© 2025

  • Our First Overnight Sail: 850 Nautical miles in 9 Days

    part 3: days 4 thru 6, finally out of florida

    This is part 3 of our 4 part series about our journey moving our new boat north from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Hampton, VA. Click here to see Part 1 and Part 2.

    days 4 and 5

    After a nice restful sleep at the free dock off the ICW on Clapboard Creek just north of the St Johns River, we were up early and motoring north to Fernandina Beach where we would jump outside to start our first overnight. We had finally made it out of Florida!! The motor up the ICW was pleasant and jumping out the inlet at Fernandina beach was uneventful and before we knew it we had set our sails north with an anticipated return to land somewhere in South Carolina. The feeling on the boat, at least for Kelley and I, was a bit anxious and nervous considering this was going to be our first overnight sail, but having David to lean on really did ease our concerns. 

     

    The rest of the afternoon was a pretty tame motor sail up close to the coast in order to maintain cell service for weather forecast updates and communications as well as a more tame sea state. The wind was pretty light and at about roughly 30 degrees off the nose throughout the day, so we had to motor sail with both engines and the mainsail up to maintain a 6-knot average and make up all that lost time we incurred during our downtime at the dock repairing the engines.

    This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as it was going to allow us to ease into the overnight sail and let us get our sea legs. As the day carried into the afternoon captain David started walking through the preps we needed to take to get the boat ready as well as the crew ready for sailing during the night. Safety checks of the system, watch schedules, and general considerations to keep in mind during the night shift. This really helped keep things clear and gave the both of us a sense of calm before our first-night watch.

     

    A beautiful sunset and darkness upon us we continued motor sailing, hugging the coats as we had been for the previous 12 hours or so. We kept the mainsail up for the night as we wanted to take advantage of any possible wind we may get, even though the forecast was calling for pretty light air and calm seas. Again, not a bad thing for our first overnight sail. Normally we would have taken a reef prior to darkness as it would make the boat a bit more manageable if we were to encounter a squall or stronger wind gust.

    This would become Kelley’s favorite seat when she was feeling a bit green.

    Our night shifts were laid out with Kelley and me together for three hours and then David on for three hours until sun up where we would return to a more fluid schedule of resting as needed. The moon was nearly full which gave us plenty of light and made this first night relatively easy. It truly was as beautiful as I had imagined being out in the ocean watching the stars come out and the moon rising over the ocean. Unbelievable!!  Passing by Charleston at night was spectacular with the Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge lit up in the distance! We worked through our shifts with no issues at all and before we knew it the sun was coming up again and a sense of relief fell on us knowing we had made it through our first night watch. 

     

    As day broke, the wind and seas were both calm and the weather stayed consistent so we simply motored on. I remember being concerned with David about how much we were running the engines and if we should consider giving them a break and his response was “Don’t worry man, I ran mine for three days straight across the Indian ocean!” Have I mentioned how nice it was having someone with his experience helping us capitan our boat for the first time?! The day carried on like the last one and as noon came around we needed to consider where we were going to fuel up and possibly stay for the night.

    A quick look at the charts and a few phone calls later and we were booked up at the Harborwalk Marina. Perfect, we will pull into the Bottle Channel and finish the day motoring up Winyah Bay should only take 2 and a half hours and we will tie up well before dark, maybe even continue up the ICW after fueling at Harborwalk. Nope, not the case! Unfortunately, we did not factor in the currents that notoriously run strong through these areas, and just as we pulled into the Bottle Channel our boat speed dropped from 6.5 knots down to 4. Over 2 knots of current changed this casual motor from two hours to over 4 hours to make the 15 miles up the river. Brutal after already being underway for over 30 hours. We grinded it out and after a little docking practice before dark, we tied up and caught some much-needed rest.

    day 6

    The next morning was a slow one as the fuel dock did not open until 8 AM so we were able to sleep in a bit, do some provisioning and chat with some of the local cruisers. I will never forget one of the gentlemen we helped later cast off saying “I saw you guys practicing docking last night… Remember, it’s always a lot harder when the wind is up or there is current running”. No shit! This was a bit shocking getting this unsolicited advice from an older presumably more experienced cruiser, but David the legend that he was, took it upon himself to say after we walked away, “Forget that guy… you are going to ALWAYS get that type of obnoxious advice from other cruisers, ignore them and do your own thing.” So cool to have that coming from someone with experience like David’s, and it helped to reinstill confidence in us that we can do this, even with no experience.  

