564 miles and one lost wheel...

We are safe and sound in a cute little b&b in Cedar City, Utah.  We've traveled about 650 miles (we added about 50 miles going through Mojave National Preserve) and have had a gorgeous day in sunshine and approx 60 degrees.  We are officially on mountain standard time (MST) and I still need to adjust all those clocks.

Traffic was light most of the way and the new year has started off well. We stopped for lunch at a stunningly restored train station at Kelso in the Mojave NP  and had lunch and then saw one of the densest known Joshua Tree forests.  Joshua trees always remind me of  trees from Dr. Suess' illustrations.  The short drive though the corner of Arizona was wonderful with rocks jutting up and roads thrust down into the canyon bottom.

Oh are y0u wondering about that lost wheel in the title?  Well let's just say that while the bike racks on my roof rack are very sturdy (as evidenced by the previous night's adventure witth the garage door) well... the front wheel holders didn't work out so well.  The crazy thing is that we NEVER heard the runaway wheel (luckily the one without the disc brakes) or anyone honk or any feedback.  Yup we discovered the wheel holder was still there but the city wheel ran away. The mtn bike wheel wouldn't stay upright so it joined us in the car.  I'm going to have to review the wheel set-up when settled in Denver.

Other than that little adventure it's been a nice drive. Tomorrrow is onto the Vail area hopefully with a little detour into Arches National Park.  Nighty night time... must sleep lots of driving to do!