Road Trippin' 2k8

Well Jen and I are on our long awaited "Ultimate Road Trip"...
This trip will take us on a journey to the Southwest where the mountain biking is epic! The trails flow like silky dirt ribbons of singletrack down steep mountains, through aspen groves and ponderosa pines, mountain meadows, high deserts, across creeks and streams.
We began our journey from Nash-Vegas this morning rollin' out @ 6am. We made GREAT time flyin' across 40 West in the X w/ minimal stops!!! Jen's probably the BEST co-pilot I could ask for on long trips: 1) she slept at least 7 hours of our drive, 2) ate 2 of B.Davis famous cookies+2 bags of m&m's+ Wendy's taco salad+ ?# drinks+ a sugar covered bagel+ Venti 6 pump xtra hot skinny chai+ a gas station hot chocalte= no wonder she rides soooo much to stay soooo damn skinny!!!!
We did have a succesful day of driving to put the trip off to a good start. We are only 30 miles from Texas hold up in a little town in Oklahoma. We stopped in Oklahoma City for a short break. While there we saw the National monument for the Federal building bombings from 1995. It is the 2nd time I had been there and remember getting the same creepy feelings all over again. It is a very peaceful place, despite the remaining signs of destruction. There are 2 huge walls, one on each end of a 100 yard long rectangular reflecting pool. On one wall 9:01 and the other 9:03 representing the last moment of peace and the first moment after this life changing act of terror. There are chairs down one side of the pool; one chair for each person that perished in this tragic event. The irony in the chairs is that some are adult sized while others are smaller representing the children who died. There was a daycare in the bottom of the Federal building for the employees working there. The children had little to no hope of survival. After our visit, we went to an area of town they call "BrickTown". This was, I hope, a vision into what Knoxville should do...It was an amazing revitilization project with countless bars/resteraunts, new basketball arena, baseball stadium, and many unique boutique shops. We of course found the brewery; The Bricktown brewery. Excellent beer!!!!