Stay tuned for Parts 2 (Arches National Park) and 3 (Moab Century Ride Report) on The Two Whos on 9/24 and 25.
When a satellite engineer (Val) , a project manager(Catherine) and a program manager/artist (Cece) go on vacation together to ride The Moab Century Tour, you know that there will be lots of negotiating along the way! They are all used to being the boss! And so it was. The engineer was in charge of anything with moving parts or calculating gas consumption and anything that needed to be packed or organized. The project manager, was the back up for the GPs and also kept them all organized and on time and going in the right direction. And Cece? She made friends out of strangers across the three states and took them all on unexpected adventures, interviewed and photographed people as if she were Charles Kuralt…all the while claiming she is an introvert.
Their trip to Utah to ride the Moab Century Tour was going well. They had Karen, Cece’s GPS, hooked up and all was well on that front. The weather was beautiful and their bikes were securely on the bike rack. But soon, the adventures began…
It all started when Cece saw a cow. She made the engineer stop the car and turn down a back alley that had hay bales in either side of the path …so she could get a picture of it. No one saw the cow except Cece, so they were a bit disgruntled. Once they SAW the cow,they pulled right up alongside the cow…. Cece jumped out of the car, just about threw her camera at Catherine as the engineer watched from the driver’s seat…what the engineer saw was a bit scary. By now, Cece was next to the cow patting it… as the owner of the house leashed her German shepherd and struggled to get her gun…Cece means her screen door open…with poisonous eyes that reminded the engineer of Grannie Clampet getting her shot gun out. The house owner ran across the lawn and met Cece who threw up her hands in the air and asked , “ Can I take your picture with your cow?” The woman’s answer? “Heeellll no!” Cece was taken a back. “Well do you mind if I take a picture with your cow? “ Cece asked. That part was ok. And so they did.
Well, come to find out that people drive right up, just as they did and try to steal this cow… all the time. Her name is Bessie and her little one Daisy Mae is hidden in the garage. The father cow was stolen. The home owner designed them and her husband, who has since passed away...welded them and painted them. It all ended well with everyone laughing and making jolly of the potential cow napping event!
Once in Moab, Cece needed to sneak away and pick up cupcakes that she ordered for a surprise birthday party for Catherine. But first , she needed to talk to the hotel people to enlist them into allowing her to put them in their refrigerator. Yes, that was ok, but when they looked into the refrig, there was not much space at all. Oh, she would make them fit…some how….oh Val!!!!!. She enlisted her to keep Catherine busy as she snuck away. Once at Crystals’s Cupcakes Cece received the cupcakes she ordered. It was about 95 degrees and Cece had to park pretty far away…and now…she was looking at 5 large boxes of cupcakes. How could there be that many boxes? She towered the boxes up and tucked them under her chin…as she walked to her car. Trying to peer around the boxes that were piled high under her chin. Watch the curb! Watch that car! Balance…balance.. WHEW! Must be all that yoga! She got to her car and how was she going to use the key to get in? Well somehow she managed it and used the seat belt to secure the boxes in the back seat.
Once back at the hotel, she phoned the engineer and she came down and rearranged the entire refrigerator and got all the boxes to fit…it was just like magic! Unbelievable.
Well, then it was off to eat, early to bed and up early for the next day’s 69 mile bike ride of the Rolling Classic of the Moab Century Tour! Stay tuned!