     

    After some provisions and fuel we were off again, the weather forecast was showing winds out of the East Northeast but dropping throughout the day and overnight before filling back in the next morning. The sea state was also meant to be a bit off the nose in the morning but settling down throughout the day. With this forecast, we decided to head back out of Winyah Bay and out of Bottle Channel to head north for another overnight to hopefully Morehead City, NC.

    Continue Reading

  • Leopard 38 Sailing 850 Nautical Miles in 9 Days

    Part 2: Days 1 thru 4, will we ever get out of Florida

    This is part 2 of our 4 part series about our Journey moving our new boat north from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Hampton, VA. Click here to see Part 1.

    Day 1

    Well, no shotgun through the window or knock on the hull so it appears we were all good sleeping through the night on the boat. Up at a quarter till 5 David had both engines running within 5 minutes of the alarm clock going off. We unplugged the shore power, pulled the lines and we were off. To say we were anxious was an understatement, but with David at the helm, we were off and running without any issue. Straight away, David had us at the front of the boat shining channel markers with a flashlight as we headed out the Port Everglades inlet and straight into the Atlantic ocean. Trial by fire baby! This was David’s style and a perfect way for us to truly be immersed in the experience and learn as much as possible. I remember thinking to myself, as I will never forget this moment… here we are, on our new boat departing a safe harbor for the first time in the pitch dark with some random dude we met at a boat show driving our new to us boat that we had spent years saving for, all during a once-in-a-century pandemic. What a world, but so awesome all at the same time!

    Out of the inlet safely we hoisted both the mainsail and headsail (genoa) and made a beeline for the gulf stream. For those a bit rusty on their geography, the gulf stream is a warm ocean current in the western North Atlantic Ocean that moves north along the coast of Florida and then turns eastward off of North Carolina, flowing northeast across the Atlantic. It flows superfast and so sailors, and boaters in general, going north love to “catch” it so they can ride the current and get additional speed. The plan was to grab the stream and see how much northerly we could make throughout the day. 

     

    Fortunately, it was early May and the days were long so daylight would be in our favor. The west wall of the gulf stream in this area runs pretty close to the shore (roughly 6 to 10 miles), so it took about an hour or so before we started feeling the effects of the stream and began hooking it. We averaged 10 to 12 knots for the entire day and it was fantastic. Smooth seas and we were hauling ass! As we bent around Lake Worth, we continued our diagonal for the Fort Pierce inlet where we faced our first boat malfunction. We had rolled in the headsail but left the mainsail up as it can still provide lift to the boat and can be used as a safety backup in case of an engine failure when entering an inlet. We were treading water in the inlet waiting for the North Beach Causeway Bascule bridge to open so we could pass through, when, all of a sudden, we heard a loud SNAP. David’s instinct immediately cued him into the mainsail Halyard. He thought the entire line had snapped, which would have been a major setback. Fortunately, after a bit of investigating we noticed that the pulley that the halyard is attached to was still intact as was the halyard line itself, it instead was just the shackle that holds the pulley to the mainsail that had broken. Good news indeed, but this would still require someone to go up to the top of the 65-foot to repair the pulley.

    We found a safe anchorage nearby the bridge to fully assess the situation. We then traveled up the Indian river maybe another mile or two and set the anchor in a safe place out of the ICW channel. David, being the consummate captain that he is, insisted that he would climb the mast and sort out the issue on top of the 65-foot tall mast. David, always calm in hectic situations, gave clear and concise instructions and we had him up and down the mast and the issue sorted within 30 minutes of setting the anchor. This is the reason we hired a captain, it is situations like this for newbies that could have really put a damper on our experience and really could have cost us a lot of money as we would not have known where to even start to diagnose the problem, let alone fix it.   

     

    Anchor up and we were back underway. Rather than calling it for the day, we proceeded for another 2 hours or so up the Indian River and anchored in what is still one of the most memorable anchorages to date. It was a beautiful sunset and we had a couple beers on the front of the boat on the trampoline. This was the first sunset for us as new boat owners in a gorgeous setting… This is what we had been dreaming about for years and it was finally a reality!  After soaking it in for another hour or so, we were off to bed. It was a long day and we were to have another long day tomorrow. Day 1 we traveled 110 nautical miles (that is a lot of miles to cover in a sailboat in one day) so we thought this trip was going to be a breeze! Ha. How naive we were.

