Day 14: Fountain Green, UT to Mount Pleasant, UT

Okay - we're trying to do a "rest" day again. This time it seems as though we might have more success. The ride from Fountain Green to Mount Pleasant was an easy 16 miles, although we were hoping to get breakfast in Moroni (5 miles from Fountain Green.) No restaurants in Moroni! We found food and interesting people in Mount Pleasant. Mike started talking to Bryan - a local artist - after breakfast this morning. After quizzing Bryan about local accomodations (the only hotel in town is full, and the RV park is a gravel parking lot), Bryan took us over to the center of town to show us the new mural on the community center. He and some other artists in town spent the summer creating a trompe l'oeil (sp?) on the side of the building, depicting 7 soldier statues in a memorial to the veterans of wars from the Black Hawk Indian war to the current one. It was very impressive! They actually look like statues from a distance, and the lettering looks like it has been carved in stone. Bryan and Jason have been very helpful in trying to help us find a place to stay. They made some phone calls for us and even offered to let us sleep in their studio (although at this point it seems that there is going to be a town dance in their studio so that option is a bust.) We'll see what happens... The cloud cover is a welcome relief from the heat, but it also appears that we might get some thunderstorms soon.

So Jason asked us all kinds of questions on how we are doing our trip. He, like many other people we run into say things like, "I'm envious of you" or "I'd like to do a trip like that". (We also run into many who say, "better you than me". To all of them, we say that we're still pinching ourselves...it's hard for us to believe that we're doing it! The first few days of the trip I kept on waiting for something to happen that would derail us. My knee pain, or my saddle sore, or Mike's hip, or a bike getting stolen (one of the Oberlin students had his bike stolen in Roosevelt, UT!) And while we still have some of those concerns, it seems like we might actually make it. I had an inspiring piano teacher in college. Her name was Mrs. Baker (no relation) and she was always pushing me to do more. One time she said that I should prepare a particularly difficult Nocturne by Chopin for a recital. I said that it was too hard (it really was!), but she noted that I had already learned the first 5 measures. She said, "Bonnie, if you can swim in 5 feet of water, you can swim in 50 feet of water." For some reason, that really resonated for me. (Although I started to think about how sound gets distorted in water, and that was just too deep.) Anyway, I think the same concept applies here. If I can ride 1 mile, I can ride 100 miles, and if I can ride 100, I can ride thousands. So a mile at a time. 800 or so down, and maybe a couple thousand to go. This is great!

Day 13: Delta UT to Fountain Green UT

We meant to rest in Nephi today. Lunch at the chinese restaurant in town was great - the first tofu sighting since the Wok in Fallon NV. A couple of nice ladies at the restaurant asked us about our trip, and we in turn asked them for advice and directions. They told us about a nice campground up about 1/2 way up the pass called Ponderosa in the National Forest. It sounded great, it was only 5 miles up the canyon - we decided to go camp up there instead of staying in Nephi. Got up to the National Forest, only to find out that it burned down (along with the campground) a couple of years ago. These ladies don't get out much! By now we were 1/2 way up, so we decided to carry on to the next town. Our rest day turned into a 72 mile ride to Fountain Green. We talked to a couple of locals who gave us some more advice on which way to travel to Duchesne (hwy. 6 or tough mountain pass...it's a toss up), and where to camp in town.

The RV park we camped at had more tent campers than RV's. Very odd. We learned why later in the evening as a dozen rock climbers descended on camp. Evidently Maple Canyon is a famous climbing area not too far away. Nice people from all over the country and the world!

Our experience has now led us to institute a new rule. Information about camping, lodging, distance, etc. must be verified by at least 2 individuals. This isn't the first time we've been led astray by people who sound like they know what they're talking about! Oh, and another rule: we have to add about 3 miles to whatever number of miles people tell us. "The hotel is just a mile up the road" actually means, "the hotel is just 3 miles up the road."

Day 12: Border, NV to Delta UT

2 states down, and a whole bunch more to go! New time zone too! Anticipating the heat, we got up at 2:30 AM to start the long ride to Delta UT - 90 miles. It was pretty cool starting our ride at 3:30 AM in the dark. We had lights on the handlebars and blinking red lights on the back of our panniers. As we got ready to start rolling, Mike stopped to fix something on his bike. He said, "go on ahead, I'll catch up." Despite the novelty of the situation, or perhaps because of it, I said, "no way...I'm not heading out into the desert in the dark by myself!" After awhile I got used to the darkness and it was so awesome to be out there with no noise, no cars, no lights. We could see about a gazillion stars.

