Hy - back again ;-)

thanks again for all the input. We are now going nto more concrete phase of planning. What we already know now is the time of travel. We will be going to do the trip in 3 weeks during 25 of june and 18 of july. Exact date is not set yet, but now very concrete.

We have not yet decided on the direction. Sure the finish in Las Vegas would be great, but we also consider the winds and temperature.

Also we have taken into consideration a lot of things on the road you mentioned and also the durango-railroad and shutlle busses for some small "shortcuts".

One question that is quite interesting is: how much are these shuttle busses for a couple wiht 2 bikes? Markf mentioned that it would be 240$ from Denver to Frisco - this is quite a lot compared to the costs of the flight ;-)

We also have been in some parts of the area for 3 times now. Once we rode through Arizona by bike and 2 times we made a round trip by car (once with bike-trips attached). So we know some parts already - but miss some as well. To Mesa Vera e.g. we have already been, so we will skip that for sure. To go near Canyonlands would be great, do you have a glimpse of it when you cross from Blanding to Hanksville?

I liked Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion a lot on the last trips - so come to this region again would be great as well, even if we may not enter the parks,but just enjoy the area which I like a lot.

A possible way to shorten would also be to rent a car one way. But getting infomation about possible places and one-way-routes is difficult. I remember the trip in AZ some years ago. We did not succeed in time and I transported the bikes from Boulder to PHX by rental car then back by car to Boulder and to PHX alone by Greyhound. This was not so great and I would like to avoid this.

I also am still not sure about taking my bikes from germany on the plane as I have not checked fares already. Can you tell me about prices for bike rentals (one-way???) in Denver or Las Vegas? If we take our own bike we would come wiht mountain-bikes but with easy road tires (broad but not - do not know the word - maybe "grumply" describes it ;-) )

thanks again!!

yours Tobias