    DAY 2

    Up early the next day, we were motoring up the intercostal with calm winds to start the morning. As the morning went on the winds began to turn onto the nose and before we knew it we were motoring into a 20 to 25-knot headwind making barely 5 knots. One thing catamarans hate doing the most is motoring straight into the wind. With this it causes the engines to work a lot harder than normal just to make decent speed. As we are hammering the engines we notice that one of the engines began to steam a little, then a lot. So we backed off it for a bit and then the steam subsided. We brought the engine back to revs and steam appeared again within a couple of minutes. This was odd as we had just replaced the heat exchangers on both engines. This issue persisted all morning to the point of slowing us down to around 4 knots, which was just unacceptable if we were going to make any time. Needing fuel we decided to pull into a fuel island and check it out. We noticed the water pump was leaking water, but also noticed that the bilge of each engine had a considerable amount of water in each. This could have been there for a while or just recently appeared. We didn’t have much of a baseline as this was a new boat to all of us and had not made note of this before departure. Impeller was all good so we believed it had to be the water pump. Surprisingly we had a new spare on board along with a new belt. Not a huge job, we quickly swapped the pump and belt out. This seemed to solve the issues and we carried on.

    Still motoring into a headwind, we finished the day only able to make it just south of the Brewer Memorial bridge outside of Titusville, Florida. A whopping 55 nautical miles in 14 hours of daylight. Drastically different from the day prior when we had covered 110 nautical miles, nearly double the distance! Ouch! Fortunately, we had a nice anchorage and sunset and a few beers to help us all forget how hard of a day this really was. 

    DAY 3

    We rolled out before daylight with hopes of making up some of the miles we had lost the day before. Our goal was to reach Saint Augustine, FL, as we had the other engine’s water pump shipped there yesterday with hopes for it to arrive early the next day. David had wisely advised that we should just replace the other engine’s water pump so we are starting fresh on both, as the forecast was looking like we were going to need to motor a fair bit. Not to mention, a weak or faulty engine is a serious safety issue. 

     

    We made good time to New Smyrna inlet and decided to jump outside (the term to go “offshore”) to try and avoid some motoring and make time as the boat will most certainly sail faster than it will motor, especially with the motors acting up as they have been.  We had great wind right up the bum and it continued to build throughout the morning. We were sailing wing-on-wing in 20 to 25 knots true so a little tricky, but captain David felt good about how the boat was behaving. So much so that he handed me the wheel in the building following seas and wanted to let me feel how the boat maneuvered under “sporty conditions” as David liked to describe them. We were having a blast surfing down waves at 10 to 12 knots as the seas began to build to the 4 to 6-foot range. Unfortunately, Kelley was not feeling quite as well as she was starting to feel sea sick. This would be one of many times Kelley got sick on Offbeat.

    Fortunately, we made great time and were able to duck into Saint Augustine Inlet where we had arranged a slip so we could make the necessary repairs on the water pumps. While we were there in the safety and ease of a marina, we figured we should just do a full maintenance service on both the engines. This consisted of oil and fuel filter changes, belts, air filters, and the second water pump, all of which had to be done by noon the next day so we could still maintain our schedule. You are always watching the weather when you’re on a sailboat and everything is dictated by it. We got to the slip and got all the oil and filter change done before we even went to bed that night. Whew! What a day.

     

    The next morning we were again up at dawn and David and I were back into the engine compartments, I was pulling the other old water pump off as David was vacuuming out the water from the engine bilges and cleaning all the leftover grease from the previous owner so we could have a fresh start and gauge as to where any water or oil may be coming from. It was at this moment that I realized just how fortunate we were to have met David at the Annapolis Boat Show and how lucky we were to hire him as a captain. At the sight of an engine failure, any other captain would have parked our boat at the dock, tossed us the keys, and said, “Call me when you have the boat ready”. Not David. From the moment we tied off to the dock he was either in the engine rooms with me or advising me on how something needed to be fixed. He was completely “hands-on” and extremely knowledgeable, and all with an amazing attitude. He truly is a great guy, so generous with his time and you could tell he wanted us to learn and succeed and have a good time at this liveaboard sailing lifestyle.

