I'm so happy! Team Sisters ran together today outside of Moab. My sister Marjorie Brinton and her husband Scott came over from Durango, Colorado last night. Marjorie and I ran the first leg of our Green Team shift from west of Moab. We started near the newly named "nipple rock" with the door. First I handed out Moeben UV sleeves from Shannon Farar-Griefe to my Green and Silver Team members. Of course, Jason hammed it up by putting one sleeve on an arm and the other on a leg along with other accoutrements and then danced around like a crazy monkey. In the meanwhile Emmanuel was holding court in a lawn chair off road beneath the magnificent sandstone cliffs. My sister loved meeting the BPR characters in the flesh. Dill's friend John was again cooking the runners a gourmet breakfast at the exchange point between Silver and Green.

Marjorie and I had a super run. It wasn't the best of roadways, U.S. North 191, but the views and the company of my sister could not be beat. We cruised into the exchange point and handed off to Jason. My brother in law then whisked us into Moab center for a shower and buckwheat pancakes at the Moab Diner. We roamed around the town a bit sightseeing, shopping a bit and talking to people about BPR. I got a doggie fix in The Barkery, a local pet store with unique pet gifts. The proprietor had a new puppy named Gracie, a mix with some border collie and spaniel in her, including the Springer Spaniel spots on her nose like my dog Smoochie. She let Gracie out and we played and snuggled with her. We then did some book shopping and I picked up the Edward Abbey book, "Desert Solitaire," about a park ranger in southeastern Utah. The main character is described as a man of character on a quest to experience nature in its purest form. It was recommended to me by our photographer Chris as we were discussing Glen Canyon on
our ride across Lake Powell.

Before leaving Moab we went to the 3pm exchange point for the handoff from Team Green to Team Blue. Jason and Simon were igniting from the stage as Laura ran in and handed to Taeko. We then headed out to the Arches National Park and drove the circuit past scenic places like Park Place, the Petrified Dunes, the balanced rock and Garden of Eden. We hiked out to see the North and South Windows and the Delicate Arch. It was magnificent, all of it, and I used up my camera battery on photos.

Daytime temperatures ranged today from 88 degrees when Team Sisters started our run to over 100 degrees late afternoon with a mere 11% humidity. A nice breeze finally sprung up later in the day. On our drive to Grand Junction we took an amazing road along the Colorado River, SR 128, too gorgeous to adequately describe in words. Team Blue was running and we stopped to cheer Victor into the exchange where he handed off to Melissa. The road was windy and hilly, with river views and lots of shrubbery, followed by great open valleys of vineyards and horse farms. One large vineyard was the Castle Creek Winery. Just before its gate a mother deer and her young fawn were crossing the roadway. Mom jumped the fence and the little one cutely tucked underneath the lowest rail. Most of the fences along this region are old-fashioned rail fences. In this valley we passed places like Onion Creek and over the Dewey Bridge next to which stood the one lane suspended Old Dewey Bridge which could never have handled most modern vehicles. The town of Cisco was a falling down dilapidated dumping ground for the railroad with an open store sign but no store anywhere to be seen.

Earlier in the day around the Arches you could see the Lasalle Mountains and tailings from uranium mines. As we left the park, flakes of mica glittered from between the rocks. We crossed the mighty Colorado River before turning onto SR 128. It then turned sleepy, lined by tamarisk trees in various stages of health and death. These trees are a native plant of Russia which were introduced into Colorado and Utah as packing material and ornamental plants. They have taken over native species along the wetter areas, particularly river corridors, and are prolific. Statistics have reported that these trees sucked up about 25% of the yield of the Colorado River and the birds won't even live in them. Experiments resulted in the launching of the imported tamarisk beatle program to wipe out the tamarisk. Scientists spent 12 years ensuring that only the tamarisk would be wiped out by this beatle and not other plant species. The beatles were released a couple of years ago and appear to be doing the job. Now the question is, are all those dead tamarisk trees a fire hazard??? Right now drought is moderate in this part of the country but, as recent as yesterday, we saw a wild fire burning and we know from the news fires are a constant threat in the West.

Tonight we are in Grand Junction. My sister takes off tomorrow and Team Green runs towards Leadville.

Water is life. Pass it on!