 Hello, my friends. Today is a very big day because I'm gonna meet up with these two. If you've been watching my channel in the past year or so, you probably know John and Mira, the most amazing dog packing duo in the entire galaxy. But I wanna give you a quick little intro about how I met these two. It was back in January 2020, right before the pandemic. And I was riding my bike down the Baja Peninsula on the Baja Divide. And I was getting ready to camp and set up my tent and lo and behold, these two just rolled up to where I was kind of in the middle of nowhere. This nice friendly fella with a Canadian accent rides up and it's this guy, how's it going? Ah, good Ryan, how are you? Who's this? Yeah, that's Mira. How old is she? She's about two and a half now. Whoa. And we hit it off immediately and of course I fell in love with Mira like instantly. And from that point on, we rode for the next week together in Baja and had the time of our lives. We were really fast friends. Lead the way Mira, who needs a GPS when we have you? Okay, I went home, they continued their bike ride and then I started to get ready to ride the Great Divide mountain bike route. And out of the blue, I get a phone call from John saying, hey man, you want some company? And of course I said yes. Okay, Mira, one last stick before bedtime, ready? Go get it. We rode the Great Divide through Montana, a little bit of Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado. And the last time I saw these two in real life was a very teary goodbye in Steamboat, Colorado. I love you. And whenever I say goodbye to somebody who means a lot to me, who I have an emotional connection with, I get sad, you know? I didn't know when I was gonna see them again. And it turns out it was a very long time. It's been about a year and a half. And we tried to meet up, but because of COVID and border closures, I couldn't get to Canada, he couldn't get to Colorado, so it just hasn't happened. But two months ago, he and Mira left on their worldwide bike tour and they've been making their way down south on the Western Wildlands route. And now today, they are in St. George, Utah, waiting for me. And I'm gonna get on a flight and meet them. And I am so excited. And I'm excited for you to see them again as well. I know they're a fan favorite and we're gonna have the time of our lives riding the Western Wildlands route through Arizona. Hey there, do you enjoy my videos? Do they make your life better? Well, then consider supporting my channel on Patreon. You'll get early releases with no ads plus a lot of other fun stuff. Link is in the description. I'm here in St. George, Utah, very close to John and Mira. All right, I'm in my lift. It's a Tesla, it's rad. My driver, Jared, is cool. All right, here we are at the hotel. John, I'm here. Is this really happening? Is this real life? Oh, is it Mira? There she is. Hi, can you remember me? Oh, you're so sweet. There she is. How are you doing, baby? How are you doing, Mira? Oh my gosh, oh, Mira. Oh, Mira. Oh, look at you. Do you remember me? Look how beautiful. John, my man, I love you, brother. I'm gonna see you. Oh. Hey, Mira, hi, sweetie. Hi, sweetie. Yeah, we're gonna have some fun. We're gonna have some fun. We did it. We met. We're here. Oh, and if you're wondering why I wasn't traveling with my bike, it's cause it's already here. I sent it. Thank you, Dave, at Priority, for letting me use your FedEx account. John built it for me. It looks like Mira just took off. Mira. Mira, hey, mom. Oh, you're just so excited. Did your dad tell you I was coming? Did your dad tell you Uncle Duzer was coming? Yeah, look at that. You're smiling. I can see it. I can see it. You want to ride bikes? Yeah, you want to ride bikes? I got some sticks for you. So where have you been? She's just following me. I'm trying to do an interview, but okay, give me a second. Give me a second. Hey, give me a second, all right? So where have you been the last couple months? Well, the last month I've been here in the wonderful US of A. Before that, back in Alberta, in Canada, trying to deal with this border situation. I've been ready to go for a while now. Go where? What are you doing? South, I am riding south until there is no more south left to ride. Yeah. And then I'm going to ride north. Until I get home again. Yeah. You've been riding through some cold stuff. Totally bad. Oh, man. You know, it came south. You think, oh, it's going to be warm, but we're in the autumn and I think it's getting pretty close. And so I've had some very, very cold mornings. You know, water's frozen. The two of us are shivering in the tent and it's not until midday that we're getting warm. So it's been painful sometimes and we're not dressed for it. We don't have the equipment. If you have the equipment, it was going to be easier. But now, hey, we're in Utah. We're in lower elevations. We can control where we go a little bit and it's warm days, lovely nights, stars. Yeah. Now it's good. Yeah. It's really good. I've noticed that you also have a pinion and gates drive. Yeah, man. Look at that. And you have a custom