22 May 98

A few weeks ago I left L.A. and went to Las Vegas for some skydiving. It was too windy so I read a book. I also went to see a movie. I saw the new John Sayles movie "Men with Guns." I can highly recommend it. To make the movie even better, it was Ben and Jerry's anniversary so they had free ice cream. The next morning it was still too windy so I headed up to Utah. The next day I got to Dillon, Colorado. My friend Suzie lived there for the winter, but when I got there she had already left and I had to spend the night at the youth hostel. I saw a pretty bad movie also, "Mercury Rising."

Then it was time to get to Denver and meet my new group. They were a strange lot. Half of them were super outdoors folk and wanted 20 mile hikes everyday. The rest wanted a hotel tour but could not afford it. They complained about camping every night and were super indoors folk. It made for an interesting trip.

The first day we rafted the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge. The next day we went to Ouray and sat in my favorite hot springs. On Monday we went into Telluride and I had lunch with cousin Susan and saw her two daughters, Liana and Bailey. It is always nice to visit family.

Then we went down to Mesa Verde to explore the ancient cliff dwellings before heading up to Moab, Utah for one of my favorite bike rides. I was lucky enough to get a bike with both front and rear suspension. I had never ridden a $1500 bike before. It made for a pretty smooth ride over some big bumps.

Then we went down to Monument Valley to ride some horses with the Navajos. After this adventure we swam in the cold Lake Powell for a few minutes before spending the night at the Pariah Canyon Guest Ranch. The ranch is owned by a former Trek leader so it has everything we need; a bunkhouse, a tepee, nice showers, laundry, a big barn to party in, a stereo, a pool table, a Foosball table, grass for tents, horses, deer, mules, hay rides, and a friendly owner. I think very few people got to bed before 3 am that night.

After a slow start the next day, we went to the Grand Canyon and took a bumpy flight. Only one person got sick, but quite a few others were close. On my free day at the Canyon, I did a little ten mile hike to test some more of my new synthetic hiking gear. I went down from Hermit's Rest to a good viewpoint then side tracked over to Dripping Springs. I looked at the Dripping Spring and then took a little nap in the sun before hiking out.

Then it was on to Seligman, AZ to see the funny ice cream guy, lunch at the Hoover dam and dinner at the Rio Buffet in Las Vegas.

On the last day we drove to Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I dropped every body off at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Rodeo Drive to use the toilets. They had real cloth towels to dry your hands with. It was the highlight of the day for me.

On Tuesday I puttered around the office. On Wednesday I finished puttering in the office and started driving north. Today I got to Oregon and have listened to more than enough Rush Limbaugh and G. Gorden Liddy on the radio. I should get to Seattle tomorrow and meet my new group tomorrow night.

Well, time to hit the road again.