Lacking anything better to do that night, a few of us decided to go on a "tub-crawl". Starting at one end of town we get in to a hotel's hot tub, and if they kick us out for not being guests, we just move to the next one.
We get to the first one and it was a cool setting but it was more of a tepid tub than a hot tub.
After standing around in it for about 15 minutes, we decided to just move on to the next one. Not before I grabbed a free cookie from the front desk though.
The next hot tub was a jackpot. The water was so wonderfully hot, it was outside, and it was right next to a pool. I did not go into the pool because every time I felt it was time to cool off, I'd stand up, and then not feel the need to jump in 50 degree water.
Moon-bathing?
We also never got kicked out until they had to close the pool area down. So we sat in this awesomely hot hot tub for about 3 hours. It was also right next to a Denny's.
From left to right: Me, Paul, Isaac, and Jen.
Isaac and Jen are two of the people boat hitch-hiking to Hawaii so hopefully I'll see more of them.
The next day I promised to give a friend a ride down to visit her sister in Sedona, AZ. After just beating a storm out of Moab, we embarked on a chilly but not unbearably cold 6 hour ride and didn't quite make it. Just outside of Flagstaff, we started getting rained on hard. It was a serious rainstorm and when I saw lightning, I pulled into a lone gas station.
"Does your sister have a car? Because we can't ride through this..."
So we waited in the gas station for about an hour while her sister came to pick her up, and then I continued on to Williams, AZ where I spent the night.
The ride back from Williams, once the sun had set, was the coldest I have ever ridden in. It was about 29 degrees and while my heated gear was going to prevent hypothermia, it occurred to me I may actually get frostbite on my fingers and toes. It felt like I was standing barefoot in ice-water and holding ice, but I wasn't shivering. HotHands air activated heat packs saved my phalanges! I had happened to pick some up with my new sleeping bag just in case and had them in my bike. An hour and a half from Moab, I pulled over, opened up 4 of them, and put them in my socks and gloves. The ones in my socks only lasted about 45 minutes for some reason. The ones in my gloves lasted until I got back to my Moab couch, threw them in my sleeping bag, and were still hot the next morning about 9 hours later.
Wednesday, my friend Chris took me for a hike into Fiery Furnace. He's an avid canyoneer and climber and he said Fiery Furnace is his favorite place on earth. It is truly a mind blowing experience to be in there. It's a huge mess of rock fins and spires that claw at the heavens. There are guided hikes in there, but he likes to go in by himself and go off the beaten trail.
First we stopped to fill our water bottles at Matrimony Springs, which is a natural sandstone filtered freshwater spring by the side of the road.
There used to be a pipe coming out of that hole off to the right but a short while ago the FDA decided that as an unregulated water source, it could be unsanitary and ordered the removal of the pipe. So now it just bubbles forth from the rock itself.
Fresh spring water is like the heel of civilization, and the FDA decided it is not ok to provide people with that. Guess how effective removing the pipe was at stopping people from drinking there.
Off we went into the furnace:
Legend has it, Chris told me, that the spring is cursed. Anyone who drinks from the spring will not be able to get Moab out of their head and will have to return one day.
"Sounds like more of a blessing than a curse" I said.
Moab is something else. I have to pick and choose which things I see in this area because even if I lived here for a year, and every day sought some amazing thing to see, I would not ever fail in seeking it. The beauty of everything around is both humbling and uplifting. The place just seems to resonate tranquility, and that tranquility echoes through the hearts and minds of everyone here. Something great and wonderful sleeps in Moab and if you get nothing else from my writing, heed this message:
Get to Moab at least once in your life. Stay for a week.
I believe Johnny M put it best:
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul.” - John Muir
The next day, I rode from Moab to Sandy which is just outside of Salt Lake City. I think I rode through colder coming from Williams, AZ to Moab, but it was cold and it occurred to me that Winter is truly here. Once again I relied on those heat packs in my boots.
I'm staying with a friend and former employer of mine. It's a great skiing area and here too, is beauty. This is the view from the kitchen:
There's not a whole lot of incentive to leave here but I'll keep rolling on soon enough.
"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can" -Herman Melville
ReplyDeleteI know what your feeling dude, good luck in Hawaii.