Day 13: Pre-Green River to Moab

Woke up early and packed up the tent to set out for Green River for breakfast.  Went about 12 miles till we got to I-70 and took that another 12 miles to GR.  Found a cafe to eat at.  Cafes are our new thing.  The food is great and cheap and you can get limitless amounts of free coffee....which we take full advantage of.  We all ordered pancakes and Steve definitely got the biggest ones, but Lyle managed to get 3?  Anyways we all split a second order of pancakes before we left for Cresent Junction on to Moab.  Right as we pulled of the interstate rain began to fall from the sky.  Luckily there was a gas station in Cresent Junction which is Cresent Junction that we could hang out at for the next 2 hours for the rain and hail to pass.  We all ended up buying some food.  Its hard not two when your tempted for that long.  We finally saw a clearing and so we went for it.  About half way to Moab Lyle got a flat, but could not call out to Jody and Steve in time before they went about a mile and looked back to find Lyle nowhere in sight.  We all finally met up after Lyle walked for 20 min and Jody and Steve backtracked for about a half mile.  Once we started to fix the tire of course it starts to rain, and then stops once its fixed.  We then flew into Moab with a strong wind blowing us from behind.  First thing we did was go to the bike shop.  TJ helped us find everything we needed: tire, trailer tubes, and patches.  TJ introduced us to Randy who alsoworked at the bike shop and he explained how to get to his campsite where he lives.  We ate at Wendy's before heading over.  We then found Randy's hill where he lives with another guy named Aaron who lives in a hogan half underground.  We talked a little bit before we went to bed in a nearby cave in the side of the cliff.  The cave was really big and sheltered us from the rain that came during the night.  We didn't have to set up our tent for a change.  Long crazy day.

79 miles, rain/hail, Sleeping in Cave!

Day 12: Torrey to almost Green River

We woke up in Torrey and were picked up by Stu who had kept our bikes in the back of his truck for the night.  He took us to Sandstone a local place where we all got a great deal on huge pancakes, biscuits, and French toast, plus free coffee.  Steve entertained the crowds with his discussion of the huge market for grass fed beef and we were enlightened about life as a forest fire fighter by Stu, Dan, and Chris.  After finally getting packed up and all of our tires fixed we hit the road around 12:15 which was an unusually late start.  We had a really nice ride relatively down hill through Capital Reef and we continued to crank it all the way to Hanksville.  We ate our usual lunch of PB&J, cookies, ramen, and chewy bars and then headed to the gas station to fill up on water and wait out a storm that never really developed to rain.  We set out on an ambitious ride to Green River which is 55 miles away at around 5:30.  There is nothing along the way between these two "towns" but desert.  We made it a little past half way when we decided to set up tent.  We found a nice gulley to set up our tent so that no one would be able to see it going down the road at 65 mph.  We ate a quick dinner of the usual and went to bed.

79 miles, a little rain, bunch of flats

Day 11: Canyons and Good People

After waking up in Henrisville we set out with ambitions of making it to Torrey Utah.  The morning was filled with a few steep but short climbs and then we headed down through this beautiful valley filled with farmland and amazing rock faces, and winding canyons.  We made it to Escalante by lunch where we refueled at subway as well as restocked our food supplies at the local grocery store.  We climbed out of Escalante into some of the coolest scenery we had seen yet, we wound down through some more canyons and followed the river through the gorge, here we were faced with some very large and steep hills that tested our will to continue but we were always rewarded with breathtaking views.  After a long day we rode coasted into Boulder feeling defeated knowing that there was no way we could climb Boulder Mountain and make it to Torrey before dark.  We decided instead to find a place to eat, and immediatly found the Hells Backbone Grill.  We should have been able to tell this was too high class a place from the start when she asked if we would like to see the wine list, but we froze and later had to politely backout after seeing the thirty dollar menu prices.  Upon leaving we found another place that offered reasonably priced burgers and after making some conversation found ourselves invited to this concert/town party down at the big red barn.  This was one of the best experiences so far of the trip as we got to be immersed in the local culture scene that featured everything from farmers to hippies.  Pat Briggs and the T-birds gave an amazing performance and afterwards Steve bought there CD.  Later while sitting around the fire we met some fellow outsiders Dan, Jamie, and Stu who had come down from Torrey to see there old friend perform at the party.  Stu offered to take us over the mountain that night and we gladly accepted the lift.  After the party was over we piled everthing into his pickup and enjoyed their conversation about deer hunting and firefighting.  We saw so many deer that night on our way to Torrey.  Dan offered to let us sleep on the floor of his living room \where we crashed for the night but not before making plans to reunite with the crew for breakfast tomorrow morning. Like one Pat Briggs songs Boulder to Grover was one of the best experiences of our trip so far.

