fall road trip, episode 1

Well my NCLEX is done (and I think it went well...), now I'm just waiting for my results.  Apparently me changing my last name freaked them out and they had to review my test.  They swear up and down they'll tell me tomorrow.  Believe it when I see it. 

In my last post I said I'd try to catch up a little bit on what has been going on in my life since September.  And so I shall. 

I spent most of September in Glenwood Springs for my Public Health clinical rotation.  The most memorable part of that month was the living situation - I was couch surfing (as in couchsurfing.org) in an apartment with two other humans, 4 dogs (including Thor), 2 guinea pigs, a tortoise, a few fish, and a miniature potbelly pig.  Controlled chaos is the appropriate descriptive term.


I left Glenwood Springs on a Thursday night at the end of September for two weeks on the road.  The first night took me out of Colorado and down through the desert to what I'd have to say is one of my favorite places on earth: Moab, Utah.  I slept in my truck by the Colorado River in the shadow of the massive canyon walls.  There are no words to describe what it feels like to wake up in a place like that.  The first thing you notice is the cool, clean morning air, then you stick your head out of your tent (or truck, as the case may be) and realize you are 300+ feet deep in a brilliant red streaked sandstone canyon and it's a beautiful day to ride your bike and the whole universe is smiling on you.  I'm not even exaggerating. 

 My friend Nick and his parents were in town, so I met them for breakfast and then the parents shuttled us up to the top of Hazard County Trail for an epic downhill.  The aspens were in full color, blazing neon yellow across the entire mountainside.  It was fantastic.  Poor Nick broke his bike about an hour into the ride and had to bail, but I got to ride the Whole Enchilada for the 4th time in a year.  It's a classic Moab ride for a reason; the challenging flowing turns and kickers of Hazard County give way to the break-neck speed and rolling jumps of Kokopelli, which dumps you out onto pedal-friendly technical Upper- and Lower- Porcupine Singletrack that snakes along the edge of the mesa right onto the Rim itself, where you have to decide whether to watch the trail (a very good idea, because it's pretty tough) or the incredible views of the river 300 feet below you.  It's just an epic ride.

After the ride I grabbed a quick dinner and hit the road, heading for Hurricane, Utah.  And that will be a story for my next post.