Mike said that, while this would be a long ride, it would be rather flat, so we could make good time. Hmm! Except for the 25 mile climb out of Border with 8% grades, it was pretty flat. Actually, the end of the ride went by fairly fast, so we finished the ride around noon. Ran into another group of students - this group of 5 are riding cross country to raise money for ACCION International, a microfinance NGO. Their website is microbikeusa.com.

I think we're off to Nephi UT tomorrow - a short day. We could use a bit of rest.

Day 11: Ely to Border, NV

64 miles, 2 mountain passes, 5 hours, 3,700 feet of climbing - HOT! We stopped for food half way up Sacramento Pass beneath a tree. I wanted to down as much food as possible. At the Big Apple restaurant in Ely, I amazed the wait staff with my eating capacity. The waitress said to me as she put down all the food I ordered for dinner, "I can't believe a tiny thing like you can eat all this food." Well, she threw down the gauntlet, eh? I ate a huge grilled cheese sandwich, fries, salad, cottage cheese, lemonade, and then for good measure, I ordered a big ol' piece of apple pie on top of it all. Actually, this might have been the most food I've ever eaten at any one sitting. I was stuffed. But a couple of hours later, I had another snack!

Border is on the border of UT and NV. It consists of a bar/restaurant, rv park and motel. The slots are on one side of the building - the NV side, and the gas pumps are on the UT side, where evidently gas is cheaper. It was quite a funny place. We had lunch there and then went to bed at 6 PM. We planned to get up at 2:30 AM to start the 90 mile ride to Delta UT. (We both woke up in the middle of the night. Mike rolled over and asked, "what time is it?" I checked: "9:00 PM". Sheesh!)

Day 10: Eureka to Ely, NV

A challenging day: 79 miles, 4 mtn. passes, 5,974 feet of climbing,and discouraging 30 mph wind gusts. We're pooped!

Day 9: Bob Scott Campground to Eureka, NV

63 miles. A mostly downhill day. Met a nice man in Eureka who gave us a 1/2 hour lesson on growing hay in central Nevada. A group of Australians on motocycles were amazed that we would ride "push bikes" instead of motoring across Nevada. They are on their way to Sturgis for the big motorcycle gathering. (We've run into loads of motorcyclists...seems like they are all heading to Sturgis. Mike and I are thinking that we might detour and rumble into Sturgis on our motorless bikes. Actually, no.)

We camped at the town park thanks to Sandy - the wife of the County commissioner. She made a few calls for us. It was like having our own private 1 acre campsite complete with private bathrooms. We need to write to the Eureka Sentinel to say thanks - the people in Eureka were terrific!

Day 8: Cold Spring Station to Bob Scott Campground

57 miles, 3,871 feet of climbing. We woke up at 4:30 AM to get rolling today before the heat. Big climb up to Austin and then to Bob Scott Campground. We've run into many people riding their bikes cross country. The second day in Nevada we ran into the rest of the Oberlin students around mid-morning. One of the students said that riding through Nevada has been his favorite part of the trip. A little surprising at first, but when I got to thinking about it, I realized that I too am enjoying the state. Wide open spaces, awesome silence, and wonderful mountains. Pedaling along Hwy. 50, we saw a handful of cars; we mostly had birds and insects as company. The views and the mountains are big. You can't help but feel the immensity of the place. I really enjoyed riding today...there was just me, Mike and the bikes. Not much else. Untethered, unfettered, and it felt very liberating.

The first lone rider we came across this morning rode ou to the middle of the highlway to meet Mike and shake hands. It was quite a picture - Hwy. 50 spreading out like a 30 mile causeway between two big mountains, and 2 guys on bicycles standing in the middle having a conversation. No traffic, no noise. And that's how it was with our other encounters with cyclists. We met a man who had been hiking from Charlotte NC and transitioned to the bicycle when he hit Utah. We met a nice couple from Lancaster PA at the shoe tree outside of Middlegate the other day. As Mike said, for the lonliest highway, it's an awfully busy place for cyclists.