I am heartbroken about recent devastation wreaked upon places where I have worked, trained, and supported on over 20 visits throughout my working career. There is little I can do at this stage of my life and work situation other than make financial donations and approve waivers of bureaucratic policies that would otherwise be enforced.

So while my heart is in the Caribbean, I am taking time out to divert my sadness with more pleasant memories. I cannot believe it was exactly eight weeks ago today that…

…my friend “S” and I visited two of five National Parks of Southern Utah on two wheels. Sometimes it feels like yesterday (my butt reminds me still today how sore it got on that awful stock seat on that new Harley that I rented.) Sometimes, it feels that more time has passed.

Canyonlands National Park was stark, open, and desolate. It was a great first choice of a park to visit because it was very large, spread out, had great riding roads, and uncrowded. (See a video of riding in this park here.) The entry into the park was at first somewhat daunting with curved roads, some switchbacks, and mild 6% grades, but it turns out that the roads in Canyonlands were easy introductions to more challenging roads we would encounter the next day.

Just down the road from the Islands of the Sky entrance to Canyonlands National Park was Arches National Park. Due to some flooding from monsoons the week before we visited and road construction, some of the roads in this vast park were closed, but that did not spoil our visit. The entry was a steep climb on several switchbacks that actually was a lot of fun! (A video of this entry is here.) The park was significantly different in visuals. Everywhere we looked, there were different structures and rock formations formed over eons of time by the actions of wind and water. Another video of what this looked like on two wheels is here.

Yes, I have very fond memories of this bucket-list adventure. In some ways, I would love to do it again and apply what I learned from my experience. In other ways, doing this ride again probably would be a let-down because less would be new. However, if I could do one leg of this trip as a do-over — the ride on the day it rained — on a sunny day, then yeah, I might consider it. Whaddya think, “S”? “Been there, done that, or been there, let’s do it again?” (Next time, if there is one, let’s at least get the t-shirt!)

Life is short: recall fond memories, especially when bonds of friendship make it sweeter.