Adventure Xstream

Conner and Doug signed up for the Adventure Xstream earlier this year. This race would include kayaking, mountain biking, hiking/running and rappeling. Since neither of them knew how to rappel, they met with a nice man in our stake, Brother Turney, who showed them "the ropes." He was even nice enough to let Conner borrow his gear. They were in for quite the adventure!

The race route was changed numerous times prior to the race since the weather was looking grim. Flash floods were a possibility so much of the mountain bike would be on the road, and the kayak would turn out to be much longer than initially planned. This didn't dampen their spirits though...they found friends/relatives that would be with them along the way and it only made them more excited for the race to start.

They were the last ones to grab their kayaks...Doug was in the bathroom when the starting gunshot went off!

Thanks to Doug's friend, Mike, both Conner and Doug had some water pants to wear over their clothes. When Conner said, "I don't need to wear these...we're not even going to get wet," I told him in my motherly reprimanding voice, "you'll wear them or you're not racing!" He would later admit that you can get wet when you kayak.

The morning started off beautiful but about an hour in, it got cloudy and cold. They were soaked and freezing after 14 miles in the Colorado River.

But Conner was ready for more!

Taking time to thaw out and refuel.

Next came the bike.

A few hours later we were waiting for them at the rappel spot. We waited. And waited. Finally Talmage (Doug's friend) called and let us know they were going to be a couple of hours...mountain biking on the Poison Spider trail proved much more difficult than they had planned (they later found out it was for the "expert rider"). So, after we watched a few people rappel (which looked really fun), we headed back to town to do a little shopping while they finished the ride.

A couple hours later we got another call saying that they were finished. We were confused as to how they completed everything so quickly. It turns out, when they finished Poison Spider they were told that they wouldn't make the 4 pm cutoff for the rappel and they should just head back. They were so bummed; Conner didn't even know there was a cutoff time. So they, and over half of the other competitors, turned around and headed back much earlier than planned. It was rather unfortunate that their Moab 12-hour, as the race was nick-named, became a Moab 8-hour. Despite a very unorganized race, an insanely difficult mountain bike, and not having a chance to rappel, they still had fun together. As it was their first race, they learned a lot about what it takes to be truely prepared. We'll see if they decide to do it again next year!

The nice thing about the boys ending early was that we got to spend some time together that evening. We went out for a yummy dinner at Eddie McStiff's (Big Stiffy's Conner liked to call it), and relaxed in the hot tub that night.

On the way home the next morning, Doug and Jami were kind enough to take us on a detour through Arches National Park. Conner and I had never been before and were excited to see Delicate Arch.

This was called "Balanced Rock." Not the most creative name, but impressive nonetheless.

Hiking to Delicate Arch.

It was all so beautiful.

I have never been so proud to be a Utahn. It was incredible. I'll never look at a license plate the same again.

After waiting for all of the Asians to pose under the arch for a thousand pictures, I finally got one of the arch in all its glory. I can't believe neither of us had been to see it before. It was awesome.