bike that you've made out of titanium. Yeah. Look at that bad boy. I designed that with a builder out in Maine and the pinion. Man, it's been great. You know, it's amazing. You don't think it's a thing. You know, you're lubing your chain, taking care of the derailleur, all that kind of stuff. But it's a lot of time out of your day and stress. You know, it's all gone. And the other thing, people talk, they give it a hard time. They say, all these things, it's really hard to shift under load and all that kind of stuff. But you can shift way faster on these than with a derailleur. You don't have to pedal. So the, you know, undulating terrain, you can just go through multiple gears and be in the right one. And I, you know, whatever mud or weather it's, yeah, it's been great. I love it. Awesome. Yeah. Well, I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Yeah. And here we are together in a hotel and tomorrow we set off. And it was terrific. It's been great. Yeah. It's a lot of fun to mirror. Mira is super happy to see you again. Yeah. I'm so happy to see you, Mira. Yeah, I'm so happy to see you. You're gonna sleep in my bed? Are you gonna sleep in my bed? I sure hope so. Is it okay if I borrow Mira tonight? One night, how about that? Okay, deal. Yeah. But if there's any cold nights out there, I want this cuddle, buddy. I don't want any deals off. Deals off. I'm excited about this, my friend. We're gonna have a great time. Yeah, we are. We're gonna have a great time. Oh, look at this sweetheart. You're so cute. You're so cute. All right, good night. Hi there, cutie. Good morning. I'm sorry I don't have any sticks. At least not yet. Buenos dias, John. Buenos dias, semi-go. You ready? Okay, okay, okay. All right, looks like it's gonna be a beautiful day in the desert. Oh yeah, look at that. Some pretty solid continental breakfast, my man. Yeah, it's terrific. It's a great way to start your day. Nice warm food. And I think somebody else wants a little bit. See it? Whoa. Hello. Yes. Look at that. Are you ready? Yeah, do you want us to get on our bikes already? Boarded this hotel. I've got the bike pretty much all set. All the clothes and light stuff go back here. I have lots of water because we're in the desert and we're not gonna have a ton of access to water. I got a water bottle there. Got a bottle here. All of this area is food and some electronics. I have a wide bag here. It's about three inches. My legs don't touch it, but it's close. Got my snack bags up here for easy access to bars. The drone is here. The GoPro. The Wahoo navigation. And you know what I just realized? I forgot to pack up my toothbrush. So I'm just gonna shove that in somewhere. I know, we definitely look like twins. We both have the same blue shirt and- Sibler black shorts. Yep, exactly. Sleeves, wear your sleeves. Oh yeah. You got them on there? I love it. Some people have confused us for brothers on the trail. Yeah, we're not. Now we look pretty similar. And look at this. Look at this, sweet girl. No crashies, no flaties, no webbies. All right, everybody out of the hotel. So we were all fired up to ride, but we're having a little bit of November rain, which I'm guessing is kind of unheard of. When I landed yet last night, it was beautiful and sunny and warm. We are in the desert. I doubt they get many rainy days here. I'm sorry, but there's a little bit of a rain delay. I know you want to get going, but it's cold and wet out there. Hey. So John has a YouTube channel now. You should go subscribe to it. What is it? It is Omni Tierra. All right. Yeah, all one word. All right, we will link that right here. We'll put some letters right here. Omni Tierra. Okay, here it is. I haven't seen the jump in a while. Hey Mira, hop up, hop up, hop up, hop up, hop up. Yeah. Are you ready to ride bikes? Yeah, you are. You're so excited. All right, here we go. Day one, riding with John and Mira, crossing a highway. Excited to be in the desert, although I came to the desert to be warm and it's kind of cold right now. It is November after all. So we're not actually on the western wildlands route right now, but we'll get there in about a day or so south of Kanab, Utah. John has built us a route on Kamut. You ready, John? Oh, I'm ready. He's ready. He's been riding by himself or by his lonesome. Oh, come on, you got Mira. Oh, that's right. You got Mira. Yeah. That's true. But now you got me. We're one and a half bike backers. One and a half. Love it. This is one of the nicest things about dog packing. I can reach back, give her a nice little scratch she takes in the scenery, you know, just makes you feel so good. Life is good. Life is good with the Mira. Oh man. Oh, look at her go. Yeah. Dog sled driver. Look at Mira go just pulling away. One excited dog. John, it feels like we're back in Baja where it all began. I like this dusty desert road. What's up, Mira? What's up, my girl? Look at her go. She is in her happy place. Oh, you're starting to lick it before I pour the water. Somebody's been around. So this is the road that we're going to take. And then it goes super steep up that