Our Volksvegan Adventure

Despite the fact that our beloved VW is still in the shop in SLC, we have an awful lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. We have been to some amazing and beautiful places, hiked hundreds of miles in gorgeous wilderness, spent time with good friends and family, and learned a lot in the process. I am so thankful to everyone who has made this trip possible, especially to my parents for not thinking I’m totally insane (just a little bit) and for storing a lot of our stuff and taking good care of our kitty for nearly six months now!

Our time in Moab went quickly and was over way too soon. We got to ride the famous Slickrock bike trail, a crazy rollercoaster of sandstone that was incredibly challenging and quite a workout. I ended up walking about half of it, but I suppose that’s to be expected for a novice mountain biker’s first trip to Slickrock. After our ride we were exhausted, and stayed at the Lazy Lizard Hostel to get some rest and much-needed showers.

On our last day in Moab, I was still too sore and tired to get on a bike again, but Seneca was determined to have one last ride. I dropped him off at another popular (but very difficult) trail called Porcupine Rim, parts of which consisted of a singletrack right on a cliff edge overlooking the Colorado River. I’m way too much of a chicken for that, but daredevil Seneca loved it. After I met him at the end of the trail, we decided to do one more hike in Arches National Park, because our previous hike to the famous Delicate Arch was so late in the day that we missed the prime views at sunset. This time we made the hike just in time to watch the sunset cover the arch and surrounding slickrock in a beautiful orange glow, and of course the pictures came out much better this time!

The next day we got up at the crack of dawn so we could make it back to SLC in time to drop off the rental truck. We got there way earlier than we expected, so we had time to look up veggie restaurants on Happy Cow and found an awesome place called One World, Everybody Eats. When we entered we were greeted by smiling people who explained how the cafe worked: they had a buffet of different dishes prepared, all organic and many vegan. We could choose whatever we wanted in whatever amount we could eat, and afterwards we could simply pay what we thought it was worth. The cafe was dedicated to reducing hunger (they offered a couple of staple dishes for free) and sustainable sustenance. We were surprised and delighted to find such a conscious restaurant, and we sampled everything we could. It was yummy and satisfying.

After our lunch we headed to the VW shop to hear the news on the bus. The mechanics had our engine taken apart and said we’d need to replace the head (the one we just replaced a few months ago – argh!) but that the pistons were fine (thank goodness). They hoped to check a few other things out and gave us an estimate that wasn’t nearly as bad as we had anticipated. The best news was that it should be done by next week, so we won’t have to wait long to head down to Cali and end our journey.

We shuffled rental cars (we had to rent a smaller car to drop off in Boise) and loaded up for the trip to Boise for Thanksgiving. I’ll be making a Tofurky to eat with Seneca’s family, and we’re excited to actually spend a holiday together for once. Unfortunately since we need to return the rental car and get a bunch of stuff done when we arrive in Boise, I won’t be able to make it to Portland with my parents for the Pru Crew Thanksgiving dinner. At least we have a lot to be thankful for this year, and more adventures ahead…