Day 8 (5/30/09)

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday we were giddy with our grand 12 1/2 mile decent to end the day and a perfect conclusion to Week 1. We started a little later than we had the past few days, primarily because we had a half hour drive back to yesterday's ending place. For a change we had a slight tailwind as we made a gradual climb out of the valley. After cresting the summit under an increasingly hot sun (Jere complained of sweat rivulets running out of his helmet) we had another long decent. At the bottom we made a right hand turn, off of Rt. 50, right into a stiff headwind. From there the day went downhill. If Rt. 50 is the Loneliest Road in America, then Rt. 487 / 21 is the Loneliest Road in North America (we often rode three abreast on the climbs). After a brief late morning snack in Baker, Ne., only 5 miles from Rt. 50 and 35 miles into the day, the next town and civilization was our evening destination, Millford, UT, 77 miles of nothing in between. We crossed into Utah (and Mountain Time Zone) a day earlier than we had planned. Utah did not welcome us. The roads were rough which gave Jere back issues. I developed a slow leak in my front tire, but thought I could make it to the support van, somewhere ahead of us and out of sight, when Jere's front tire suddenly went flat. Why change one flat, when you can change two? Prior to the flat tires, rain clouds were all around us and lighting ahead (where we thought the support van was waiting), but we had no fear because we had Jere's fender mojo. It turned out that Jere has no mojo and we have no luck. Utah's average rainfall this time of year is less than an inch. Statistically, that should mean clear skis. Oh' no, we got rained on, not once, but several times. Just when we thought we were out of the clear, the winds would swirl and hit us from every quarter and another cloud would appear and it would again rain in the desert. Go figure. Of course, it spritzed while we were changing the flat tires. If the rain was not bad enough, we rode through a dust storm. Now answer Jere's question; "How can you have rain and a dust storm simultaneously?" Before our last climb and decent into Millford, we joked that we got hit with everything, but sleet and snow. The Mormon god must of heard us, because 5 miles outside of Millford, we got nailed ... rain, swirling, gusting winds, and hail! Because we were so close to a warm shower, we just endured and laughed about it. We all agreed had that happened anywhere else, we would have just curled up in a ball until the support team realized our plight and rescued us. The one bright spot of the day, we finally saw a non bovine mammal; we saw a few antelope (boy can they move out). Speaking of bovine, we rode for hours and only saw a few (see today's slide show), but the landscape (and road) were covered with cow-patties. Does anybody know what the half-life of a cow-patty is, it has to be a long time?
We ended the day with 110 miles, wet and cold, but still motivated because we have two states down. We hope the Mormon god gives us a free pass the rest of the way thorught the state.

Thanks for the postings and words of encouragement. We are inspired and motivated by all of you that are following along with us.