Catching up and wind advisory

Not sure where I left off, but here are some highlights: rode horses through bryce canyon, two great lectures by the park rangers, tons of deer, sunrises, sunsets, lemonade, wall street, hundreds of photos.

We left bryce for a one day ride over to Zion. First part of the ride was uphill and headwind, took forever to go 30 miles. Hit Long Valley, then it was downhill and great. Once we turned for the park, it was uphill again for the last 12 miles. 70 the hard way, we got there to find the campsites were full, so we backtracked a mile to a campground just outside of the park. No dinner, trail mix, and a puzzle of how to get through the tunnels which don't allow bikes thru.

Thankfully our site neighbor, Ben, offered to shuttle us into the park in the AM, and that was super! We got to the lodge by 9 am, ate a great breakfast and set off for the day exploring the park. Highlights: the narrows, turkeys, a condor, lovely water, shuttles, bag lunches, a great book, sunshine and hundreds more photos.

Hiked up to hidden canyon for sunset, then rode in twilight out of the park to Springdale where we met Ken and Mike and camped for the night. Karina and I had a great dinner. Outside it was 95 degrees. Tent was hot, lousy sleep, up at 4:30 to shave and charge the cell phone, washed in the river, then back to sleep.

Oh yeah, full moon.

Today was a shuttle north and regroup day; we crossed into Nevada and are presently in Ely. Tomorrow there is a wind advisory for our 77 mile ride, winds consistant 30-40 mph with gusts up to 55! Really looking forward to that (sarcasm).

Hope they are tailwinds; have four big climbs too. We may be taking two routes after tomorrow, with Kwn and Mike heading north and into CA near Lake Tahoe, and Karina and me heading south to hit CA at yosemite. Will update once I know for sure (by Friday).