After a quiet afternoon recovering in our next hotel room, whilst resting by the gentle hum of the air-conditioner, it was time to continue the adventure. After booking the room for two more nights (why give up such good facilities: a/c, pool, gas bbq, laundry, ice, HBO, in-room internet access (did we mention this was free? well kinda . . . ) and even a bike stand and wash why go and slum it at a local campground?! Yes, the trip ended up costing a little more than we had originally budgeted.

Feeling well rested and re-energized it was time to hit the local liquor store and butcher shop (Ye ‘Ol Geezer Butcher shop to be precise – just on the edge of town, well worth a visit for good cuts at reasonable prices, and friendly besides).

After an evening of, let’s face it, pigging out, it was time for some shut eye before our early morning ride at Klondike Bluffs (no more scorcher rides for this duo!). In direct contrast to the previous day’s epic ride, Klondike Bluffs was definitely low-key (a warm and fuzzy ride with 7.5mi up (yes, all up) and then back down (duh…). The trail is also used by jeeps so it’s relatively gentle but it can get a little tedious after a while. Dismounting and parking our bikes at the top of the trail, we hiked into Canyonland National Park for a sneek peek (while possibly not worth the tedious ride up, the ride down more than made up for it). The ride down was all about speed and catching air . . . and of course, no more uphill was a treat. As with all good things this trip, our ride came to an end with scorching hot sun and empty hydrapaks (so much for the early bird catching the worm, the trail had taken a little longer than we thought). Enough was enough. After dropping off our bikes back at Chilli’s, it was back to the motel for more a/c, more internet, a bit more alcohol (oh, and of course, bbq time).

Did we mention it was hot? How hot was it? Our citronella candle-in-a-can melted spilling its wax through one of the camping gear boxes and escaping into the trunk of the car). Things were getting a little dire with the heat - I know, we’re whiners, but damn it was hot . . . we North Americans simply aren’t used to this kind of intense dry heat. We had a saving grace in mind and signed up with a local adventure company that night for white water river rafting on the Colorado river.

An early night and we were psyched for our full day of rafting. The day started out nice and early and we were on the road in our buses by 9am. The scenery was breathtaking . . . miles of red rock and sand. It was a little too late in the season for strong rapids (or was that a little to early in the season? . . .) so we resigned ourselves to family style adventure with lots of water fights and floating down the river in our life jackets. The tour guides were excellent and directed us in the best ways of winning water fights with stealing buckets, preparing our riverside lunches and snacks and pointing us the right way for après rafting frozen treats at the local gas bar, Maverick’s (we didn’t test this one out, but let’s face it, locals are never wrong when it comes to food and watering holes at the best price).