They See Me Rollin'...

I spent the first weekend in October learning the ins and outs of a Honda Nighthawk 250, and, more importantly, learning how not to kill myself on a motorcycle. The class was taught by two men who very obviously had great skill on a bike. I had classroom time and on bike time each day and on Sunday I had to pass a written and riding skills exam to pass the class. Well...needless to say:I passed. That is my kick a$$ helmet, my Motorcycle Safety Foundation card, and my new license with the official "M" endorsement.


After receiving my card Jo and I set out to find a bike. I looked at a few different bikes and decided to go for a Honda Shadow VT750. One of our local dealers had just the bike I was after, but after much waiting, chatting, waiting, walking around, waiting, and looking at papers, they were only able to get me a 13% apr for the bike. This would mean paying twice what it was worth. I was a bit disappointed and called Leland (my father-in-law) to see what other options I had. He pointed me to www.crashedtoys.com, a website that auctions bikes that have been totaled by insurance companies. He said if we found a bike he could fix it up no problem.

We found another Honda Shadow VT750 American Classic Edition and decided to bid on the bike. Leland took care of the bidding as I was at work. At 11 am I clicked on the auction and we had won!...at 11:04 I refreshed the page and we had lost?! Apparently there was a glitch in the system at Crashed Toys and two people won the bike. Leland and I assumed that the other bidder had won as he was the last to bid. We went on our way to check for other bikes.

Then......on Friday Leland got a phone call from Crashed Toys asking if he was going to come pick up the bike he won! WOO HOO! Leland got the bike back to his place and we got a steal. He needs to replace the front headlight, the windshield and fix the rear turn signals. He is also going to do a full fluid change but it runs well and will be ready to get inspected for a clean title shortly.

The bike in this picture is having its battery charged, hence no seat, but it is my bike. So, soon I will be rollin' on my Honda, getting 60 mpg, and enjoying the Nevada sun.

Coasting on two wheels,

Cory

Knee Deep in the Creek

One week ago today Cory and I stepped into the cold running water of the Virgin River in Zion National Park. We were compelled to make it out to Zion one final time this year to hike the Narrows, the slot canyon at the northern end of the shuttle route in the park. The Narrows is no ordinary trail. This hike requires water slogging - A LOT of it - and it can be quite chilly in a space that can easily be a wind tunnel and gets little sun.

Our goal was to hike five miles upriver to the campsites that hikers stay at when they through-hike the river from the top. For the first two miles we were joined by hordes of day hikers in everything imaginable - bikinis, barefeet, and even a big guy wading in his skivvies. Like I said, this is no normal guy's hike and it was frightening to see the number of people on the river unprepared. While you can rent special boots and pants for the Narrows hike, we outfitted ourselves and did pretty well. I wore: a sweat-wicking sports bra, a sweat-wicking tank top, Under Armour long sleeve shirt and tights, UV tank top, fleece sweatshirt with hood, light-dry cargo pants, wool hiking socks and Keens. We also brought along hats, gloves, extra clothing to keep our cores warm and extra socks.

At two-and-a-half miles, we came to a point where a second canyon joined the Narrows. After that, the hikers became scarce and the scenery became even more exquisite. Unfortunately, it is so dark in the canyon that it's difficult to take pictures, but the walls were covered in thick moss and ferns and waterfalls that sounded like timpani drums ran out of cracks in the canyon walls. We even found one section of the wall covered in insect exo-skeletons.

Around three miles into the hike we came upon Wall Street, an amazing portion of the hike where the canyon narrows significantly and sheer canyon walls rise straight up on both sides. It's the part of the hike where I really felt at the mercy of nature. If anything had happened at this point - flash flood, rock slide, etc. - we would have had nowhere to go. There were no sandbanks on either side of the river, and we had to carefully navigate our way up the rushing water through slippery rocks. At one point, the water was nearly up to my waist.

Four miles in we hit a portion of the river filled with huge boulders we had to scramble over and navigate around. At this point, we were only sharing the river with a few interspersed hikers and a significant number of trout. Not knowing what time it was, but knowing we'd been on the river for quite some time, we stopped at four-and-a-half miles to eat our sandwiches before turning around and heading back. Only two other groups of people passed us as far as we could tell.

Now, I would have thought getting downriver would be easier than the trek up it, but it wasn't at all. In fact, I moved so slowly and had to concentrate so hard on getting my footing that, once we were back in a place with other people, hikers were passing us right and left. Going back down the river I fell twice, but luckily just my arms were wet from catching myself and not my actual core.

Triumphant, we made it back to camp in one piece, though a bit stiffer than when we'd left. Who knew we had all these unknown muscles? We can check the Narrows off of our list of things to do in this lifetime - though now we're talking about taking the through-hike from the top of the river. Another day...

See more of our pictures from the Narrows here.

Wet and dirty,
JoAnna