Coming home... or am I?

We left Park City this morning without a specific destination in mind for the evening. Tomorrow we'll be in Eugene, but that was a bit too much of a push for one day, so we ended up stopping in Bend for the night. The entire day was pretty much spent driving, but it seemed surprisingly fast considering the distance and time it took.

I've found the key to enjoying the road trip days is to notice the little things you find along the way. There are many quirky signs, odd sightings, and beautiful landscapes to take in. Highlights of the day involve a trailer on a truck attached to a trailer, all on a bigger truck with a bigger trailer...



A wildfire started by lightning, some rain, a lightning storm, and a truck that was exceedingly difficult to pass due to the many curves in the road.



Not to mention a truck hauling a boat that had its flashers on in the dark while going a perfectly normal speed. It started to drive me a little crazy.

It feels slightly odd being back in Oregon. It's been home recently, but now without a place to live here and my brother leaving Saturday for Arizona, it may actually sink in that I've graduated and moved on to the next phase of life.

I found out that some relatives are in Sunriver right near Bend, so I'm going to see them in the morning and then head to Eugene in the afternoon to see my brother off on his journey.

I'm excited about the Olympics, which I'm going to officially dub the Smoglympics (we'll see if it catches on). It'll be nice to wake up and turn on the games while working out at hotel fitness rooms, much like I did with the Tour a bit last month.

This tour is definitely making me think. Considering what the future holds is both exciting and scary, but I definitely have much more direction now than I did a month ago at graduation.

Lazy day - much needed

I slept in this morning (if 8:30 is considered sleeping in) and for the first time since the trip started, I did absolutely nothing productive with my morning. I sat around and read magazines, ate some food, and messed with iPhone settings. It felt wonderful.

For lunch, I decided to wander out to a Mexican place that Molly pointed out. On the way, I saw another Lotus. They must be a popular car in Utah. I've seen plenty of other sports cars on the road (including a Carrerra GT in New York) but the only Lotuses I've seen have been in Utah. I'm not sure why that's relevant, or if it even is relevant, but I'm writing about it anyway.



After lunch I walked up towards Park City Resort and spotted the Jagermeister promotional tour bus parked next to the Clif Bar 2 mile challenge promotional tour bus. It got me thinking, why don't we have a tour bus?

Truck rant time. Our trucks really aren't meant for the type of highway driving we put them through. They're basically city delivery trucks - tiny engines, no air ride suspension, extremely non-aerodynamic and worst of all, they're automatic. Driving down one decent in Pennsylvania, I was alternately having to use the engine brake, use the foot brake, and shift down to avoid smoking out the breaks or redlining the engine, respectively. If only there were more gears to shift down into...

Anyway, I think a bus would be a much better promotional vehicle. Our trucks are cute and all, but there's just something sleek and sexy about a tour bus. There's a certain rock star element involved.



I checked out the Park City Olympic plaza as well. During my few days here, I've gotten to see the locations where many of the alpine events were held in 2002. It's definitely gotten me in Olympic fever mode just in time. Here's hoping these games are exciting.



After returning to the Hart residence (Molly's family), I went with her dad to hit some golf balls at Promontory, a private golf club/residential community. Later, Molly and her mom showed up and we went out for nine holes, which ended up being seven because we got hungry. I played well for the first 5 holes, then fell apart on the last two. Regardless, it was a beautiful course in a superb setting.





Tomorrow morning we leave to head to Eugene. I'm excited to catch my brother the night before he leaves for Arizona, watch the Olympic opening ceremonies, see some Eugene friends, and pick up one of my bikes to have with hopefully for the duration of the tour.

The good type of pain

This morning I headed to Deer Valley Resort for some downhill mountain biking. Deer Valley is rated as one of the top places for mountain biking in the country, and it holds the national downhill championships on one of the slopes. I considered taking my iPhone for pictures from the top, but probably a good thing I didn't bring it. the view from the top of the mountain looks something like this:



I got there shortly after the lifts started running at 10AM and spent 6 hours riding down the mountain. In those 6 hours, I managed to get in approximately 15 runs down the hill, including several times on Naildriver, Sunset, Four Point/Deer Crest and Homeward bound, and once each on Flagstaff loop, Team Big Bear, Deer Camp, Super G Trees, and GS Trees. I also felt adventurous enough to try some of the difficult trails including Aspen Slalom and Devo, part of which is used for the National Championship course. Here's a map of the trails to for a better perspective. I managed to only crash once, and that was a result of my front wheel digging in too deep to the soft dirt on the trails that has come as a result of a lack of rain. Molly's dad lent me his bike, which worked great.