    After a long scramble in the morning, we fired on both engines and the water flow looked better than it had been prior to swapping the water pumps and belts. Encouraged by this, we decided to make as much headway as we could and continued motoring north up the Mantazanas River, a part of the ICW, towards Jacksonville, FL. Looking at the charts we noticed that there was a free dock on the other side of the St Johns River that would be a perfect landing spot for us to tie up and get some much-needed rest, as the plan was to take off the next morning for our first overnight to somewhere in South Carolina.

    Continue Reading

  • Northbound We Go 850 Nautical Miles in 9 Days

    part 1: predeparture checklist and meeting capitain david

    After a long month-and-a-half of quarantine and continued uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the time had come to finally meet Offbeat, our 2010 Leopard 38 sailing catamaran. This would be the first time we would see her as her newest owner and finally start the journey north from Fort Lauderdale to Salt Ponds Marina in Hampton VA. We received the thumbs up from our hired captain David that we had a good weather window to start our journey. The winds looked to be in our favor for the first couple of days but then would turn on our nose for a couple of days, so we would be relegated to the InterCoastal Waterway (ICW) during the poor weather days to motor and make what distance we could with the poor weather. Sailing baby!

    With this news, we began frantically packing what we thought were the “necessary” items for the journey as we only had two days to get from the lake house in Virginia to Fort Lauderdale. It was off to Enterprise to get a car rental, which at the time seemed like a risky proposition because of the pandemic and all the unknowns that came with it. Despite this, a minivan in hand we shoved as much crap as we could into that bad boy and headed out the next morning at o’ dark thirty to conquer the 975-mile journey in one day. This certainly would be one of the more bizarre road trips we had ever made for a number of reasons, most of which was we were not totally sure if the state of Florida was going to let us in as they had been turning folks from some northern states away at the border of Florida and Georgia due to pandemic fears. Fortunately for us, we had Florida license plates on the minivan so we were hoping this would let us go incognito.

    We iron manned the trip south and got across the Florida border with no issues, although they were stopping random cars at the border, especially those with New York and Connecticut plates. Pulling into Fort Lauderdale was quite eerie as it felt post-apocalyptic from just two months earlier when we were shopping for boats. After contemplating staying in the van for the night to avoid contracting COVID-19, we decided to grab a hotel room, right on Fort Lauderdale beach, at a fraction of the price it would have normally been. It was a couple of victory beers and off to bed as the next day was going to be a full one as it was prep day on the boat for the trip North. 

    Up early, we were off to our first of soon-to-be way too many trips to West Marine to spend what seemed to be our life savings on gear and spares for the boat. Parts sourced, we were off to see our new home for the first time since the survey back in February… what a feeling! The boat turned out to be in better shape than we imagined, being that it had sat in a  tropical climate for the past 4 months without being moved. We had a lot of pre-departure work to get through so the nostalgia only lasted a few minutes and then it was off to work.

    We had Just Catamarans on the boat first thing to fix a faulty bilge pump, replace zincs and props on both sail drives, and clean the bottom. In the meantime, Kelley was working her tail off just trying to get the boat reasonably cleaned and organized with all the crap we ended up bringing down, way too much by the way, along with getting rid of all the stuff that the previous owner had left behind. I was out running around replacing engine starter batteries, topping the fridge up on freon, and just going through the boat, doing my best to address any other issues we may have discovered once actually stepping foot onto the vessel. 

