush as we approached Montrose. From there we caught a break, as the highway from Grand Junction across Utah was fine.
A blanket of snow and gray skies dulled Utah's normally colorful landscape, which slowed time to a near standstill in spite of hurling along at 80 mph into a headwind from Hell, not to mention a dismal forecast. Did I mention, "the wind?" We spent the night in Richfield, only a couple hours from Goldie, and she started right up the next morning. Time to restock bare cabinets.
Camp 1 was on a BLM mesa overlooking Overton and a distant sliver of what's left of Lake Mead (what a shame). The wind slammed us around up there on the mesa.... not a good choice. We woke early and about and hour and a half later we landed in Boulder City in need of a leg stretching hike.
The mountains above town have been turned into a recreation area for hiking and mountain biking. We took the River Mountain Trail to an extremely windy pass, somehow made a two hour loop, and landed back at the parking lot feeling better.
A check of the forecast showed no place to hide from the "Pineapple Express." Might have to hang around here for a while till things settle down. There's a Downhill Mountain Bike race this weekend... pretty gnarly badass shit on highly abrasive volcanic rock. Check it out here.
Mark and Bobbie...on hold in Purgatory :(.
Gloomy and slightly chilly down here in da valley. I hope you guys are planning on showing up at Bloggerfest on the 28th. I'd love to talk to you again.
ReplyDeleteShadowmoss... Don't think we will be around here that long. Just waiting on the rain to move out of So. Arid-Zona. :) Hope you enjoy it... tell everyone we said "Hey."
Deletem.
Interesting travels. We were in Leeds, next door to Hurricane for a month until last Friday. Spent 4 days in Valley of Fire campground and visited Overton for supplies. Saw the boondocking on the mesa overlooking town. Passed through Boulder City. Boondocked in Laughlin. Now on BLM land in Quartzite for a month. Happy travels.
ReplyDeleteM &B, lets not forget it's about the Journey not the destination....and although I don't know you that well
ReplyDeleteIm pretty sure you both will be fine, get a good nights sleep and remember to be grateful for all of it.
You are lucky you got out of Ouray on the 10th.
It's going to be one hell of a poppy display in the deserts of Calif come February so we are making plans for a quick trip to check out the Carrizo Plane 20miles SW of Bakersfield. a new national monument.
Suns out here and the Russian is back in it's banks; it was a wild ride, 18 1/2 inches of rainier over 4 days, the county is now out of the drought along with N.Calif.
At least the Natural World is getting the new year off to a good start!
Stay healthy
d
My Sonoma friends... glad to hear the River is back in its banks and that you don't have to move again. Worried with all that rain another big pine might fall on your house again!!!
DeleteGrateful in Boulder City/Government Wash, watching the playoffs :)
mark
That mountain bike race looks pretty tame compared to the Red Bull Rampage in Virgin.
ReplyDeleteHey. Your purgatory gray photos and dull reds look a bit like mine. You are right, nowhere to hide from this stuff. Except like we did today, in a fancy movie theater, with wine.
ReplyDeleteWe loved the hiking around and near Boulder City. We stayed a month and I still have a list of hikes I need to do. We did this hike and enjoyed it. We had lunch at the zipline platform! Depending on the weather, have you done the Hot Springs loop hike? Here is our post for it: https://ohtheplacestheygo.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/arizona-hotsprings-hike-near-boulder-city/
ReplyDeleteYes... we did the Arizona Hot Springs hike several times and enjoyed it. Here's my post from the last time... Caution: Rated N for Nudity :). https://boxcanyonblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/paved-paradise-borderline-rant-rated-r.html
Deletem.
Glad to hear you guys made it out of the frozen north....even though it's Purgatory for a while. Hope to be seeing you on the desert somewhere.
ReplyDelete