After consulting the National Weather Service predictions for the upcoming week we have made the difficult decision to leave tomorrow, Wednesday rather than our scheduled end of the residency on Saturday. We are going change our route to avoid the two waves of snow predicted for the mountains of Colorado and Utah.

We are disappointed that the Cerro Pelado fire made visits to Valles Caldera and Bandelier impossible though it forced us to explore other, less well-known areas.  And it greatly reduced the number of tourists in Jemez Springs while we have been here. We have really enjoyed our experience here - Billy Ehret is a wonderful host/facilitator; Eva, Devin and Oliver have made us feel at home in their home; Janet and her staff at the library were so very helpful - we made sure to see our new friend Mary and now for packing and finalization of some projects before we get back to life on the road.

Today we loaded up the bikes and drove back past the fish hatchery to ride up the trail along the Rio Cebolla.  It is a very pleasant ride, 5 miles in each direction up to about 8,500', on mostly double-track on what was clearly a graded jeep road at one time (and perhaps still) used for ranchers to access the property.  There is grazing land on both sides of the small stream as it snakes down the Ponderosa Pine and cliff-face lined canyon.  At the top (there was a short, very steep hike-a-bike section with a 600 ft climb that we decided to pass on) we enjoyed lunch with some medium boiled eggs harvested from MSA's chicken coop. Then a leisurely ride down before returning "home" and seeing more blossoms on the yellow rose bush.