68 miles plus around 30 mile lift over the mountain, multiple flats, warm and sunny

Day 10: Hail Bryce

We left our amazing sweet in Orderville and began our Journeyto Bryce Canyon National Park.  All weather forecasts predicted that the rain we had been experiencing would be mostly broken up today and isolated in thunderstorms during the afternoon.  We began the long windy, and cold climb up to the closest town of Hatch.  Upon reaching Hatch we dined at the Galaxy Diner which served us some of the best burgers we have had so far on this trip.  Steve particularly enjoyed the unlimited coffee and drank 6 cups of coffee.  The caffeine powered Steve through the afternoon even though he was pulling the trailer he blasted up the remaining mileage on the way to Bryce.   When the foreboding clouds in the distance finally arrived were blasted with strong wind and hail which was quite the experience for all of us.  Hail aside we continued the ascent up to the national park which was around 9,000 feet.  We were greeted with beautiful red rock pillars far from the actual start of the park when Steve's rear tire went flat.  During the repair process we sent Jody ahead so not all of us would have to freeze in the rain, but it took much longer than expected and Steve and Lyle were forced to chase Jody up the mountain.  After the storms had passed we flew up across the plain staring in awe and the perfect blue sky and beautiful scenery.  The remaining miles were an easy coast as we flew through the park and headed straight for our end goal of Henrisville Utah.  This very small town welcomed us with its grid like streets and farming community, we found refuge in the backyard of a women named Lakay.  She was very welcoming and we enjoyed sharing our pictures with her and Steve particularly enjoyed discussing farming with her.  That night we huddled together in one would become one of the coldest nights yet.  Everyone one of had some kind of weird dream that night, perhaps we were all dreaming of the things yet to come on our adventure.

Day 9: Marching to beautiful Zion

We left Jim and Sondras house and ate at another local cafe for breakfast.  The weather seem to be a bit more promising today when we started out, with some clouds but mostly sun.  We went about 20 miles to Zion national park and were amazed at the beauty of all the rock canyons.  Right when we entered the the park one of the trailer tires went flat so we fixed that with some fix-a-flat.  Then a mile down the road or so Steve's tire also went flat so we started to fix that along the road.  We were all happy there was a nice view and it wasn't raining when we fixed the tire.  While fixing the tire Jeff, another cyclist, stopped to check in with us to see if everything was going okay and to chat.  Once the tube was patched we started to ride with Jeff through the park.  Its always nice to meet someone new and be able to talk to them for a bit.  Once we came to the end of the scenic route we decided to eat lunch under a pavilion, and said our thanks and goodbyes to Jeff.  As we ate the rain started to come down with pretty good consistency.  After eating we suited up for the rain and went for it, backtracking to the road we needed to take to go through the park.  While getting soaked we found that the trailer tire was again flat and so we pulled off at one of the bus stops so we had some shelter to work under, which feels amazing when your cold and soaked to the bone.  We decided to take the trailer tire off and found there were tubes in the trailer tires, which was a good thing because we could then patch it.  Once that was done we climbed up some switchbacks to a tunnel where we had to wait for a truck to come and shuttle us through because it is too narrow for bikes.  We waited for about 30 min for a truck to come and take us through to the other side.  We then proceeded to bike out of the park and stopped and a rest spot where the man behind the counter gave us all a free slice of pizza!  We were all very thankful for the warm food. We then set out to Mt. Carmel where we ate subway for dinner and then rode up to Orderville where we decided to get a motel for the night for it had been a long, cold, and wet day.  The room we ended up getting was the "falling in love suite" and it was perfect...and it came with a couch.  Thanks for all the prayers and support during our trip so far, we feel them everyday.