    On top of all of these tasks, we needed to pick up the new dinghy that we had purchased from Nautical Ventures. We did not have a trailer to transfer the dinghy via land so we would have to motor the dinghy from the docks at Nautical Adventures to the dock where Offbeat was currently tied up to in Fort Lauderdale. Furthermore, although we were getting rid of the actual dinghy itself, the motor attached to the old dinghy was still in relatively good shape so we decided to keep that and simply transfer it onto our new dinghy. To do this we first needed to take the 9.9hp outboard off of the old dinghy, load it into the rental minivan, drive to nautical Ventures and have them put the outboard on the new dinghy. This is where we would meet our Capitan David for the first time. Arriving at the dealer, David was already there to greet us and sprung straight into action. He recommended getting rid of the existing fuel in the outboard gas tank for fresh fuel so he proceeded to use a water bottle he dug out of the trash, deposited the old fuel into the rental car gas tank (because where would we put the old gas, and heck, it’s a rental), then installed the outboard onto the new dinghy, and then he was off motoring the dinghy back to our sailboat, maneuvering throughout the various waterways of Fort Lauderdale. This all happened within just a few minutes of meeting the guy and the entire time he had a huge smile on his face. I could tell from here that this was going to be a trip of a lifetime as this guy was truly a South African Legend. 

    I dropped the rental car off at the Fort Lauderdale airport, which also felt eerie as there was not a soul to be seen anywhere in the airport, and grabbed an Uber back to the boat. Within five minutes of me arriving back to the boat, David was there and looking over every nook and cranny of the boat making sure he was comfortable with all the working systems before we departed for the 900 nautical mile journey north. For the next few hours, we worked furiously into the dark to get the boat into somewhat decent shape before our early morning departure. 

    The plan for the night was to depart the dock we were at and anchor in nearby Lake Sylvia, as it is illegal to stay on a boat docked behind a house overnight in the city of Fort Lauderdale. David, being the legend he was, said, “Let’s just turn the lights off and see if the homeowner notices.” After sitting in the dark for about a half-hour we just decided to retire to our cabins and hope we were not awoken by the homeowner with a shotgun through the window. What a crazy way to start this journey with Captain David. The guy has guts! Luckily we were up so early the next morning, the homeowner never even realized it, so off we went to start our journey north!

    Continue Reading

  • Million Dollar Highway

    Like I’ve mentioned previously, growing up in Colorado, I had spent a lot of time in the mountain regions of the state except for the southwest portion. I’ve always thought of the southwest as “True” Colorado, in the sense that this is where the real ruggedness and beauty of the state shines through, without all the noise from the “Frangers” (short for the “Danger” brought about by the “Front Range” folks of Denver, Boulder, etc….the “city folk”, if you will, who infiltrate the mountain towns on the weekend).

    The southwest portion of the state is famously known for a gorgeous stretch of mountain passes called the “Million Dollar Highway”. Popular in the fall for all the aspen trees that cover the hillsides, a summer drive certainly would not disappoint so this is what Kelley and I decided to do after having camped in Durango, CO several days prior. The origin of the name for the million-dollar highway is not certain but several sources indicate it comes from the fact that it took a “million dollars” a mile to build or that the fill dirt for the road construction contains a “million dollars” in gold ore. Some locals say they would have to be paid a “million dollars” to drive the road in the winter. Either way, it is an engineering feat and not for the faint of heart. As we set off, the beauty really starts right when you leave Durango and continues all the way to Ouray.

    We fueled up in Durango and started out north on highway 550 towards Silverton and Ouray. Technically the Million Dollar highway doesn’t begin until Silverton running the 24 miles to Ouray, CO… but one wouldn’t know this passing all of the other beautiful landscapes leaving Durango, including the area surrounding the Purgatory ski area and cresting Coal Bank Pass and Molas Pass. Every bend and opening in the trees was one astonishing view after another. 

    Catching our first view of Silverton, it really felt like we were descending on an original mining town from the 1800s. Dirt roads, classic old buildings and crusty bars, this place is somewhere we need to come back and spend more time. The only unfortunate thing we noticed was the number of side-by-side UTVs that were rolling around town. We understand the economic benefits that this type of traffic brings, it just took away from the charm of the place a bit. We figured this traffic would be less in the winter and the town would really show its true colors. We will certainly be back to make some turns this winter!

