Liz and Dan

Liz and Dan saw us at the visitor center for Capitol Reef State park. I had a sign taped to my cooler that said Moab. They stopped to chat with us and shortly it was decided that we should all go to Goblin Valley sate park together after picking apples. They were very good apples and they bought us scones, I had a very delicious lemon poppy seed one. We loaded the bikes and ourselves into the back of their truck and happily gazed at scenery with a breeze rather than a ton of sweat.
We got to Goblin Valley state park where Liz and Dan shared their campsite with us. Dan made spaghetti for dinner and we saw a ranger talk about the geology of the area. Phil and I had gone for a little hike about to see the awesome formations and he got rather scared when I was cackling madly in the canyon trail. All of us went down into the valley to walk amongst the Goblins in the light of the full harvest moon. It was bright enough that we wandered around the otherworldly landscape without flashlights. There was a group of people playing tag and Phil went out to join them as I tried the echoes out. It is definitely a place everyone should go visit, very cool place to run around.

The next morning Dan once again shared his delicious culinary skills with us in the form of pancakes and hot cocoa. We loaded up into the back of the pickup, sitting on our sleeping bags for the 30 miles of dirt road to get to Horseshoe Canyon. We hiked three and half miles down into the canyon to see the petroglyphs and pictographs. It was a sandy hike on the riverbed, we saw two dinosaur footprints.
The glyphs were awesome, the whole place had a very distinct energy. We met Lynn a park ranger that took us up on a cliff to get a close up of the largest most impressive panel. Pictures don't do them justice and we were so lucky to meet Dan and Liz to have the opportunity to see them.
These petroglyphs are 3000-4000 years old, the dark red paint is made of hematite. Amazing!
I found out that a seven mile hike uses completely different leg muscles, and was quite tired. The hike was great fun though. When we got back to the car we rearranged, Phil and I sat in the back seat. We both quickly passed out for part of the ride to Glenwood Springs CO.
We cheated by hitchhiking again! I have rationalized hitching as an awesome addition to our "bike tour" because it usually turns out so well, getting to rest, a different perspective, seeing things we wouldn't have gotten to see and meeting awesome people.
We all shared another campsite there in Glenwood that had showers. In the morning we had breakfast at a cool diner and afterwards found the bike path.
I have experienced a lot of kindness on this journey, Dan and Liz showed us an amazing amount. I can't thank you all enough for the two wonderful days of sightseeing and companionship. I am happy to have found two of you as role models of a happy life and relationship.
They dropped us off and continued on their adventure. All the sudden we were happily zipping along a fantastic bike path in Colorado seeing the changing leaves. What an amazing trip! I hardly have time to sit and recall all of this because there is so much happening NOW! I will fill in the details when I am sitting still.