Day 8: It Never Rains in Utah?

We arose early in Mesquite and hopped back on I-15 with the intent of reaching St. George, Utah after breakfast at the most healthy establishment in the land, McDonalds.  This was a crucial part of the journey and we had been given strict instruction from our cousins to stay away from Red Gorge Road.  Apparently there was no shoulder and trucks flew past us.  This was our goal, we failed.  We drove straight into the trap that had drawn us.  We had discussed route options with several locals that morning but everyone gave us the ok, and even commented that it was done all the time.  After traveling about fifteen miles down the interstate we could see the cars disapearing into the mountain in what appeared to be a Red Gorge.  This alarmed us so we pulled over at Desert Springs Arizona to asked a few men a tow truck shop and they too, waved us on with confidence.  The sign soon red Virgin River Gorge, but not Red Gorge Road, and we were still on the interstate so things had be alright, right?  Nope we soon realized this was the gorge and as our shoulder slipped away a light rain began to fall as if in some kind of Hollywood film.  We narrowly and cautiously wound our way through the gorge until Lyle noticed he again had a flat tire and it was at this point that the cold rain and wind began to whip through the gorge that bound us.  Trying to fix the flat proved quite challenging while shivering so we intended to hitch hike our way into Utah.  After being rejected for about and our a man named David who owned a fuel distribution company came storming to our rescue in his big Dodge pickup truck.  He couldn't have come at a better time as all of us were feeling very very drained at our ordeal.  After being dropped off in St. George we warmed ourselves up inside of Burger King while grabbing lunch a well making a some contacts for later on.  When we had finally dried off we headed back out only to realize that the gorge had also given Steve and Jody flats as well.   We began changing these tires while the rain once again ensued.  Since St. George was a sizable town we hit up the local bike shop to resupply ourselves with tubes and patches.  Steve also for the second time bought new pedals for his bike which had once again been giving him trouble.  Our progress had been very slow and at times depressing but one thing we have been learning is you just have to get back on the bike and ride, things will get better, just keep striving onward.  The rain began to fall again as we headed on towards our new goal of Hurricane or Urrican as the locals call it Utah.  We had met a couple named Jim and Sondra and they lived in Hurricane.  We arrived at their doorstep around 6pm very cold, wet and tired, but we were soon warmed by their generosity and hospitality.  They made sure we were well fed, showered, and we slept in the warm, dry comfort of their living room with hope of reaching Zion National Park in the morning.
Miles 63, Cold and Rainy 3 Flats

Day 7: Interstates Flat Tires and Mesquite

After leaving Las Vegas we headed out into the desert on I-15 the only real way in and out of Las Vegas.  Interstate riding turned out to be not quite as scary as we may have imagined and actually turned out to be quite faster considering the smooth shoulders that we were rolling down.  Most the way was flat as we flew past the Las Vegas Motor speedway and hills and hills of sand.  With interstates come broken glass and shredded truck tires and these are the culprits to what gave us the first of many flats to come.  Jody's bike went down first and proceeded to get another flat within a few miles.  With the advent of so many flats we decided to take our lunch break right there on the side of the interstate were we got to eat a hefty lunch of peanut butter and jelly and cookies.  Once we got rolling once more Lyle's bike was the next victim of the shrapnel on the highway and we were once again halted in our journey.  After one decent sized climb we hopped up onto the flat were we were greeted by some much more exciting scenery than the bland desert we had been viewing.  Here our eyes got a taste of the red rock and mesas that would soon become quite a regular feature on the landscape.  After 80 miles on the freeway we took the exit for Mesquite, Nevada were we set up camp in Ken and Darlene Reese's front yard.  Nevada had treated us well but it was time to move on and so we climbed in our tent and dreamed of things to come
80 Miles, High of 75, 4 flats