    We grabbed a delicious coffee and sweet bar from the Coffee Bear on main street and then started up the official start of the “Million Dollar Highway”. Climbing out of Silverton we couldn’t help but notice a few nice looking boondocking sites off the downhill side of Highway 550… areas where we could easily bring the Airstream. Climbing out of Silverton the road winds but the exposure is not bad. As you summit Red Mountain pass and descend towards Ouray, the exposure on the outside lane definitely has a pucker factor. Familiar with high mountain passes, it wasn’t much of a bother to us but we were on the inside lane… the outside lane could be a different story, especially in the winter. Besides the tight lanes and the exposures, the scenery was amazing and, though challenging to look around while driving, each glimpse you could grab was truly spectacular. Kelley was in awe the entire time in the passenger side, taking as many photos and videos as she could. You can check out some of our footage here…

    Finishing the drive in Ouray we stopped off for a lovely breakfast at the Timberline Deli of Ouray that served a mean veggie omelet. Reflecting on the drive it truly was a spectacular road with scenery abound. As much of a turn off it was to see the enormous number of trailers filled with side-by-side UTVs, it is no mystery why there were so many people attracted to this part of the US. Amazed and in awe we are already planning our return for the winter, which will certainly make the road more interesting.

    Continue Reading

  • And the Waiting Game Continues: Durango and Southwest Colorado

    CORTEZ COLORADO

    As the saga of the Airstream continued and the unknowns became more and more apparent, we decided we needed to step away and take a long weekend to ride and explore southwest Colorado. Being from Colorado, I actually had spent very little time in this region. It is nearly 8 hours from the Denver “front range”, so it takes some considerable effort to get there. I had always told Kelley how I wanted to explore it and see what it had to offer, so we decided a trip to this region of the state was in order.

    We left Salida and headed south towards Del Norte and over Wolf Creek Pass. Although the beetle-kill was apparent, the beauty of this pass is certainly not to be missed and, I believe, rivals any of that in Colorado. Quite simply put, it is a stunning place. We continued west where we grabbed some breakfast in downtown Cortez prior to a business meeting for a potential real estate opportunity in the area. Beny’s Diner in Cortez was delicious, make sure to make a stop if you happen to be in the area. It’s a great “classic” diner, like a place you’d see on the Food Network’s “Dinners, Drive-Ins and Dives” with Guy Fieri; definitely seemed to be the place the locals like to congregate and enjoy some greasy spoon goodness

    After our business meeting in town, we decided to head to the surrounding area of Cortez to see what it had to offer. We headed out of town on Road G towards McElmo Canyon and Hovenweep National Monument. We did not make it all the way to the Monument but did find ourselves pulling into a quaint and charming little winery situated underneath Ute Mountain called Sutcliffe Vineyards… have we yet mentioned we are suckers for local breweries or wineries? We sat down to stunning views of the Sleeping Ute Mountain and began having a nice chat with the owner. He was a nice British bloke and truly did have a lovely place to enjoy some wine. The grounds were scattered with plum trees, apple trees, lemons and lime trees. The wine was pretty tasty, but the views were the highlight. After a nice tasting and a bottle of chardonnay, we decided we better head back to town, provision up and try to find a camping spot for the night between Cortez and Durango.

    After a quick stop at the local City Market in Cortez, we headed east on Highway 160 with the intention of finding a dispersed camping spot on Forest Service (FS) Road 316. To our surprise, when we turned off onto the forest service road, it was relatively quiet with many spots still unoccupied for us to choose from. Knowing this we continued up the road another couple miles, finding a nice large flat camping spot which would certainly facilitate our needs for the next few nights and would definitely serve as a future camp spot for when we would finally get our new Airstream. After setting up we grabbed a nightcap and decided to take a walk for a view and watch the sunset. Early to bed, as we would be waking up at first dawn to get on a ride in at Durango the next morning.

    durango colorado

    Up before sunrise with a quick cup of coffee, we headed back down FS Road 316 to Durango for our morning ride. This was the first time Kelley had been to Durango and she really enjoyed it… It is a quaint mountain town, albeit busier and larger than many, with lots of darling townhouses, shops and restaurants on the backdrop of epic views. There is a big college scene there (Fort Lewis College) so that also adds a different element to the area. Parking in town, we started up 3rd Street towards Horse Gulch Trailhead and climbed up Horse Gulch Trail to Zip Connector to Power Line Ridge Trail, offering beautiful views of Fort Lewis College and the town of Durango.  From there we continued climbing up to Skyline Trail to the top of Hyper Extended Ridge where we were sure to be challenged. Challenged indeed, I would say we walked more than we rode on Hyper Extend Ridge, through large amounts of technical, “trials- like” riding with lots of exposure and not much decline. Very challenging and not quite our style of riding (check out the trail profile on TrailForks:

    https://www.trailforks.com/trails/hyper-extended-ridge/ 

    From there we made a fun, but unfortunate turn, that dropped us off the ridge faster than we would have liked on the trail Ben’s Down and Out to the Horse Gulch road and out. While it was shorter than planned ride, it still provided a good look at what the Durango area has to offer and we will certainly be back.

