Leaderboard

Our latest adventure took us the farthest we've been in the van. Starting on December 16th we departed Ann Arbor, Michigan for Bend, Oregon. This is a bike and ski trip that would take us through Oregon, Utah, Colorado, and all the states in between. Prior to leaving I made one small change to the van. I've always had the inverter, but never really used it. The 12v heated blankets we used last year didn't stand the test of time so we upgraded to something a bit warmer that runs off regular 120v AC. We also use the inverter to run our electric kettle for making rest stop coffee and the like. The bike rack upgrades made re-configuring for carrying 2 bikes a snap. No road grime and a bit more security while we're on the go. You'll notice that I'm using Fork-Up adapters instead of the right sized adapters for the fat forks (which I have). This is by design. Using those adapters allow me to remove the bikes and put them on the roof quickly when converting the back of the van to sleep mode. This extra speed came in handy on the way home when we were getting things ready at -11F temps. Days 1 & 2 were travel days. The first overnight in the van was in Cheyenne, Wyoming. From Cheyenne we drove to Bend. From Ann Arbor to Cheyenne is about 1,100 miles. We stopped every 250-300 miles for gas and to switch drivers. The nicest thing about the Transit Connect is that it drives like a small car. This makes it a drama free driving experience for Mrs. Chong. I still miss driving a manual transmission every day, but we wouldn't have made it all the way across the country in 2 days if I had to do all the driving. From Cheyenne to Bend is about 1,100 miles. We made it on schedule. It turned out that it was a low snow year. Our original plan was to ski at Mt. Bachelor in Bend for 2 days, but there was no snow to be found. Talking to some people in one of the Local Bike Shops, we learned that at this time last year (December 18-20) the town had 5 feet of snow on the ground. Temps were in the 50s for the first 2 days. Perfect for mountain biking. The trails in Bend are amazing. The town of Bend itself felt like home. If you take Ann Arbor and drop it into the mountains, you have Bend. We definitely want to go back and spend more time there. Because we were so close to the ocean, we took a day and drove out to Cannon Beach, looping back through Astoria (Goonies never say die!) on the way back. We've now touched the Pacific ocean on 2 continents (日本が大好きな!) The last day (my birthday, actually), it snowed! We did a 6 mile hike in town. Bend was awesome, but it was time to leave. From Bend, we drove down to Sandy, Utah. I can't think of a better place to get in the first turns of the season, even if there wasn't a lot of snow. From Sandy, we headed south to Moab. This was the only reason we brought bikes. Stopping in at the LBS, we learned that Moab doesn't see a lot of snow and that the 8" or so they got a couple days ago meant that riding the famous Moab Slick Rock trails wasn't going to happen. Luckily for us, there's a lot of other stuff to see in Moab. Arches National Park. From Moab we started back North and East into Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Initial plan was to ski at Aspen, but weather patterns were driving snow into Northern Colorado. Santa brought a foot of fresh and no crowds to Steamboat! Morningside had the goods on its first day open for the season. I was really missing my Subarus on the drive up to The Boat from Glenwood Springs. There was over a foot of unplowed snow on both I70 and the smaller highway north. The Blizzaks did their thing, but the manual transmission and ground clearance on my old Forester were missed dearly. We met up with my family in Denver for the rest of the trip. None of us are actually from there, but my sister and brother in law were flying in for a 3 day concert and my parents decided to drive out from Traverse City, Michigan. Being that we go out west all the time, we were on tour guide duty. We spent a day in Breckenridge skiing, snowshoeing, and fat biking. Another day back in Steamboat skiing followed by soaking in the hot springs. The rest of the time we were on our own. We took another day to Fatbike out in Breck as well as stop in town for some supplies you can't get back in Michigan (Tele boots and skins). We took 2 days to drive home from Denver, sleeping in the van in Davenport, Iowa. We ended up hooking up the Arduino controlled remote start that night to keep us a bit warmer as the temps plummeted to -11F outside. Gas: 278 Gallons ($732.25) Miles: ~6500 Memories: Countless Pictures: Flickr