The Bacon Strip

Winter Solstice is up on us and it’s way beautiful down in the deserts. Heck, even the moto-rally to get here was gorgeous. Clear skies and relatively uncongested roads through the Great Basin. Rest breaks in Nevada’s historic gold and silver boom towns (which’re very off the radar of retirees, dirt twirlers, and most 30-something D.I.N.K.s) are always enjoyable. Just tough ol’ folks, old cars, and much much older buildings.  I wanted to check in at the Saddlery in Goldfield and pick up some soap for the Brooks. Salty roads are hell on leather.

what’s a cowboy trapping?

there was a note on the door with a phone number if you needed to contact the proprietor if she/he was not around. there were also instructions on where to find them if the no one answered their phone. i thought that was excellent. we rolled into Cave Ck later that evening, after dark, and into a house filled with relatives, friends, and friends of friends. a hot meal and some catchin’ up and i was off to bed. 12+ hours of drivin’ has a way of wearing one’s eyes out.

the next morning we slept in a little, grazed on whatever food stuff was around, and headed out for a hike. the brothers, a nephew, 3 dogs, Amanda, and I stuffed into a rig and took off to the Bloody Basin TH for Trail 4. Rather than do a nice through hike back to the Spur + Trail Head near Cave Ck, we did a nice loop hike up to Quien Sabe, over to Skunk Tank, down to Cave Creek, and back to the vehicle on Trail 4.

wu-hahahah-trail to Skunk Tank must be a siiiick ride!

reaching the trail tail at moon rise. Mom must be worried.

This morning I was first up and therefore, first to make the joe - Peet’s, ahhhhhhh. Mrs. Coy is sooo thoughtful to have that in the house just for us. Task 2: slime the tubes. Would you believe that my mother-in-law had pint of slime waiting for us, right beside the Peets? Preemptive sliming is novel for us northern latitude, high altitude desert dogs, but a necessary part of trail riding around here. 4 oz of the stuff, or a little less if you’re feeling frisky, and you’re set to pick up the occasional jumpin cholla, rogue prickly pear pad, or go head-on into a saguaro (not advised).

GO JOHN TRAIL

Shredder and I spent the day winding around trails near the house and town, some of which were super uber technical trail, others pretty challenging, some not so. I prefer the former myself. I’ll try a rockstacle at least 3 times and if i don’t figure it out, i’ll call it a no-go, or i end up on my back and laughing pinned under my own body weight and bike. hahahaha! maybe next time…

or resort to trialsin’

see those racing stripes?

Next? well, a casual morning with the family tomorrow, maybe another bout of biking up near Bloody Basin, perhaps Mesa Calavera. Then, up to Flagstaff to catch up with the Garros and see if Troy, Dara, Seibert (sp?) et al. left any freshies for us.

Wishing you a nice solstice and an excellent winter.

Love and Hugs,

Japhy rider

popcorn balls? very packable, very tasty, the next best thing to fruit cake