For the price of a @mbaaraceseries @mangledmomentum bike race entry … we got two free nights of 🚐 camping out at the rodeo grounds. Yes it was just a dirt lot but we had loads of room to spread out, clean restrooms and showers! And who doesn’t love a pop-up bike party out in the desert.

I was thrilled to come away with 🥈 in my second race back post-crash. How far I’ve come since last June. The body is an amazing thing and I’m constantly blown away by its capacity to heal and grow stronger 🙏🏼.

After the race was done, we went into town to check out the famous London Bridge— timing it early on Sunday morning and enjoying the quiet while everyone was still sleeping.

Do you know the story of this bridge ? It’s mind-boggling:

“After it was dismantled, each of its 10,276 exterior granite blocks from the original bridge was shipped to Lake Havasu City. Each block was numbered before the bridge was disassembled. The blocks were shipped overseas through the Panama Canal to California and trucked from Long Beach to Arizona. The shipping and assembly of the bridge, and dredging of a man-made channel underneath, cost $7 million.”

Source: https://www.golakehavasu.com/london-bridge

Then back out to the SARA trails for a hike attempt (cut it short due to loose scrambly nature of the trails; much better for riding than hiking).

Ready to see more of the lake, we moved to our campsite at @cattailcovestatepark … What a little slice of lake heaven ! While there weren’t any trails I could ride in the area, we enjoyed one of our best-hikes-ever along the water. Water on one side as far as the eye could see and then yellow and purple flowers on the hillsides - it was a visual feast that elicited emotions of feeling supported and held by nature. 🌱 💕 🌸

Spring break in this area was understandably busy & congested but the weather was cool and lovely and we had a great adventure here. 🌵 amazing to see such a huge body of water in the middle of the desert, 3.5 ish hours away from phx. We will def go back to explore more of the waterfront campgrounds in the future. 🗺️

@golakehavasu @lhcazgov is a spot that’s been on my AZ list for a few years now, and I am so glad I finally made it out there (once again thx to bike racing for providing the impetus and destination!).

#explorearizona #vanlife #lakehavasu #lakehavasucity @cattailcovestatepark @lhcazgov @golakehavasu #latergram #arizona #optoutside @trustforpublicland #homeiswhereyouparkit #freshairandsunshine☀️ #dogsofinstagram #vandog #mountainbikeracing

Little Ramsey deserved her own little cute gallery :)

Book review: Feral by Emily Pennington

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

If you know me or follow me on IG you see most books get five stars from me - I suppose I am intentional with my choices or perhaps am generally easy to please ?!

I really wanted to like this book. It called to me as a vanlife adventurer and someone who of course wants to see as many national parks as possible…

I saved it for this road trip and devoured it in the course of three days. But truthfully I read it so fast because the book itself brought on feelings of rush, haste, and yes- caused me some bedtime anxiety (I read before bed).

While i appreciated (and yes at times 100% related to) her “get this quest done in a year following my plan as much as possible” … I also wanted her to slow down and share more photos and feelings and to SOAK IT IN. She got herself good and sick several times on the journey and much of her angst was related to a crumbling relationship which really hung over her trip like a wet blanket. I appreciated her frankness and candor but I also wanted her to enjoy it more. For much of the book, this once in a lifetime adventure simply felt to me like … work. I felt depleted reading it not energized as I’d hoped.

If nothing else it reminded me to slow down and savor my own adventures more…

An indication of how much a book impacts me is how many bottom corners are bent, signaling a page I wanted to come back to. Here there aren’t many corners bent. I’ll share the lines that touched me most:

I was struck by a quote from Edna brush perkins in the visitor center: “how can rocks and sand and silence make us so afraid and yet be so wonderful?”

three life altering mantras:

In this very moment …there is nothing to worry about - nothing is lacking - there is much to be grateful for.

it’s not a race I kept telling myself it’s an excuse to roam around a beautiful place in the name of self discovery. why do I keep forgetting that? This is what’s real wilderness sickness loss beauty what if the parks are showing me exactly what I need to learn? That if I don’t slow the F down I’ll miss out on the miracles happening all around me

I have been a fugitive from the void for too long I have traveled too far to keep running away if I am to love let it be easy if I am to find horror let me wrap a ring of flowers around its neck if I am to belong nowhere let me belong everywhere