Listen to The Wind

Going where the breeze takes me

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The 2009 ABQ Road Trip

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My latest road trip to Albuquerque started when I received a call from the cable network “Reelzchannel”. They wanted me come out and interview for a Web Production Manager opening on the ABQ Studios lot, where Reelzchannel is located.

I was only planning for this trip to last 10 days, but as many of my friends and family know, I wouldn’t be able to resist traveling around a bit.

My excursions started when my brother emailed me and said he and his wife were going to be up in Moab, UT riding their motorcycles for about a week.

I had a great time with our visit in Moab, but there was one problem. I drove my car on this trip instead of riding my motorcycle. 🙁 It was just going to be too difficult dealing with taking a suit out to New Mexico on my bike. Frankly, time was just too short to get my dress clothes organized to ship as well. Besides, I wasn’t going to be out here that long, right?

Like I said though, I still had a great time. I’ve been to Moab on many visits and I enjoy hikes in Arches National Park.

I traversed several trails in Arches on this visit, but the one that stood out was Devils Garden Primitive Loop. It’s one of the longest and hardest hikes at the park but one of the most beautiful.

Devils Garden Primitive Trail (click for more pictures)

Since I was half a day from my favorite national park, I decided to side track to Zion National Park next.

There, I hiked quite a bit as well. Hidden Canyon, Observation Point and Angels Landing are among my favorite trails.

Hidden Canyon trail (click for more pictures)

Observation Point trail (click for more pictures)

The view from atop Angels Landing was stunning again. Some of the storm clouds were a little unnerving though.

This is a shot of the last half mile of Angels Landing trail. There are some areas on the path that are only three feet across with drop offs on each side. I’ve shot some video of these drop offs that I will edit and post in the future.

On my way down from the landing, the front edge of a storm introduced itself. The front said, “hello”, by blowing winds and sand against hikers in excess 35 MPH. Honestly the gusts felt quite stronger.

Next I hiked the Emerald Pool trails. This 3 mile loop takes you by three small pools. In my opinion, the Lower Pool is the best. Along the Emerald Pool trail, you get to see many of the beautiful monoliths that encompass this park.

Emerald Pools trail (click for more pictures)

After my Zion NP visit, I drove to Las Vegas for a night. This was pretty much of a mistake. Vegas isn’t very fun alone. I just wandered the strip and went to bed early down in Boulder City which is 30 minutes south of the Vegas.

From there, I rode back to ABQ and for the last 10 days, I have been enjoying this city while hunting down job leads and taking in the atmosphere of the area.

I’ll be heading back east soon but I already am planning on being back here later this Summer.

Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods

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Well I rode my motorcycle up…and up…and up…and up some more. Until I reached 14110 feet at the summit of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs.

At first I thought this was going to be a quick 45 minute trek up and back but after stop offs along the way and the slow going near the summit, my whole trip took close to 3 hours.

The distance to the summit is only 19 miles over a combination of pavement and gravel roads. The climb is steep and during the last 6 miles, I only had an average speed of about 20 miles per hour. I was doing better then many cars along the way.

I met some Harley riders at the top, one which was extremely nervous about heading back down. I had a much better experience and a better bike for this type of journey so I was fine.

At the summit, there was a gift shop and cafe. The elevation did affect me more than I thought it would by causing some light-headedness so I had to sit down for a few minutes until it passed. From talking to people, I wasn’t alone.

I did find it interesting when I made deep breaths. I could definitely tell I was breathing thinner air.

For a snack, I ate some Pikes Peak donuts. Evidently these donuts can only be made correctly at this altitude. Personally, they didn’t seem that special. I was hungry though so I polished off half a dozen. (They were smaller then normal.)

At the summit I was witness to some spectacular views as seen below.


That is Colorado Springs in the distance.

Later in the afternoon I rode to a nearby park called “The Garden of the Gods”.

It appeared to me like a miniature version of Arches National Park. I wasn’t that impressed at first but after walking around, I grew to appreciate the park.

It was good day and well worth the ride.

Stayed in Moab one more day

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I woke up this morning with full intentions of leaving Moab and heading to Canon City, CO to watch the Bungee Jumping competition.   I started my day at the Moab Diner where I had this delicious Green Chili Omelet.

After breakfast, I was going to knock out some quick computer work but one thing led to another and time got away from me. By the time I had written a couple blog posts, called a station about a job, started a cover letter and took care of some other minor things, I could see I wasn’t going to make it Canon City today. At first I thought I might just get as far as I could on my bike but since I was enjoying my time talking with some of the employees of the Arches Book Company, and coffee shop, I thought I would just stay in Moab one more day.

One girl there recommended that I ride out to Needles Pass. It’s an overlook of Needles Canyon, part of the Canyonlands.

All in all it was a pretty nice day. Tomorrow I plan to get up early and head out FOR REAL for a few more stops then back to Ohio.