This week we waved goodbye to the state of Arizona and all it had to offer us, conveniently in time to avoid Trump’s notorious visit to a Corona virus mask factory, without wearing a mask… Thankfully we don’t follow his exemplary example while scooting round supermarkets. The next state to cross off, Utah, has welcomed us with open arms. We literally cannot move even a few yards down the road before bumping into someone who’s curious about our (let’s be honest, quite curious!) set up on the bikes. A border on the map but also a border of colours, our lives have suddenly become far less arid with green fields and rivers all of a sudden sneaking into the landscape. I guess the clue was in the name, Ari-d-zona…

We were met by a morning chill in the air as the temperature dropped below freezing during the night, Dave was the early riser and motivated us to brave the cool of morning from the warmth of the tent. We treated ourselves to our speciality breakfast of pancakes before heading out of the forest in the pickup. The forest was alive that morning, as if Bambi had called on all his deer friends to see us off in style. Not to mention giving Dave a slalom course to navigate as designated driver. We said our goodbyes to a soundtrack of Val Doonican, although in hindsight the song didn’t reflect the pickup’s state of repair, we only hope this was true and the brothers made it back home to Idaho without the need to walk! The ride was a seemingly endless descent out of the pine trees to the open valley below, punctuated by view points showcasing the crazy geology of Utah that we were to discover for ourselves over the next few weeks. Layer upon layer, millennia upon millennia of rock, rock and more rock. I think a mural in the nearby town of Kanab summed things up appropriately, “The greatest Earth on show!”. We ended up winding down the day in a campsite in this town and revelling in our first shower for a week. Here we also met our first friendly face in Utah. A lovely man called Dave who set up camp, well that being simply parking his car, in the spot next to ours (around here it seems if you’re not called Dave, you’re nobody!). We had a bit of a chat but more on that tomorrow.

Unfortunately the Wi-Fi wasn’t up to much for our needs at this campsite and so we found a cheaper one down the road that offered this and much, much more! Tennis court, swimming pool, pool table, book exchange, plugs at the tent site… I could go on but one thing it missed was the shade under the canopy of trees the previous place had in abundance, however we were happy with the trade in none the less. Before setting off, Dave took pity on our means of transport, sensing that we weren’t going to be able to see as much Utah as we should going so slowly, and suggested we join him on one of his drives in the country! Having had a taste of the convenience of cars a few day previously, of course we couldn’t say no. So later that day, after we had upped sticks to our new temporary home, Dave picked us up and took us down Johnson’s Canyon. It was lovely to get to know each other over this time and it was clear Dave was in his element cruising down country lanes and up canyons. Thanks Dave for amplifying our Utah world and we wish you all the best at Lake Powell!

So, let there be rest. And there was… wait back up. If I were to say “and there was rest” Ruth might clout me round the back of the head! OK so today was a rest day for our still tired limbs but not for our poor brains who are on constant duty, day and night shifts it seems. Some serious time updating our website and audiolog mixing, to get this particular side project fully up and running, was in order. However we are pleased to report that we did it!!! Podcast, Audiolog, whatever you want to call it is available to all on the website or, maybe more conveniently, to subscribe to on iTunes and Google Podcasts. We hope firstly, it is possible to follow the conversation even if you’re only an English or Spanish speaker (that’s our aim at least!) and that it’s enjoyable. We’d really appreciate any feedback through these comments or our contact email on things we can improve (no need for compliments at this stage, although I might be jumping the gun a little anticipating any at all!). Today wasn’t all hard work though as we invited our neighbouring camper Vicky to have dinner with us. Although she’d already eaten we had a good long chat together. She’d been visiting a nearby geological marvel that few people get to see as entrances are raffled out, Coyote Canyon. I’d suggest checking out some images from your favourite search engine as it’s quite the spectacle!

Having had a few days ‘rest’ now, we felt the road calling us onwards. But not before making full use of the camping facilities until about 4/5 in the afternoon! Charging our things while we had a Zoom quiz with friends, downloading some podcasts to entertain us later down the line, a game of pool and a beer or two. Just to feel a bit of civilization before heading back out into the boonies. A light cycle out of town led to some dispersed camping spots on the river, which had a beachy vibe due to all the sand, satisfied out souls and we fell into bed like a couple of worn out drunks.

Hey! Beach vibe, sunshine, shade under some trees, what’s missing? That’s right our recently improved Ukulele! It was music lesson day and as I tried to impart my hazy musical theory knowledge on Ruth it became clear that we needed external help… so after the basics and learning a few tunes, brightening up the atmosphere with the sweet twang of our soprano Ukulele, we listened to some podcasts on music theory. Man, it’s some mission to get your head round… It made for the most relaxing morning however and after a spot of lunch we headed off up the canyon we were in to start our journey proper into the Beehive State. So up and up we went, and down and down we came! Until late afternoon, while contemplating how much further we should be going, we were passing a field of horses and through the crowd came running a lady who greeted us from across the road. Until now we’d bumped into people and had had great fortune but this was the first time fortune really came looking for us! Priscilla was a horse person and had worked on ranches her whole life, big ranches where you don’t see so many people passing through. So, if you do, you go running over to meet them and hence the unorthodox but totally amazing way we crossed paths! She offered us a place to camp with the horses and we had a chat for what was left of the afternoon. Priscilla loves animals and had recently acquired a thorough bred horse and two baby lambs (and was to get yet another horse the next day to add to the already burgeoning collection of critters that were already around!). Her job was to brake in horses to ride, a job for the brave! And she did so in a manner that seemed to come so naturally and relaxed. We witnessed her new horsey meeting his new horse friends for the first time, quite an experience, and Priscilla even let us bottle feed her new lambs! The people we have been meeting on this trip never cease to surprise us as we are so thankful to Priscilla’s warmth and trust in strangers, thanks so, so much!

We said our goodbyes to the Noah’s arc of living things we’d spent the night with and, not wanting to get in the way too much, left Priscilla to her new clients who had dropped off said further horse that morning and hit the open road. The day promised to be long and tiring and uphill. But we are getting used to this sort of day now and so we peddled away the morning until lunchtime. Meal options had got fairly stale recently so we mixed things up with another speciality from our previous lives, spaghetti carbonara! Washed down with some peanuts and a siesta this gave us the strength to push for the summit and powered us to our campsite. The guys running the place it seemed were being a little hard hit by the virus situation but I can’t see why there weren’t more passers by as they were so, so welcoming in offering us free coffee, firewood, BBQ coals and whatever we could possibly need! So after a campfire and some coffee we crawled into our sacks and drifted off and away from the cool night air.

The lovely guys at the campsite let us stay for a few more hours so we could tie up some loose ends and we set of late into a blustery day. Wind is great when it’s on your back, as it was as we set off, but later we turned up the road that leads to Bryce Canyon and had all that wind blowing us into the oncoming traffic, being buffeted around like rag dolls. Thankfully we managed to avoid ending up like the countless roadkill deer we had been seeing, and I might add smelling, recently. Well, something has to feed all the condor flying around! The way led to a peaceful and eventually sheltered canyon called “Red Canyon”, you can probably guess why it’s called as such! My word what crazy rock formations! Huge red stones, looking like spinning tops, precariously perched on the cliff tops. These are I believe a first taste of the hoodoos, amazing spire type rock formations, that we will hopefully be seeing much more of in our first true national park experience of the trip. The day was made even more pleasurable with the inclusion of a dedicated cycle track and we had a blast weaving our way along the valley to a camping spot in the Dixie Forest awaiting our Bryce experience…