A YogaSlackers Easter Weekend! Happy Trails!

*editor's note: Mom - we are fine. The red tape all over us it called KT tape, and is just to keep us healthy as we play the line with overuse injuries. It is great stuff, and makes us look good too. Read all the way to the end for a Easter present from your loving son.*

The car smells a bit. I suppose that there are many remedies to that – we could get one of those little Christmas tree air fresheners to hang from the mirror, we could steam clean the seats, or search out the two day old banana peel and throw it our at the next gas station. Or if we were really serious, we could shower more, instead of sitting in the car for sweaty hours on end.

It feels comfortable though. Like a dog that marks its territory with scent (don’t worry I’m not urinating in corner of the back seat) so that it knows when it is home.

This little Honda that could is as much a home as Chelsey and I have had for a while, and in truth, I don’t mind the smell. After all, it is just us. Well usually it is just us. Right now as we drive from Boulder City back to Tucson, we have a “house guest”. Fellow YogaSlacker Daniel rides shotgun, and he has been adding a bit of his own unique pungency to the mix.

It is Easter weekend, and we’ve spent the last three days mostly “at home”. Chels and I made the 7-hour commute to San Diego on Thursday – after an all too leisurely yoga filled morning. Friday we breakfasted on cinnamon rolls and Daniel’s dad Hubert’s world (at least in my world) famous coffee. The libations pushed us into the energetic realm of acrobatics, and for a few hours we twirled around in the air over the concrete back deck. Once the buzz faded, we headed “home” to the Honda, and made our way north.

We spent the afternoon at the offices of Ellsworth bikes, drooling over the shiny racks of beautiful frames, and enjoying Tony’s stories of the history behind his innovative designs. Tony promised to help Chelsey build her dream bike – a full suspension Truth – that he said could come in around 20 lbs. Chelsey was very happy. Before we left we picked avocados from the tree right next to our parking spot.

Back home, we headed to Vegas and then kept right on going – curving around the edge of that black hole of excess to arrive in Boulder City, and our friends Glenn and Colleen.

It was nearly midnight by the time we crawled into their spare bed.

The morning came early, and we made a short drive to the start of the Desert Dash Adventure Challenge. Glenn and Colleen are fellow racers and the event director’s for this morning’s event. Glenn had hinted that the race would be unique – and it was.

Sprint races are fast and furious for the top teams, and we went out hard. Barely into the race, we found ourselves inflating our packrafts right at the base of Hoover Dam. We were not allowed a paddle, so we used our hands in the cold water of the Black Canyon to propel our rafts slowly forward. We were thrilled to have brought our Alpacka rafts, as this was the first time we’d actually been in a race where we could use them! The course took us through a series of caves and hotsprings in a wild slot canyon – the watet changing from bitter cold to scalding hot and back again. Eventually we dropped deflated the rafts, and negotiated our way through a twisting canyon with steep imposing walls. As we raced, hopping from boulder to boulder and narrowly avoiding the drops into slimy pools, I couldn’t help a huge smile. This was just like our training run last year in Santa Barbara. Our breathing keeping pace with our erratic footfalls, we exited the canyon into the hot Nevada sunshine. In our speed, we arrived at the finish line before the race organizers and ended up running around the desert looking for a non-existent end to the race.

The final challenge of the race was actually slacklining. Each team member had to balance on the line for 5-seconds before finishing. It was the first time we’d ever seen slacklining in an adventure race, and we hope it becomes a trend…it certainly wouldn’t hurt our chances. We spent the next few hours recovering by walking the line and helping other teams complete the slackline challenge as they came in.

Back home in the Honda, the three of us began the drive back to Arizona, and here we are. 24 hours on the road, acro, walking the line, yoga and an adventure race – and no showers. Ah yes, it does smell in here. But as we pass the cattle yards near Maricopa, the smell of the three dirty YogaSlackers inside is doing a decent job of keeping the smell of the thousands of cows outside. What a breath of fresh air.

Here we are the next morning at Easter Brunch- many thanks to the Gribbon Family. Shortly after this photo.. we went off mountain biking only to get dirty again...