Michigan - Part 3

The last section of vacation was actually not in MI at all but rather involving the drive home and hanging out with Gloria back here in Utah. On the way home I divided my drive to include a stop in Toledo, Iowa. The Ragbrai ride (http://www.ragbrai.org/) was going on at the time I headed back and April and her friend Kirby were in the race. April was driving support for Kirby and was hanging out so I decided I would camp with them and hang out too! It was an easy drive their, but I knew it would make my second day long. That's OK, it was great having friends to hang out with rather than sit around by myself in a hotel room! The next day was a very long, miserable drive to Gloria's in Johnstown, CO. I started out with 3 hours of torrential rains through Iowa, then road construction on and off through Nebraska, which is a miserable state to drive through as it is. Actually, maybe the construction was good as it forced you to pay attention for a while instead of getting mesmerized and hypnotized by the endless flat land and corn fields. Finally, after a stop at the Sierra Trading Post outlet (no good finds, though!), I got to Gloria's about 12 or 13 hours later! Gloria used to work at Entheos and was the glue that held the school together! A group of about 6 of us would go out for drinks every Friday and hikes every weekend, mostly encouraged by Gloria, we became know as the Core Crew, it was awesome. We have tried to continue with the traditions, but it's definitely not the same without Gloria! Anyway, we relaxed and got to bed early, to drive to Steamboat Springs the next day to meet up with Amy and Garry who we also work with. They were there doing a WFR (Wilderness First Responder) course for 10 days. We stopped and took an awesome little hike up to Lake Agnes before getting to Steamboat, then arrived with plenty of time to chill. We found a great little cantina, had a cold one and waited for Amy to get done with training that day. We all went to a free concert in the park of Lez Zepplin - yes, an all girl Led Zepplin cover band - it was super fun. There was ski jumping going on in the background, yes, without snow! Then dinner, another drink and bed. The next morning, not being able to float the river because of time constraints, we went in anyway and playing in the freezing water and enjoyed the beautiful morning. Then, Gloria and I hit the road back to UT. A little BBQ in her honor at our house, with some of her old friends, and an overnight jaunt for hiking and camping the next day. We headed to the Uintas, to hike at 10,000 feet where it is cool, but were thwarted there for camping due to the mosquitos - they were swarming! Not to mention the rain, but that passed. We ended up at Wasatch State Park and had a great camp fire, a great bottle of wine, and lots of laughs. All in all a great end to the month!!