A little panic and disorder Friday morning as I lost my wallet for about 40 minutes or so. We stopped at several outdoor shops looking for white gas for our camp stove. Somewhere along the way, I put down my wallet and forgot to pick it up. Retracing our steps, I found it at our first stop - the Orange Peel bike shop where I was looking at bike shorts. Once I stopped hyperventilating, we set out for Rabbit Ears Pass. Our second to last mountain pass - Bunny got her Rabbit Ears!
We had a few sprinkles as a storm was gathering over the pass but we made it to the city park in Walden before the real rain came. At the park we met Bill - a sixty-something gentleman from Scotland who is riding the TransAm from west to east. (He seemed like a tough bloke - had a smoke before heading out on Saturday am!)
Dinner in the tent - the storm finally hit. I love sleeping in a tent during the rain! (Mike, not so much.)
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Day 19: Maybell to Steamboat, CO
An easy 72 miles today. A terrific breakfast in Craig, then coffee and an awesome cinnamon roll in Hayden, and now we're in Steamboat. The cloudy skies kept the heat away, and the ride into Steamboat was picturesque as we followed the Yampa River Valley into town.
We had our first experience with warmshowers.org - a website that lists people who are willing to host touring cyclists. Andrew here in Steamboat has been awesome! An experienced touring cyclist, he had many good suggestions for our trip, and told us about a free concert in town. We all went to the concert for awhile - but the sprinkles and cold sent Mike and me home early. And since Andy (Andrew's son) was away for the night, Andrew offered his bedroom to us. This was an added bonus since it's been raining off and on. As a result, we got a great night's sleep. (Thanks again for the hospitality Andrew!!)
We had our first experience with warmshowers.org - a website that lists people who are willing to host touring cyclists. Andrew here in Steamboat has been awesome! An experienced touring cyclist, he had many good suggestions for our trip, and told us about a free concert in town. We all went to the concert for awhile - but the sprinkles and cold sent Mike and me home early. And since Andy (Andrew's son) was away for the night, Andrew offered his bedroom to us. This was an added bonus since it's been raining off and on. As a result, we got a great night's sleep. (Thanks again for the hospitality Andrew!!)
Day 18: Jensen to Maybell, CO
It rained today! While it was nice to cool things off a bit, the last 15 miles or so to Maybell were a bit scary with lightning (in the distance) and thunder. A much bigger climbing day than we expected - 5,080 feet and 78 miles.
After Dinosaur, CO the traffic let up as most of the oil and gas trucks headed south to Rangley and Meeker. We really enjoyed the quite on the road today. And it was hard not to gloat when we came across a big white pickup truck (oil co truck) pulled over by a CO state trooper for speeding. (We saw no police in northeast UT - it really was the wild west!)
After Dinosaur, CO the traffic let up as most of the oil and gas trucks headed south to Rangley and Meeker. We really enjoyed the quite on the road today. And it was hard not to gloat when we came across a big white pickup truck (oil co truck) pulled over by a CO state trooper for speeding. (We saw no police in northeast UT - it really was the wild west!)
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Day 17: Roosevelt to Jensen, UT
If Davis, CA is heaven on earth for cyclists, then Northeastern Utah is hell. Virtually no shoulder and non-stop traffic. Speeding 18-wheelers, oil tankers, giant diesel pickup trucks - they were all in a big hurry and apparently bad eyesight is a common disorder among these truck drivers. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Jensen UT is basically a gas station and an RV park. Too hot and tired to make it to Dinosaur, CO (another 20 miles away)we stayed at the Outlaw RV Park. It was here that we met some of the "pipeliners". I spent some time with a young woman who was tent camping there with her 7 month old son (!) as her boyfriend - one of the pipeliners - worked all day. The residents of the RV park were nearly all pipeliners - these were some tough characters. None seemed to be from the area. The young woman and her baby were from Moab, while her boyfriend was from Craig.
It was quite the night...we enjoyed our own personal taping of the Jerry Springer show - minus the host and the bodyguards. It gave us a glimpse into the personalities behind all those crazy trucks.
Jensen UT is basically a gas station and an RV park. Too hot and tired to make it to Dinosaur, CO (another 20 miles away)we stayed at the Outlaw RV Park. It was here that we met some of the "pipeliners". I spent some time with a young woman who was tent camping there with her 7 month old son (!) as her boyfriend - one of the pipeliners - worked all day. The residents of the RV park were nearly all pipeliners - these were some tough characters. None seemed to be from the area. The young woman and her baby were from Moab, while her boyfriend was from Craig.
