Calm

Other than a welcome routine of gym workouts and Wednesday hikes we haven’t done anything special. IMG_6403We’ve been host to a German Warmshowers.org cyclist who completed his 8,000th mile arriving in Durango this last week.  Daniel Poetschke from Dresden was on the home stretch of his 7-month adventure thru South America and the West Coast of the U.S. when he rolled up to our condo.  We convinced him to stay an extra lay-over day in Durango so he could warm-up and catch-up before the final leg to Denver.  It’s always a pleasure hosting these young tourers because we inevitably learn something and feel the good will is well worth the time and effort. It’s continually amazing how much these folks IMG_6399carry on their bikes, Daniel could set a weight record for our cycling tour visitors. However, at the same time he’d travelled the longest distance by far, so who are we to judge.  Suffice it to say we travel with about the same weight he had in just one of the small front orange bags on his bike.  He’s camped probably 90% of the time and the photo of his tent covered with snow in the high Sierras deserves the hardiest award.

IMG_6405It’s probably worth mentioning that Stanna got a replacement for her mountain bike we left in Trang, Thailand.  The Durango youth cycling club Devo had a swap meet last weekend with several hundred bikes available  at really 
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great prices.  She found a Trek 7.2 FX her size tricked out with cross wheels and tires, 24 speed gearing and a rack, all for $95.  Only item she’ll replace are the gummy pink hand grips. So now we have the full complement of five bikes stored the the living room.

IMG_6395This blog wouldn’t be right without a food foto inserted, and the tasty treat we experienced was an avocado lime pie with almond and coconut crust.  This was so healthy it could very well have been the main course.  Thanks, Carol, for the wonderful dessert, everyone should be as fortunate as us to have dinner at your house.  Speaking, or more aptly, writing about food, both Stanna and I were very pleased to find that our Thai diets returned us home weighing in almost the same as when we left, even with the daily ice cream and popcorn regime I adopted.

IMG_0551The Ultra Light gear list got several upgrades as a result of the last trip to the Utah desert.  All minor tweaks, but I’ve saved another several ounces and even added a couple of essentials, or better, things that make sense.  The lightest of all the tweaks was adding a simple iPhone camera pole mount with a ½ ounce piece of shock cord [credit to John Martin]. My base weight is still under 10 pounds.  As soon as it warms up a little more, we’ll be able to get up in the high country around here; right now all the hiking is day hiking because the overnight temps still hover around freezing and there is plenty of snow on the north facing slopes, even in a light snow-pack year.  (Our usual Tomato plants are currently just inside the deck doors waiting for those overnight temps to rise.) And we’re just about set to make reservations back to Switzerland for another Fall trek, let us know if you’ll be joining us.