The Grand Canyon, Williams, Arizona and Sedona, Arizona

The Grand Canyon

Ok, so, The Graaaaand Canyon. I totally saw it. Most amazing hole in the earth I have ever put eyeballs on. So, when you go to the Grand Canyon, it takes a bit of effort. You take this two-lane road at 70mph north out of Williams, AZ for about an hour. Getting to Williams is an effort as well, but I can’t explain everything to you people. So, on Route 64 out of Williams going towards the Graaaaand Canyon you’re thinking “damn, I’m about to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. I wondered if it will be cool but not necessarily ‘grand’.”  Then you get to the Graayaayaaraaand Canyon entrance and you’re all excited, but you have to be a little patient because other people want to get in too. THEN, you drive up to the gate and pay the nice lady and she says “just 5 miles ahead”.  JUST 5 MILE TO THE GRAAAAAND CANYON-YON-YON-YON-YON-yon-yon. Then, you have to find a place to park, which takes a bit of time and patience, but it isn’t so bad. Then, you finally get out of your car and find “the path”. At this point you don’t know how long you will be walking on this path through the woods until you hit the canyon.  You just know you will.  And when you finally get though, you will see the Grand Canyon for the first time in your life. Then, after about 5 minutes of walking you notice that the trees ahead are thinning. Then you feel your breath get pulled out of you a little because you start to see it.

So I was walking next to a guy who was also on his first visit. We chatted a bit on the walk up, but were completely silent when we finally saw it. It’s just the most unbelievable site. I think I told him it looks almost fake. He said “I don’t know what it looks like”.  This was my first view of it:

So, there you go. The Grand Canyon. You all heard it’s awesome a long time ago. Jimerica! moving on.

Williams, Arizona

Williams, AZ is a cool little old town. I stayed here because it’s directly between the Grand Canyon and Sedona and I didn’t expect much from the town except for an ideal placement for my travels here. In fact, every town around here seems to call itself “historic” and have some sort of museum to some obscure thing. So, I figured Williams would be more of that. However, it turned out to be a cool little place.  I met some good people here and spent some time at a brewery, The Grand Canyon Brewing Company. So, Williams is worth a visit.

Sedona, Arizona

As you all have no doubt already realized, Jimerica has only one speed. Ludicrous speed. So, when my scheduler, who is me, screwed up my reservation for my next destination, it cost me a day in Sedona. Which meant instead of three days in Sedona, I only had two. But, I was still determined to ride the trails I’d planned for all three days. By the end of the second day of riding in Sedona, I’d spent 9 hours on my bike. I was so exhausted driving back from Sedona that I was taking corners really slow because I was having a hard time holding my body upright in my car. I knew I was sort of over doing it, but the problem is that it’s so beautiful here, and the trails are so fun, that you’re like a little kid fighting sleep because you’re just having so much fun and you don’t want to miss anything. During the two days, I hit “The Hogs”, Chicken Point, and Cathedral Rock. The last part of the Cathedral Rock loop was Hiline Trail, which is an expert course and one I mostly hiked due to my exhausted legs and chicken soul. The trail goes to the top of one of the smaller plateaus of Cathedral Rock. It’s a big climb followed by a thin single track along a sharp drop off. 

Chicken Point

Cathedral Rock

Throughout both days, I kept finding myself just laughing at what I was seeing. You can’t believe your eyes. It’s all so big and beautiful, and the riding is a blast that goes on and on. I didn’t spend much time in the town of Sedona because I really liked Williams for relaxing purposes, but it seemed pretty cool (though crowded).  Finally, if you do visit Sedona make sure you take route 89A into town. I promise it will be one of the most beautiful drives you’ve ever taken (however, if you have a large RV, you’ll have to come in the alternate route I believe). Here are some more shots from my two days riding Sedona:

Danger is Jimerica's Middle Name

OK, so now I’m caught up on my blogging! As I write this, I’m sitting in a Laundromat in Moab, UT. I plan to spend about 5 days here. Moab is considered one of the very best mountain biking destinations on the planet. I will start my first ride in about an hour. I’ll tell you all about the place in a few days. Thanks for reading!

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Hello, Friends! Santa Fe was just a quick 1,900 mile drive from Brevard, NC. I was on Route 40 for an eternity, but it was a nice experience seeing the Appalachians slowly turn into a long flat forest. The forest melted away, and then Oklahoma and Texas were all pretty much prairie (savannah? Guthrie?). I passed one section of Texas that went right through the middle of a wind farm that went for miles and miles. I spent some time on historic Route 66, which was fun, but it’s seen far better days. I started to get a taste of what I would be seeing over the next week or so when I got into New Mexico. It’s a harsh, beautiful landscape. Jagged old mountains, desert, and views that go on forever.