It was quite the night...we enjoyed our own personal taping of the Jerry Springer show - minus the host and the bodyguards. It gave us a glimpse into the personalities behind all those crazy trucks.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Day 16: Scofield, UT to Roosevelt, UT
Last night I was reading a back issue of Newsweek that I picked up at a library's free table: the theme of the issue was 50 ways to improve your life. One of the articles mentioned "Practice Random Acts of Kindness" - evidently this year is the anniversary of when a professor challenged his students to do this. After reading, I thought, "I'm going to try to do one a day for the rest of the trip. More on that later.
We left Scofield Lake at 7:00 AM when it was a chilly 42 degrees. We had most of our clothes on to stay warm, since it was downhill for most of the first hour. We had our last big Utah pass ahead of us - about 2,500 feet (8% grades) over 9 miles. It was a bit of a beast - but beautiful. And then we had a 25 mile downhill to Duchesne! On the way down, a white pickup truck passed us going the other way and then I noticed in my rear view mirror, that he turned around right after he saw us. I tend to think that this is an ominous sign, but I have been wrong every time it happens. Outside Placerville, a guy who noticed us did a u-turn and pulled up beside Mike and rolled down his window. My first thought was, "oh, don't harrass us!" But he was actually quite friendly. He drove beside Mike at 7 mph asking him questions about where we were going, how we were doing it, etc. (He was an artist - BlackRockForest.com) Anyway, the white pickup truck in Utah drives about 1 mile ahead of us and then we see him pull to the side of the road and get out. A minute later, he got back in the truck and drove away. As we approach the spot where he stopped, we see two blue things in the road - one on the white line and one about 1/2 foot into the road. As we got closer we could finally make out that he had left us two ice cold bottles of water! Talk about random acts of kindness. We were blown away. Especially since it was about 95 degrees at this point, we were still 12 miles from Duchesne, and nearly out of water. A couple of miles later, we saw a man standing next to a natural gas rig about 1/2 mile off the road. He waved, and then we waved and shouted thanks. So awesome.
The rest of the day was tough. 92 miles of riding, nearly 7 hours on the bike. Hwy. 40 was all oil and gas trucks. No shoulder to speak of. Very nerve racking. But the morning kindness made up for it all.
We left Scofield Lake at 7:00 AM when it was a chilly 42 degrees. We had most of our clothes on to stay warm, since it was downhill for most of the first hour. We had our last big Utah pass ahead of us - about 2,500 feet (8% grades) over 9 miles. It was a bit of a beast - but beautiful. And then we had a 25 mile downhill to Duchesne! On the way down, a white pickup truck passed us going the other way and then I noticed in my rear view mirror, that he turned around right after he saw us. I tend to think that this is an ominous sign, but I have been wrong every time it happens. Outside Placerville, a guy who noticed us did a u-turn and pulled up beside Mike and rolled down his window. My first thought was, "oh, don't harrass us!" But he was actually quite friendly. He drove beside Mike at 7 mph asking him questions about where we were going, how we were doing it, etc. (He was an artist - BlackRockForest.com) Anyway, the white pickup truck in Utah drives about 1 mile ahead of us and then we see him pull to the side of the road and get out. A minute later, he got back in the truck and drove away. As we approach the spot where he stopped, we see two blue things in the road - one on the white line and one about 1/2 foot into the road. As we got closer we could finally make out that he had left us two ice cold bottles of water! Talk about random acts of kindness. We were blown away. Especially since it was about 95 degrees at this point, we were still 12 miles from Duchesne, and nearly out of water. A couple of miles later, we saw a man standing next to a natural gas rig about 1/2 mile off the road. He waved, and then we waved and shouted thanks. So awesome.
The rest of the day was tough. 92 miles of riding, nearly 7 hours on the bike. Hwy. 40 was all oil and gas trucks. No shoulder to speak of. Very nerve racking. But the morning kindness made up for it all.
Day 15: Mt. Pleasant to Schofield, UT
Oh what a day! We rode 2 beautiful passes with waterfalls, cascading streams, and miles of tall aspen trees lining the route. It was like having our own symphony. The crickets open with their tiny violins, then the wind instruments start blowing, the aspen percussion section keeping time with their tiny green cymbals - and finally, the red tail hawks adding the soprano high notes on top. It was spectacular. Mike commented that he didn't know that Utah was so beautiful.
We camped at Schofield Lake State Park. Just a couple of other campers - a terrific setting.
40 miles and 4,639 feet of climbing.
We camped at Schofield Lake State Park. Just a couple of other campers - a terrific setting.
40 miles and 4,639 feet of climbing.
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