    Hungry and feeling we still had earned a beer, we headed out to Ska Brewing and had a couple delicious IPAs and a tasty stone-fired pizza made in-house. After doing a bit of work and feeling a bit sore and dirty from riding and sleeping on the ground the night before, we decided to head to Durango Hot Springs Resort and Spa. The facility was nice but the only gripe we had was at $30 per person they do not provide you with a towel. Huh. But the hot pools were great and spending some time between the hot and cold pools would certainly do the body wonders after the riding we had been doing the last few weeks. 

    While we were at the hot springs, we received the news we had been waiting for weeks to hear… the electrical issue that had been preventing us from picking up the Airstream had finally been repaired… the unit would be ready by the end of the week.  Previous conversations with both LazyDays and Airstream earlier in the week hinted at the idea of the unit having to be returned to the Airstream factory in order for them to complete the repairs and that it would take another three to six months before we would receive the unit… Not acceptable in our minds as the unit was already 2 months delayed from the original date of delivery. So hearing this would not be the case, and that in fact, we could pick it up as early as next week, we were ecstatic! Excited by this news we headed back to camp for the night and another early bed as we planned to drive the Million Dollar Highway from Durango to Ouray in the morning en route back to Salida, CO.

    Continue Reading

  • Rusty Legs and Rusty Lungs

    After the long and frustrating process of selling our catamaran and moving back to VA we decided to take a brake and dust off the wheels for long weekend in Roanoke VA. We had herd that the trails out that way were pretty well built and being claimed the “Mountain Bike Capitol if the East”, we thought was worth checking out. 

    After checking in to our hotel we decided to head out and ride the Mill Mountain trail system just outside of Roanoke downtown. We parked at Underdog Bikes just off Walnut street and grabbed a few things from them before starting the pedal on the greenway trail system to ride the mill mountain Full Pull. Link below to the MTB project app for the trails we rode:

    https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7024936/mill-mountain-full-pull

    To say we were rusty on this ride would be an understatement. Although it hurt it fell so good to be back on the bike and burning the legs and lungs. After the ride we went to Big Lick brewing and had some delicious craft beer. So good so, we would make multiple visits throughout our weekend here in The Big Lick.

    After a day in the office, (i.e. the Residence inn) we decided to head out for an afternoon pedal and ride a few trails out at Carvins Cove Natural Reserve. That afternoon we parked at the Timberview Trailhead and pedaled up Trough. From there we rode the fire rode to the top of Buck where we descended toward Hotel and the Bennet Springs parking lot. Buck was a fun downhill, not too technical but a great trail to keep knocking the rust off and feel the bike again. We hooked up with the trail Mid-Way Cruise over to the beginning of Hi Dee Ho trail. We climbed Hi Dee Ho, which was a pretty steep but not so technical climb back to the ridge. This was definitely a lung burner and really made us feel the last year on the boat. Once on the ridge, we descended down Gauntlet trail which was an awesome raw and natural downhill full of rocks and roots but had great flow. The dirt was velcro after the rain the night before.  Here is a link to the loop on the Trail Forks app:

    https://www.trailforks.com/route/carvins-cove-over-and-back-v1-0/

    The next few days we rode the majority of the trails out at Carvins Cove, just trying to survive and push through the sore legs and butt. The most note-worthy trail for us was the decent down Royalty. Fast and rough but great flow with some nice jump lines, a true reminder why we loved and missed this sport so much. Springtime seems to be the perfect time to be riding out here. Minimal bugs, weather in the 60s and 70’s and the trails are not to overgrown or covered with leaves. Here are the links from trail forks and MTB Project to the other loops we rode:

    https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/96807/upper-left-loop

    https://www.trailforks.com/route/outnabout/

    The riding in Roanoke is certainly noteworthy and I don’t think this will be our only trip here. Great trails, good food and beer are always a reason to revisit somewhere. Let the search begin for our next adventure rig!

    Continue Reading
© 2025