I survive these long drives on a mix of podcasts and Google radio. For podcasts, I recommend Bill Burr (unless you don’t like cursing), Joe Rogan, NPR Embedded, Stuff You Should Know, and TED Radio Hour. My favorites are Embedded and Bill Burr, but again, he really likes to curse.

I bet you all want to hear about Santa Fe, NM. Home to great mountain biking, awesome food, fine craft brews, and my favorite author, Cormac McCarthy. I didn’t get any time with Ol’ Cormac but I did stalk him sort of. One of the trail systems I rode in Santa Fe was the “Dale Ball Trails”, which weave through the mountains that surround the Santa Fe Institute, where buddy ol’ pal Cormac likes to spend his time. Shot of Dale Ball Trails near Cormac’s hangout:

My campsite was at 8300 feet, so the air was pretty thin and the nights were cold. The temperature was typically around 37 degrees when I got up, but I was totally comfortable in my tiny tent. However, I wasted little time between my tent and the car and the coffee shop way down in town. There, I would drink some coffee, plan out my day, and then take care of any errands I needed to complete in town before heading back to camp to prep for my ride. Here's what it looks like when I'm laying on my oversized air mattress and  I look straight up from my tiny tent's door (I knew you were all curious).

So, Santa Fe, visit if you get a chance. I knew there were going to be adobe homes in Santa Fe. I didn’t realize the entire city was adobe style. The place and its people have a very unique style. I used to call Evansville, Indiana the land of ugly tattoos (nice people, but really awful tattoos). This place is the opposite. Everybody is tatted up, tastefully. They all look sun bleached, wind burned, and prematurely wrinkled in an esthetically pleasing sort of way. I saw one guy that could have passed for Wayne Static if he’d lived to 88. I got zero adobe photos, so you'll have to settle for a pic of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi which is in downtown Santa Fe. 

Or maybe this interesting bar room art will make up for my lack of adobe:

Bar room art, The Matador, downtown Santa Fe, NM

 

So my second day in Santa Fe consisted of many hours on the Dale Ball trails, followed by hunting down this place called “Fort Marcy” that charged $2 for a shower and then off to Second Street Brewing Company for dinner. When I arrived at Second Street it was packed and I was thinking I wouldn’t be able to get a spot at the bar. However, there were two seats available, one on either side of this one guy. This guy turned out to be Paul, and Paul was a conspiracy theorist. I sat, ordered a beer and a burger, and then the bartender leaned over the bar and whispered to me “you’re sitting next to Paul. Paul is a conspiracy theorist”. I thanked her for the warning.

It didn’t take Paul long to notice the fresh victim sitting next to him, me. I had quickly prepped myself mentally for this exchange. He first asked me if I was here visiting, and then somehow our conversation quickly moved on to secret underground cities under the Arizona desert that only the government and the very wealthy have access to. He somehow got Elvis into the conversation for a second and then moved on to some sort of “food additive” they use in Roswell, New Mexico that causes you to “lose your appetite and leave the restaurant quickly so that they have more customer turnover”. I noted that an additive like that could make billions on the open market if it weren’t kept secret, and this fact seemed to send Paul into deep reflection. The bartender returned with my dinner and mercifully told Paul to “leave this gentleman alone so he can eat his meal in peace”. Paul happily agreed and eagerly noted that he would tell me “all about what really happened to Bruce Lee” when I was done eating. I never ate a hamburger so slowly in my life. Paul finally gave up on me ever finishing my meal, and left. You meet all sorts out here. 

So, I’m going to try to get these posts out more frequently. I’ve struggled a bit with finding time to write because I’m having such a great time. My days have been filled with riding, driving, and other shenanigans. By the time the day is getting short, I’ve been too worn out to think about writing. I guess this is all sort of good news, but I really will try to get back on schedule with these posts. As I finish this post, I’ve already left my destination subsequent to Santa Fe. So, like I said, I have a little catching up to do.

Thanks for reading all! And thank you for the Facebook/Instagram likes and comments (to those of you who partake). This trip has been an absolute blast and it’s fun having you guys along for the ride.  

Brevard, North Carolina

Hello, Friends! I’ve finally found a few minutes to blog. The first stop on Jimerica! was Brevard, NC. Brevard is one of the top mountain biking destinations in the country and a lot of fun for a lot of other reasons as well. When I got to Brevard on Thursday, it was cold and windy. I was a bit worried I’d freeze overnight, but it all went fine except for one small hiccup. My brother had warned me to check the tent he gave me to make sure everything was there. My brother is a particularly careful person, so I figured there was no way he didn’t have everything in the tent bag I needed, so I never checked. What I hadn’t thought about is that the tent might have been stored in more than one bag, which was the case.

