Summer Road Trip 2022

This is my first write up in a few posts. I have been just sharing pictures but this trip was filled with so many experiences I wanted to share. I packed my truck and got on the road with only three destinations over three weeks; Bentonville MTB festival, Knoxville and Illinois. I didn’t have much planned along the way so I decided to jump from mountain bike area to mountain bike area finding camping in between.

The trip started in Phoenix towards Ruidoso, NM to ride Cedar Creek and camp in the forest. Along the way I stopped for a few hours in White Sands National Park to do a short hike and eat some lunch. Although it’s not a big National Park, the White Sand loop was just enough. After a short drive from White Sands, I ended up in Ruidoso. I turned on to the forest road towards camp and arrived at a barricade that read “Forest Closed”. All of the National Forests in southern New Mexico were closed, the sun was setting and I had zero back up plans because I didn’t really have a plan from the start. I made my way to the next closest town which was Roswell, NM. I spent the night in a cheap hotel. The following morning, I woke up and went for a walk downtown. I was in love with all the UFO and alien things everywhere. I got to visit the International UFO Museum which reinforced my beliefs about extraterrestrial beings visiting earth. I believe they are on another dimension, which is the reason why we can’t communicate with them. After doing some of the tourist stuff, I got back on the road.

The next stop was Palo Duro Canyon, Texas. This was a fairly short travel day to get to the state park. As soon as you pass through the entrance gate the road begins to wind down into the canyon along the edge of a cliff. I made it to camp and set up while waiting for the sun to drop a bit. Once it cooled down, I took a nice ride up and down the canyon walls and watched the sun set along the red dirt covered trails. I made it back to camp after an hour and met my neighbor Rachel. Her and her dog were living out of her built-up Forerunner for more than a year and a half. We dove into a beautiful conversation about spirit, energy and healing. We had a nice soul connection. As the sun started to peak through my window the next morning, I got up, made some Jetboil coffee and got back on the road.

My next stop was Vian Lake, Oklahoma on the recommendation of a buddy. Once at the trailhead I began to pedal into the Vian Lake Trail System. The trails were fairly overgrown but still lots of fun. There was one wood feature that was damn near vertical that definitely had the roller coaster feel. After a short ride here, I drove a couple miles east to set up camp near the lakes. This was a short and early night because the next stop was Bentonville! I got up early and made the short drive to Arkansas.

Finally, after being on my list for a few years, I made it to Bentonville, AR. I’ve heard a lot about the trails and scene here and was excited to ride them this summer. I also planned it perfect to make sure I would be there for the Mountain Bike Festival. First trail I rode was Huntley Gravity and Little Sugar. During this ride I linked up with my riding buddy, Copper, who was also in town. We had a full morning of riding. We headed into town and hat some great BBQ and got back on the trails for the afternoon. In the afternoon we went to session masterpiece which is this big bridge feature just on the edge of town. We also went and explored as much of the Slaughter Pen trail system as we could. A full day of riding wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the local brewery. After dinner we headed out to the Railyard in Rogers to hit some dirt jump and pump track lines. The following day I got to meet up with another dear friend that I haven’t seen since our days in the ASU Outdoors club. We spent the morning doing laps at Coler’s mountain bike preserve. After Coler’s laps, I attended the Bentonville MTB Festival. The fest included beer gardens, free swag, free demos, pro demo shows, jumping an airbag and lots O’ fun! The following day I took a jump clinic with the Rich Drew Ride Series which was the 14th best event at the fest. Not sure I get the inside joke but it was very clear it was the 14th. Through this clinic I learned the little things to tweak and got to get reps in with someone watching and correcting my body position while flying. Overall Bentonville did not disappoint and I will definitely be visiting again.

