Furry Woodland Creatures

We are in the 3.2 state of Utah spending our totally undeserved time off playing in Moab. While my people have been rolling around the cliffsides on bikes, I have decided to take up hunting. So far I'm not very good at it but give me time. I'm working on my pounce. Those bunnies won't know what hit them. I'm a pretty ferocious dog when I'm chasing varmets.

So, you might begin to notice a theme with the photos. All the shots of a rider are taken of Anna and all the shots of someone changing a flat or chillin at a view point are of Jason. This is because Jason is one of those people who always remembers to take pictures and Anna is a slacker who only remembers to take pictures when she's waiting for Jason to change a flat (that's also the only time she can catch him:).

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow...or something like that.

New Mexico is not the friendliest place for a dog. We went to Las Cruses for a Trail Building School and by the end of our first ride, my paws were bloody and full of cacti. While I was left in a strange (but nice) home alone, my people left with Kristin and Ryan (the other trail care crew) to play in the dirt, ride their bikes and enjoy tasty adult beverages at the brewery. After 5 days in the southern New Mexico desert, our need for trees became quite strong so we headed back to Sedona for our days off. My people finally realized that a lady needs some sassy red shoes so for Valentines day they bought me a pair of red, vibram soled, dog booties. What a life saver! They rolled around the trails of Sedona while I stayed at the Lodge (which is about as close as we've come to home in the past couple months) and nursed my paws.




After Sedona we headed down to Tucson Arizona for a 24 hour mountain bike race. Yep that's right, people riding their bikes around a 17 mile course for 24 hours straight. CRAZY. We had a good time, I rolled around in the dirt a lot and cheered the racers on. Still unable to run after mountain bikes, Anna left me behind and rode the course which consisted of dirt roads, and single track climbs. Not very exciting but I guess if you are riding it at 4am for the 12th time, you don't want any excitement.



On the last day of the race, Ryan and Kristin, the Trail Care Crew that we have been traveling with for the last couple months headed East to Houston Texas without us. It's not often that you get a chance to travel with a couple you have never met, work with them, ride with them and then feel like you are saying goodbye to yet another couple of long time, good friends when they leave. They are two of the funniest people we've met (funny ha ha) and they made the first couple months on the road feel like home. So, if you ever meet them, give them a hard time and buy them a beer for us.

I'm a crazy crazy dog

These last couple weeks have been awesome! I never knew that Trail Building Dog is the most glamorous of dog jobs ever. The day starts off with the usual greetings. I run around and jump on everyone as fast as I can so I can reach them before my people tell them to knee me when I jump. After defying my people, I spend a few hours smelling EVERTHING around the work site in search of poo. Next comes the real work of socializing with all the trail builders while dodging swinging Pulaski’s, McLeod’s, shovels, rock hammers and flying dirt. Eventually, after I have successfully suckered everyone out of at least part of their lunch, I settle down in the dirt next to one of my people and take a nap. It's great. Our work in Gallup NM was pretty cold. The dirt was frozen and the mornings were brisk but we made it work and repaired a pretty fantastic piece of existing trail. Unfortunately, in Las Cruses NM the following week, we went for a longish ride and I ripped the pads on three of my paws. A torturous few days followed while I was abandoned at the nice host family's house and wondered if my people where coming back for me while they were out working and riding their bikes. All in all, NM was an interesting state. We drove 4 hours to find a white water play park that barely existed, rode a BMX track in Albuquerque with a family of 5 rippers, all rocking mullets, built trail in frozen dirt, ate lots of really good carnitas tacos, and rode the trails in sunny, warm, Las Cruses. We even saw some of Sella the horses long lost wild cousins. Now we're back to Sedona for a few days off and a few days of riding. Kristin and Ryan, the other crew who have been mentoring us in the art of teaching, building trail, and being rad are ditching us in a week so I am hoping we can get in lots of riding and good times before they head for lovely Houston TX and us for Orange County CA. I'm going to have to go through this separation anxiety thing all over again!