I definitely got nice and dusty as you can see from my sock line. You can also see the extent of the damage from the crash. After 3-4 hours of brutal downhill riding, my entire body ached, but I was having too much fun to stop. I anticipate being a little sore tomorrow.



I also ended up with some fabuluous helmet hair.



After I finished and cleaned myself up, Molly drove me in to Salt Lake City to pick up the truck from the shop. Picking it up was simple, but getting it back to Park City took a little longer than it should have. I was nearly out of gas, and it took the better part of an hour to find an open diesel station. I was relieved when I finally found one.



The really good news is, the front end shake seems to be fixed, and the overheating issues are also improved, if not completely fixed as well.

Hot and Cold. What time is it?

In the morning I ran. Then I ate. Then I did some random tasks. Then I ate again. Then I left to take the truck in for service.

I saw this guy and laughed.



After Dropping off the truck in Salt Lake City, I had the shuttle guy drop me off in a place where there was supposed to be a locksmith to make some keys. There wasn't.

There was HARD CORE TATTOO. I was severely tempted to prove how hardcore I am.



I also considered buying some groceries and other junk.



Pappy sounded like such a nice guy I almost couldn't pass by, but I did.



I was about to head to the Cosmopolitan Cyber Cafe, but who wants to be in company with someone who drives a nice (yet tacky) orange Lotus Elise?



Unfortunately, seeing as how I was wandering looking for a locksmith, I think I may have passed this control point more than twice. Good thing it was the middle of the day. I wouldn't have wanted to deal with all the congestion between 11PM and 4AM.



I just about stopped at this place and got a room - I figured it would be so cheap to rent a room, the free TV would have a resale value higher than the room cost. Good investment.

(Note the large yellow key sign in the background!)



Then I walked a bunch. More like scurried between shady spots to avoid sunburn.

I met up with Emily and her dogs. Murphy is not pictured, but had she been, she'd be a large black mound of fur. Make that a pile of fur.



We chatted, had some dinner, and parted ways. It had been way too long. She's doing well.

The half-second iPhone picture delay didn't help, as I missed the brief moment she had her eyes open into the sun.



After I made Molly late for dinner (sorry!) I sat around a had margaritas. Then we sat around a fire. People came over. They talked a lot. I talked very little. The end.

*No, this post is not alcohol influenced. I simply chose a very odd way of expressing myself.

Goodbye Copper, Hello Park City

This morning Stephen, Nate, and I got up early to make the most of our remaining time in Copper with a mountain bike ride. We rode a ways up (lots of up) the Colorado Trail. It had some nice tricky technical sections, and it was very scenic, much like everything else in the area. I managed to stay upright the whole time, including some really fast descents. I'd venture to officially say that I have good bike handling skills off-road.



We posed for some tree-mounted timer shots with a camera, including this nice shot after crossing a stream.



Also worth mentioning was Stephen's near-crash (technically a crash, I suppose). He went over the handlebars on a steep downhill and managed to land on his feet and take 4-5 hops down the trail with the bike between his legs. It looked painful, but I really couldn't help but laugh.

After the ride I finished packing up and Molly and I headed out West from Copper with our destination being her hometown of Park City, Utah. Along the way it was really fascinating to see the change from the mountains into canyons and eventually into desert country.



I hadn't realized how close I-70 came to the Moab/Arches NP/Canyonlands area, but it definitely renewed my interest in visiting those parks again (and mountain biking in Moab).

Along the way, we continued to have to baby the truck along. It has a tendency to get a little testy (overheat) when the weather is warm and we're going uphill. We only had to stop once to let it cool off, and after lots of encouragement it started behaving a little better. This is definitely the truck with the personality. Hopefully a shop in Salt Lake can fix some of the behavioral problems.



After arriving in Park City, I had a tasty dinner with Molly's parents and got to meet her family. They're definitely a nice bunch and I get the impression they want to make sure I enjoy Park City.

The next few days hold in store:
-Taking the truck in for service
-Seeing my long-lost sort of sister
-Making some keys
-Mountain biking
-More mountain biking
-Pretty much whatever else comes my way