The next leg of the trip I drove east towards Knoxville. I had an overnight in Nashville and got to enjoy Broadway Street for a night with friends I coincidentally ran into from Phoenix. If you have never been to Nashville, just imagine Vegas on steroids with a cowboy hat. I made it to Knoxville, Tennessee by lunch on Sunday. We had a quick lunch and cider at Barrelhouse by Gypsy Circus. As soon as we got done, my brother, his girlfriend and I all hopped right on the bikes and headed out for an afternoon ride. Marie Myers and Baker Creek were some of the trails we explored the first day. Afterwards we headed to downtown Knoxville for dinner and to check out all the local art and sights. My favorite art in downtown was the alley covered in murals. The following day we headed to Vee Hollow, which was probably my favorite trail system we rode locally. It was basically one massive climb with 4 downhill trails from the top. It was one of the trail systems that was easy to run laps over and over with nothing but smiles. On our way to Vee Hollow we drove through Gatlinburg and stopped for a while in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We made a pit stop at Hi-Wire Brewing to grab a cold one after our day of riding. Hi-Wire had a super-sized floor pool table that you step in and play with soccer balls. It was a fun time to win a game of foot pool. Tuesday night we were invited to the Firefly Synchronicity. This event only happens for about two weeks of the year and in only one region, the Smokies. Millions of fireflies are all flashing at different speeds and times and then every few minutes they all sync up. The whole forest illuminates together. It reminded me of something I saw on a journey once. It looked like thousands of neurons firing in the brain, or at least what I imagine it to look like. This sync of lightning bugs was mind blowing and so beautiful to see in the darkest of night in the middle of the Smokies. The following day my brother and I headed out to Windrock Bike Park for a day of lift assisted riding. Windrock bike park was full of chunky steep descends with lots of natural features. Our bike park day was cut short after lunch with a massive rear tire slice. My brother took me to his local shop, Harpers, where they let me borrow a stand and change my tire out. Huge thanks to them for letting me use their shop stand and tools to do a quick switch. Our last day in Knoxville we went out to ride Hastie’s and the rest of Bakers Creek which included Devils Racetrack. Our rad day of riding was followed by an amazing dinner from my brother’s previous landlords. Everything we ate they grew on their land minus the wine. Before this trip I had no idea how cool and trendy Knoxville was. I was stoked to see how happy my brother is there as well as see all the trails and breweries.

The last leg of my trip I drove to Illinois to visit some family and attend my cousin’s wedding. We got up there fairly early on Friday and made a pit stop at my cousin Justin’s workplace and apartment. He lives on site at the Theosophical Society of America’s Headquarters. He took us for tour, labyrinth walk and shopping for crystals and metaphysical books. After this pit stop, we arrived at my dad’s. We ordered some Chicago style pizza and sat on the back patio catching up for hours. The following morning, I had breakfast with my dear friend Rich. Then lunch with Kyle and Nick. Afterwards I headed north to Woodstock for my cousin’s wedding. Congratulations to my cousin Ashley and her new husband Ian. This wedding was the first time that all of my cousins on my mom’s side of the family have been together since before I left for the Marine Corps in 2009. It was truly magical to have us all back together as we have all grown and matured. We reminisced from when we would rough house at Thanksgiving at Aunt Judy’s. That Sunday I picked up my first passenger of the trip. Sean, one of my besties from the Corps, was in town visiting family in Chicago as well. I picked him up and we drove to Springfield, Missouri to stay with Drew (Another Marine Corps Brother), his wife and newborn. It’s always nice to catch up and talk stories with these two. We sat and drank some fine Blanton’s Whiskey while we laughed for a few hours. From Springfield we pushed to Amarillo, Texas. We got a hotel in downtown right on the strip. As we walked around at about 9pm every bar was closed. We went over a block and walked back towards the hotel when we saw Club 212, which looked like a strip club. Sean suggested if there’s no cover let’s just have one drink. We get to the side of the windowless building and next to the door handle was an equal sign. The only open bar in Amarillo, Texas mid-week was a gay bar. The locals bought us round after round and we had a hoot! The next morning was a little slow as we stopped at Cadillac Ranch on the way to Albuquerque. I dropped Sean off at the airport after doing a short Breaking Bad tour around town. Lastly, I picked Chris up and made our way back to Phoenix.

This road trip was a much needed physical and mental reset. I’m super grateful to be able to spend the time on the road and visit with lots of family and friends all across America. For my riding friends I would definitely suggest getting to Bentonville to check the trails out. Life is too short to not just take off on a road trip with zero plans and wing the whole thing. Thanks to everyone for your support and continuing to follow my adventures.