mountain. You can kind of see the road up there. I think we're going to be walking a lot. How is it going up super steep roads like this with a super heavy bike and a dog? That's about like you'd expect. It's slow. Oh, hi there. You don't care about the hill. Yeah, I mean, it's slow and hard work. You just got to pace yourself. The one thing that is nice is that these bikes, I mean, even, you know, bike-back-and-bike is not going to lift up the front wheel. But if you can have the weight in the back, it's got great traction. Oh, wow. So that's it, huh? That's about as steep as it gets. Here we go. This is a real big one, hike a bike. We've come a long way, but we still have maybe the steepest part left. Come on, buddy boy. Get your stick. I'm so impressed that you can ride that. Monster up these mountains down. Props to you. Oh, look at that view. That gives you an idea of how high we've been climbing. Whew, look at that. Bouncy, bouncy. I wish I could bounce right now. Mira, look at you. That hill didn't even phase you, did it, Mira? One fit dog. Fazed us. That was hard. That was very hard. So we have been riding on the historic Honeymoon Trail. It says here, the Honeymoon Trail, also known as the Old Arizona Road, was a series of wagon routes taken by early Latter-day Saint pioneers, also known as Mormons, from Arizona and Southern Utah settlements to St. George to be married in the Mormon temple. It was used from 1872 when construction on the temple started to the early 1900s. Do you know what that means, John? We're on our honeymoon. The relations are around me, buddy. This is the best honeymoon I've ever been on. What about you, Mira? You're in on this relationship. This road is really smooth and nice. It's interesting how quickly you can be on, like, just a totally busted up, crappy, sandy, washboardy road, and then all of a sudden it's smooth. And it's nice to be able to get into a rhythm, be able to pedal and enjoy a nice evening. You know, there's really nothing better than magic hour in the desert. Everything just comes alive, the colors pop, and it's just beautiful. Nice, good for her. She's, hey, baby, there's your bowl right here. There's the water bowl. Right there, right there. Just get all cozy up with that water. Did you, don't even shake off that mud on me. No, no, no. Mira just jumped into this mud hole right here. Mira, come on, girl. What are you thinking? No, don't jump on me. Do not jump on me. Day one. Day one down. Yeah, it was a struggle that you could go on today. We had some problems, but it worked out good. Worked out good. Yeah, we didn't leave St. George till about noon, you know, little rain delay. We went to the grocery store. John broke the cable and his pinion had to fix that, which I was very impressed with how fast he fixed that. And, uh- It was my fault, by the way. It was John's fault. It was a break. The break was my fault. He broke it. He was too aggressive with the shifting. Yeah. But it's all good now. And I think we're gonna camp here. What do you think about that, Mira? Do you like this spot? Mira, come here. Mira, you are so dirty. But I guess you deserve, because I haven't done one yet, it is time to throw you a stick. It's been over a year since we played fetch. Mira, give me your stick. Mira, Mira, I got a stick for you. You ready? You already have your own stick, too. You want this? You want this, girl? Go get it! Yeah! Oh, it feels so good to be playing fetch again with you. Yeah. Give it to me? Yep, you still play the same. You play this hard to get game. Give me the stick and we will play. Ah! Drop it. Drop it. Okay. Brrrrrrrrrrr. Ah, it feels good to be out here in the desert with John and Mira riding bikes. Beautiful sunset. We have a nice flat spot to camp, playing fetch with the dog. Yep, this is what I had been envisioning for well over a year since the last time I saw John and Mira. I'm happy. I'm happy. Goodbye, son. Thank you for a beautiful day. And lighten the way. So we decided to camp away from the water down in a little wash because it's a nice wind block and it can get a little chilly here at night. It is November, even though we're in the desert. And there's John bundling up and there's Mira waiting for somebody to throw her a stick. Shall we go on an evening walk? Oh, let's go on a little evening walk. Let's go on a little evening walk. Totally. A stroll. A stroll. I love these because it helps just loosen up the muscles, moves your legs in a different way than just charging on a bike. Calms everything down. You get to like kind of reminisce on the day. You get to hang out with your buddy. Yeah, totally. This is so fun, you know. I really, I've said it so many times now but this really is, it's exciting to be here with you. Yeah, it's a super treat. I know. I guess we both often travel alone. Yeah. And then, you know, to have someone that, you know, we have a similar manner of traveling and all those kind of things, like, it, yeah, just really adds to the trip. Absolutely. Yeah, Mira. We love you so much. We love you so much. Good night, Moon. Good night, John. Good night, Mira.