Hope for America, A little red Cart, Fruita Colorado

Hwy 50 and Interstate 70 split again at the Utah Colorado border. The first town in Colorado along Hwy 50 that had a hotel was Fruita. It's pretty much a bedroom community of Grand Junction.  Colorado Natl Monument is about 5 miles away.
We found a lovely little hotel , The W Hotel, a 50-60's motor inn, with a wooden swing in the lawn and barbeque and table for al fresco dining. Just what we were looking for. The hotel was run by either a German or Swiss couple and was immaculate. They do their own cleaning I found out later. We booked for 1 night, barbequed steaks and our reality TV was watching the cars go through the drive through liquor store next door.
I got up early the next morning for a spin around Fruita. It's a town of charming 30's, 40's 50's houses, white picket fences, pumpkins in the yard. Downtown is about 5 - 6 blocks long with the usual mix of coffee houses, bike shops, yoga studeos, restaurants, and a lady delivering the newspapers pulling a little red cart full of papers. I had to talk to her. She told me a bit about town, informed me there were free showers a couple of blocks away (Did I look like I needed a shower?). I guess the town is the Colorado answer to Moab for mountain bikers and there are free showers in town for visitors not actually staying in a hotel.

We ended up spending another night in Fruits so we could ride bikes, eat pizza and drink beer in a town where a middle age woman still delivers newspapers in a little red cart.
Early morning views in Fruita, bike riding in Colorado Natl Monument, Store in the middle of nowhere, house across from the store in the middle of nowhere with a deep space telescope and observatory, pizza oven, and, you can't tell if my eyes are open or not!

CIM 55 Days and Counting

I am walking the California Intl Marathon Dec 4, 2011.  CIM 2008 was my first race ever. Longest I had walked in training was 20 miles. Everyone said if you can walk 20 miles, you can do 26.2. If I had realized how far 26.2 miles was, I would not have done it. Our walking speed for that race about 16 min miles. We chased the barrier men for a few miles, then just stopped at stop lights. Start time 7 am, finishing time about 2 pm. 
Why do I do it again?  Because I can.
I have a history of blister problems on my feet, so have gone from shoes with Superfeet inserts, to the inserts  that come with the shoes to no inserts, just good socks and the basic shoe. so far so good. And I have all my toenails this far in the season.
Walked 14 miles Sat Oct 8 and done 2 1/2 marathons since August.
Cross training: Sun am Pilates, Monday weight training, Tuesday speed training at the gym, Wednesday a day off, thursday weight training and kick boxing, Friday nothing, Sat long distance walk with SacFit. Throw in a couple of bike rides, you have the picture.
I've enlisted the help of Katie Vona, sports masseuse and pain inflictor extroidinaire to keep my legs, back hips, knees, ankles in working condition.
Best of all my 2008 partner-in-crime Erin is joining me.

Great Basin Natl Park Fence Art

Great Basin Natl Park is right on the border of Utah and Nevada on Hwy 50. The park itself is not the most spectacular I've seen and I think it is a park because Nevada didn't have any Natl parks.

Area residents have a great sense of humor.  Here's some of the fence art. Sign under the hat say To thee Tony and the hat hat bullet holes in it. Bob Wire and Barb wire are next to each other.

Leaf Peeping

Leaf peeping started at the shoe tree on Hiway 50. Peeped at shoes on the shoe tree in the middle of nowhere.
Fall colors magnificent at nearly 12,000 feet in Great Basin National Park. Air up there so clear. Atmospheric condition great for picts.

Fall in the Rockies on the way to Leadville CO, highest city in US.

Big Rock Candy Mountain

Utah has come of the most spectacular scenery know to man. It's worth the 10 hour drive through the desert on Hwy 50. Little red bike went us on the trip.
One of my goals in Utah was for me to ride the Big Rock Candy Mountain Rails to Trail bike trail. Rails and Trails converts abandoned rail lines to bike and hiking trails. The BRCM trail is 16 miles long and passed right by our cabin in Joseph,Utah.
I rode 12 miles round trip from Joseph to Elsinore the first evening we arrived. Terrain is gently rolling hills. I cruised past cows, alfalfa fields and farm houses.
I rode the second half the trail from BRCM In Marysvale UT to Joseph on Tuesday morning. This direction the trail is mostly downhill and it follows the Sevier River through red rocks and spectular formations. I did not pass a sole on either leg of the trip.
Picts of views along Big Rock Candy Mountain trail. The composition of the mountain is hydrothermically altered volcanic carbonate. Candy wins in my book any day.

True Love on the Fly Fishing Stream

We just returnd from our latest road trip, this time through the Nevada and Utah on Hwy 50 then through the Rockies to Denver. We spent a couple of days in cental Utah, one of the days fly fishing.
We hired a guide through Center Valley Fly Fishing in Centerville Utah.
He was a fabulous guide and I had almost a full day of private fly fishing lessons which I sorely needed.
The guide and I were on the last fishing hole of the day when Todd came and sat by the stream and watched me fish. He said he didn't want to move on to the next hole just up the stream. He sat and watched for about 20 minutes. I thought he was admiring my improved casting technique.
After I threw my last cast, he suggested we needed to wade downstream intead of going cross country back to our car.
He had been sitting for 20 minutes listening to a rattlesnake shake and couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from. He would have had to wade through my fishing hole to get to the next one and didn't want to disturb my fishing. He just sat.
Now that is true love on the trout fishing stream.