Arizona Roadtrippin!

By: Steph Davis

By KAVU

March 21^st, 2023

I’ve been sharing some stories about building an ICF house in Moab for the last year—I’m thrilled to say this is the last one! We were very close to being done in November and had actually moved into the new house, but still had the task of moving over both of our training walls from the old yard, which required their own deconstruction and construction project. Ian and I were feeling ready to be finished, so we gathered up the motivation and pushed through the final crux.... and finally got the Moonboard and Grasshopper wall moved.

I’m extra excited about this, because now both of the boards have winches and are "adjustable-angle" walls, which is awesome! We also expanded the Grasshopper wall to a 12 foot width, AND both walls are now north-facing, which is the best aspect ever in the Moab climate. It’s truly my dream setup for a home training playground, and also means that we are officially done being house builders!

This construction journey has been a heck of a lot of work, stress and sometimes sheer terror, but it’s also been one of the most satisfying projects Ian and I have done together, and we couldn’t be more psyched to finally....simply enjoy it!

It's still the last weeks of the chilliest time of year in Moab, so we decided to celebrate our "return to freedom" with a little road trip to Arizona, an annual trip we didn’t get to do last winter because we were pouring footers and trenching for plumbing lines….

We packed Cajun in the van, arranged lots of visits for the kitties, and headed south.

Sedona is a great halfway stop to stretch the legs running and mountain biking on the trails and to get in some fun sandstone climbing—feels like home, but just a little different.

Final Destination

Skydive Arizona in Eloy, a place that just seems to get better every year, is one of the biggest skydiving operations in the country. But the best thing about Eloy is the open desert all around the drop zone, where you can van-camp, enjoy chill Arizona sunsets and sunrises, and start every morning with coffee, yoga and one-wheeling around while the hot air balloon floats up and parachutes float down.

Skydive Arizona is also home to a wind tunnel, sometimes known as “indoor skydiving” and I decided to check out flying in the tunnel for the first time.

It’s wild to learn how to use your body in that environment, especially because spending 5minutes there is the equivalent of doing 5 skydives without ever having to ride up in the plane or pay attention to your altitude or pull time.

The tunnel is an incredible learning tool, and after a few sessions, I found that it’s an amazing way to start a skydiving day and learn some new skills to take to the sky.

Arizona is always such a fun trip! It was extra great to get back to “normal life” again :) Definitely looking forward to all that this year will bring! KAVU Days Ahead!!