It's amazing how much can happen in a few short days-- We're taking a rest day in Gunnison, CO today (staying with our favorite teacher-ranger-teachers Mitch and Brittany. They've provided us with a real bed, good food, and a place to let our guard down a little bit. Here they are, managing the wildlife of the Curecanti area (they manage human adolescents most of the time).
So before we get too far into the travels of the last few days, we need to give some more shout-outs to folks who worked extra hard to make our trip possible.
First, Jason Ward at Happy Trail Luggage in Boise, Idaho. Short story: Katie's motorcycle, (KLR 250) has been in production since the 80's (I think). Although the bike is now out of production, no racks were available for the machine. No racks mean no cases, and this great little bike that suits Katie's riding needs had no way to carry her gear. This was a problem. Enter Jason and the rest of the staff at Happy Trails. We told them about our trip and begged them for a rack. There was a prototype, but nothing had been put into production. Being springtime, Jason was BUSY with all the other motorcyclists who needed something urgently for their own trips-- but he put the rack for Katie's bike at high priority and it's beautiful. We got #1 off the production line, and it fit perfectly, and has withstood the few bumps we've put into it. Thanks Jason and everybody at the Happy Trails office in Boise! Here's the rack, brand new, just a few weeks ago:
We have many great friends in Salt Lake City. I could write a lot about this subject, since contemplating leaving for a year brings to mind all the folks we'll miss. We're guilty of taking our friends for granted. It's easy to say, "we'll go over to so and so's house another night." Well, it's another night, and we're gone. We know better--time is of the essence. So here are folks in SLC who are not only good friends, but who own houses, and have donated room in their basements, closets, and garages to store our stuff. We could not afford to pay for a storage unit big enough for all our crap! You've literally made it possible, friends! Here's Scott and Tracy Hove, who took the lion's share of our pile:
Another couple in town who have been good friends to us through thick and thin: Polly and Eric Dacus. Eric is our official trip beginning and end photographer, whom we don't pay, but takes photos for us anyway.
And of course, we couldn't leave out our musical friend Chad Sanders. His basement swallowed an awful lot of gear and furniture. His band the (one and only Peter Harvey, who also played at our wedding) was playing the night before we left, which was great-- I'm so proud of how much better of a musician he is every time I see him.
Okay, our next post will have more trip updates and photos, promise!
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