To The Dunes

Eli and I awoke heavily on Saturday. Friday night we had stayed up too late talking and watching movies. I reached my arm up through a groggy fog and over my head to the platform headboard where my phone hung out at night. I grabbed it and pulled it to my face. With one eye open, I checked the time: 2:00PM.

WHAT?!

I couldn’t believe we had slept that long. I shook Eli awake. “Get up! We’re missing Knolls! It will be dark in four hours!”

We both hurriedly pulled our clothes on. Luckily, our old, beat up, Honda 100’s were already loaded into the back of the big, blue, Chevy. We stopped for a coffee and a bagel, then hit interstate 80 westward, trying to beat the dipping sun.

We had heard about Knolls from a couple of friends of ours, Rev and Seth. Rev and Seth are brothers who own and operate a fairly successful motorcycle garage, Salt City Builds. They actually traded us the two beat up dirt bikes in exchange for one of our bigger, beat up dirt bikes. They told us we would find Knolls about forty miles west of Grantsville, UT. Rev and Seth described it as dunes for miles, and all the riding you could do in a day. Eli and I were pumped.

We reached Knolls about an hour and a half after we began our short journey West. The sun was barely hanging over the tops of the distant mountains. The view was unbelievable.

The sun cast shades of pink and orange on the bottoms of the clouds, which was contrasted by the electric blue of the sky. The dunes were mounds of white sand, covered in sheets of even whiter snow. I could see for miles, all the way to the back side of Bingham Canyon and the Oquirrhs Mountains.

We mounted our little, red steeds and took off down the trails. The rear tire of my Honda slipped from underneath me. As I corrected the slip, the pit of my stomach caught fire, giving me a tickling sensation all the way up my spine. I spit out a deep, bellied laugh as I twisted the throttle, telling Little Red to thrust forward.

The first large dunes stood before me. They were blocking my path, like intimidating body guards. They protected a view that was only available to those who could be brave. I dropped Little Red into first gear, and hammered the throttle. As I climbed up the side of the dune, tail end slipping and sliding from under me, I corrected perfectly until I reached the top.

It wasn’t so bad. I began to climb each dune I saw. The top of each dune presented a landscape, painted by nature, each more beautiful than the last.

The sun was beginning to set when I reached the top of the last, and highest sand dune. Eli was already up there, smoking a cigarette and absorbing the view. I could feel the colors penetrate through my skin. The crisp contrasts of gold and blue settled into my soul serenely. I heard the sun tell me goodbye as it dipped behind the mountains.

We rode down the dune in search of the truck, as night eerily crept after us.