So, when I opened the bag, all I found were tent poles and a rain cover. I briefly considered just sleeping under bare tent poles, wrapped in a rain cover, but quickly deduced that wouldn’t help me in the least. Fortunately, I had brought a second much smaller tent in case I decide to do some back country hiking/camping. The only problem with that is that my air mattress would be bigger than the actual tent by about 3 inches. I wasn’t about to sleep on the hard ground the night before a long mountain bike ride, so I made it work. My tent looked ridiculous. Photo below.

The mountain bike riding in Brevard is amazing. My first day was in Pisgah National Forest. I took a couple detours on on the Black Mountain Loop and ended up riding for over 5 hours. It was all rocks, roots, washouts, water crossings, big climbs, and crazy down hills. I spent a good part of the day pushing my bike. The last down hill was epic, and in my case, a little more challenging than it should have been because my front brake crapped out on me early in the ride. It was a blast, though I imagine I looked like Leonardo DiCaprio crawling out of the grave in the Revenant when I finally emerged from the forest.  Here's a shot for the top of the Black Mountain loop:

I spent my second two days in Dupont State Forest, which is considered a “new school” mountain bike trail system. Still very challenging, but smooth and fast trails, and many banked corners. On my second day in DuPont I encountered a guy I’d met at my campground, all bloody faced and dazed. His name was Bo. He was from Atlanta and a very experienced mountain biker. He’d taken a jump to fast and landed directly on top of the next jump (bad news). He thought he was going about 25 or 30 mph when it happened. I hung out with him while he got his wits back. He’d hurt his leg, arm, and face, but nothing appeared broken. I walked out with him to the beginning of a long downhill that ended at the parking lot. I tried to get him to agree to have me come along with him, but he insisted he was OK. I won’t be taking any Bo-level risks on this trip.

My last night at The Bike Farm campsite I struck up a conversation with the girl in the campsite up from me, and then the guy in the site down from me. The girl, Jordan, was in her first week of a 3-month trip. She’s a ballet/modern dance teacher and writer from CT. The guy, Logan, was on brake from school and in Brevard to mountain bike with a bunch of his college friends (who hadn’t arrived yet). He was actually from the same area I am, the Lehigh Valley, PA. The three of us sat around my campfire and chatted until late. This is my favorite part of traveling like this. You get to meet so many people. Like me, Jordan is at the beginning of a long trip around the country. Forgot to get a pics of these guys. My blog skills are rusty.

The town of Brevard was awesome. It just has a really fun and laid-back atmosphere. I got to know some of the guys at that local bike shop/bar. Yes, they have a bike shop that is also a bar. The place is called “The Hub”. Not to mention they are awesome about mapping out rides and doing quick fixes (like my front break). Another cool thing about the area is that they really seem to pride themselves on quality food trucks, of which there were usually 2 or 3 in the parking lot of The Hub.  BBQ, Mexican, Coffee. All great. Here’s a couple pix of the folks that made me coffee and fresh mini-donuts every morning in The Hub parking lot before I headed out on my day’s ride. Meet these guys at the Velvet Cup Coffee Truck if you're ever in Brevard! Get the donuts...get the dooooonuuuuuts.

Gavin.

Catlin and Kim

As you can see, I really liked Brevard. Even if you’re not into mountain biking, it would still be a great destination for hiking and camping.  Plus, it’s only 30 minutes from Ashville, NC, which I hear is another great town. It's also super dog friendly. Here's a shot from inside The Hub's bar (called "The Pisgah Tavern").

I’m currently sitting in a Laundromat in Santa Fe, NM.  I haven’t ridden here yet as I just arrived last night. The campground I’m staying at is in the mountains just outside of Sante Fe. At about 8300 feet, it was a bit chilly last night (44 when I went to bed). But I’m still rocking the oversized mattress in the undersized tent and I’m all snug in my cocoon at night.  Another thing I immediately notices is that the air is thin. Hopefully I'll get accustomed to the thin air quickly. I'm planning to hit the Dale Ball Trials just outside of town this afternoon. I have a feeling there will be excessive huffing and puffing on my part. 

That’s it for now. I’ll update you guys on Santa Fe shenanigans in a few days. Thanks for reading!

Welcome to Jimerica!

Welcome to Jimerica! The epic series of days on the road and hiking and camping and on a bicycle and other various activities around the United States and perhaps beyond, but I don’t know yet. I’ll work on streamlining my trip description.

I’ll be keeping this blog to keep you up on the trip hijinks and other whatnotery.  I have a tentative itinerary, but as it is almost certainly going to change a lot, I’ll just keep you all in suspense about where my next stop will be throughout my travels.

I should be reaching my first destination late this week. Stay tuned.

Gomez (aka Ghostface Killah) won’t be making the trip, but he did make the first photo.