August 23-28, 2010: My first week of riding from San Diego, California to Moab, Utah was a lesson in weight. Having packed for both the Trans-American Trail that I would ride from Utah to Tennessee and for my continuing journey into Central America, my bags, piled-high-n-heavy, became a detriment in the dirt.
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The morning sunrise behind Balancing Rock in Arches National Park in Moab, Utah >>


<< Looking down across the valley in Arches at the freeing vastness and time-telling layers of the Utah landscape

Happy Trails Crash Bars; recommended! Despite the inability to get the
gist of it in this picture, there is a muddy ditch, and with my
chutzpah packed away with my ridiculous luggage weight, I pussy-footed
and kerplunked.
Just made it up a Paiute climb and am taking a breather before sliding down the other side >>

Lunch stop taking in the beautiful scenery somewhere north of Richfield, Utah >>

<< Around here is when I realized the limiting factors of 100-pounds of luggage stacked on my KLR; just livin’, learnin’ and lovin’ it!

Looking through to the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park in Moab, Utah - I decided to take a jog up to see it ... forgetting about the reaction my sea-level acclimatized body would have running uphill at 4,873-feet; pant!


What redneck hunters do when they can't shoot a real deer >>
Feeling happy and looking loco about making it to this beautiful meadow ... way, way out there where only knobbies can take you


Riding into Nevada's Valley of Fire; the sun at my back, chasing the moon >>
Feeling the freedom of being on the road and on my own, so I decided to jump for joy ... uh, in my underwear

