Day 2
Ride the Bee (da Vinci Tandem) from Moab to Arches National Park and Back

Above: Terry and Dennis Struck with the Bee (da Vinci Tandem) in front of the Double Arches in Arches National Park, Utah.

Moab, Early in the Morning

Above Left: We're all happy and ready, this will be our first tour ride of the year.

Above Right: Riding north out of Moab, early in the morning.

Above Left: The Biker Gondolas are not operating yet, they carry Mountain Bikers and their Bikes to the top.

Above Right: We're turning left.

Above Left: Bike/Pedestrian Bridge for crossing the Colorado River.

Above Right: The Colorado River, it is near flood stage from snow melt and a deep winter snow fall in Colorado.

Arches National Park, Utah

Above Left: Dennis and Teresa Struck at the Entrance of Arches National Park, Utah.

Above Right: Red Rock formation just before the Entry Booths - The Park is now open 24/7 and it is Free.

Above Left: Falcon Rock, looking east on the way up to the main mesa.

Above Right: Falcon Rock, opposite side, looking northwest on the way up to the main mesa.

Above Left: Explaining the Moab Fault.

Above Right: Looking at the Moab Fault.

Above: The Long Climb of Arches National Park, Utah!

DESRIPTIONS: The left side of the Long Climb Image, just above the bottom bushes, is the Park Entry Booths. The other building and parking area is the Visitor's Center. In the middle of the image, from left to right, is the LONG CLIMB with most of the switchbacks showing. Our long climb was nearly completed at this photo vantage point but it did continue for another 1/4 mile.

Above Left: A good morning with beautiful views.

Above Right: Desert Plume was the most common flowering plant while we were in the Arches NP / Moab area.

Above Left: Arches NP desert floor, Abajo Mountain Range.

Above Right: Arches NP, UT, by Tandem Bicycle.

Above: About Petrified Sand Dunes.

Above Left: Terry (and the Bee), reading About Petrified Sand Dunes.

Above Right: We often had the road to ourselves on the road of many monuments.

Above Left: Our first (long distance telephoto) glimpse into the Arches.

Above Right: Hoodoos, Arches NP, UT.

Above Left: Sandstone Fingers.

Above Right: Windows and Arches.

Above Left: Balanced Rock.

Above Right: Abajo Mountains, not Arriba.

Above Left: Terry, Me, and the Bee at a roadside pull-off.

Above Right: We climbed through 5000'/1524m ASL. We started in Moab, just a little above 4000'/1200m.

Above Left: This Balanced Rock makes a person wonder, when?

Above Right: We rode beyond the turnoff for The Windows.

Above Left: Another rock monument.

Above Right: We returned on our route to make the run to The Windows (where many Arches are located). We will turn left ahead.

Above Left: We were cycling still and arriving to the Windows area. It suddenly felt different, I cannot explain it, sort of spiritual and ancient feelings, all at the same time..

Above Right - STORY: We stopped and stood the Bee on its kickstand next to the very first vehicle parking place as it had one of those painted striped triangle space areas with no parking marks at the pull-off’s edge. The very first spot was empty with a sign that said Official Use Only. Up drove in a guy in a little Outback type of car straight into the parking place. I mentally thought, ‘Well this is going to be interesting’. The guy stepped out and simultaneously put on his Smokey Bear Ranger Hat, he was a 20 something College Student Volunteer. We immediately struck up a conversation (don’t miss the pun). He was from the Boston Area and he was enamored with the flags on the Bee. We talked about his desire to do some traveling. I sort of let him know that he was only looking at the ‘A’ side of the bike’s flags. He walked around to the ‘B’ side and he was awestruck (yep, 2 puns).

We told Paul that we wanted to walk the bike closer to the Window and get a picture of us and the Bee with an Arch in the background. He said that we could not do that here (nodding to the arch in this picture) but opposite from where we were standing was yet another Arch, called Double Arch, where we could perform our picture idea. He then asked if we could use some water (there is zero water available inside the Park, water is only available at the Visitor Center).

The outside temperature was now in the 90s F in the shade, we had already drunk 4 of the 5 liters of water that we had onboard, and Paul had Ice Cold Water. We took on 4 liters of water. He told us that he carries water specifically for cyclists but will share with anyone who needs water (we just happened to be the only cyclists that day). We shook hands and said our goodbyes.

Above: Two views of us, Dennis & Terry Struck and the Bee with the Double Arch of Arches National Park, Utah.

It is worth mentioning that we had met many visitors from outside of the USA who took delight in seeing their National Flag displayed on our bike, to include the Spaniards who took this picture as was as some English, Korean, and Chinese families. The experience heightened our already fantastic day!

Above: This is our alternate Double Arch photograph. Interestingly, the photo was taken by one of two Spanish young men on tour in the USA, they did not miss the Flag of Spain on the Bee. They were from the Madrid area and were pleased that we had visited Spain by bike (Seville, Cordoba, Granada). Of course, we got an invitation to visit Madrid and its area, which we may accept. We were having such a grand day!

Above Left: The placard explaining the Double Arch (unfortunately with a sun reflection).

Above Right: We were heading out of Arches NP to Moab (just over 20 miles yet), and we were viewing nature displays (more arches) that were not in our forward views as we cycled into the park this morning.

The outside temperature was in the 90's F in the shade and we weren't.

Above Left: Daises.

Above Right: A joyful view, much like a lesser Grand Canyon (but we get to bike through it).

Above: Great Canyon View and tandem bicycle ride, Arches NP, Utah.

Above: Called Desert Plume.

Above: Just around the corner is the Big Descent (opposite direction of the Big Climb), our downhill speed will be in the 30s (MPH), it will only take a few minutes. Our speed will give us temporary respite from the 90s F/30s C temperatures.

Above Left: We were out of Arches NP and riding the bike trail south, parallel to US-191, back to Moab.

Above Right: Just before crossing the, rather full, Colorado River.

Moab, Utah

Above Left: Called Mexican Blanket.

Above Right: Entering Moab, UT.

Above: Moab landmarks.

We had a fantastic riding day. The ride's heat would have more of an effect on us on the following day than we realized on this day. The ride was an excellent warmup for the Backroads' Bike Tour that was to start in two days. On the following day we would migrate to George, Utah (in the southwest corner of the State) for our tour group meetup.

A Heat Rash was discovered on the following day and that made us decide not to ride at all, so we just performed bike maintenance and then traveled to George (Utah). Along the way to George, we would stop at the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs.