almost done with 50 years

Yes... just two more days to go!

This blog will be updated in the coming days. Want my readers to finish my trip also.

And there will be more about the result of our charity ride... Suspense for those who do not know it yet.

August 9th: Torrey...adore

The most amazing thing about cycling in Utah is the changing scenery. In the morning you cycle in high altitude country - three hours later we reach red country.
The cold front that came in is almost gone again, which makes the morning not as cold as we thought it would be. This means that after cycling two miles we are ready to take out the upper layers of our clothes. Especially knowing that a small climb is coming up. Yes, back to that top of two days ago. But this time it's an easy climb. A deer is standing in the woods, watching us. Comes the screaming (yes, this time Sofie is also screaming) 4 mile donwhill to UT 25. Seeing where we came from two days ago makes us proud!
My days cycling in the USA with the company "Cycle America" has taught me vocabulary about roadways: a rolling downhill would be the appropriate term for the road to Loa. Calling it a great rollercoaster in green surroundings will fit the description also. Anyways, it ends with another 8% downhill where my speed reaches 70 km/hrs of speed. Yes, on the bicycle! Once in the town of Loa the scenery changes from green bushes to green farmland. We choose to cycle the shorter option to Bicknell, even if that means we might encounter a nasty dog chasing us. I cannot help noticing how some farms look deserted - the crows adding to the picture.
The town of Bicknell would have been our pit stop - but it is sunday and the gas station is closed. Too bad for Sofie, who is desperate and finds a spot further down the road. Now, the green is out of the picture and red rocks are abundant. In the far distance the Henry mountains are visible. What a view!
The hosts of the 1000 Lakes RV campground are very friendly. Since the price of a cabin or a campsite is almost the same and since they do not want you to camp on their lovely grass, we take a cabin, with a view on the red rocks. This is so totally different from the morning.
We still have plenty of time to explore the small town of Torrey: this was once the hide out for Butch Cassidy. Also, Anthony has his church here! I am so eager to visit Capitol Reef National Park. Cannot resist a preview!
On sundays the campground does not offer dinner - a hamburger at a new dinner (style sixties) is okay (the style does not fit in this surroundings, I think).

August 8th: relaxing!

Wonderful - that's what Fish Lake looks like at midnight when a full moon is shining on the water. The reflection of the light makes the lake look like a brilliant diamond. Although it was cold at midnight, I was glad to see this. It made me feel special.
Of course, we slept in this morning, since we had nothing planned. Well, it was 8 o'clock when we decided to crawl from under the blankets. Sofie turned on the heather a bit but soon it got too warm.
We decided to have breakfast a mile from our place - still along the lake, at Bowery Heaven Resort. The hot oatmeal (the first on this trip) filled my stomach all the way.
We weren't going to do any heavy cycling after yesterday - just some spinning around. We toured to the end of the lake and a little bit beyond that. Traffic was very light and we enjoyed nature around us. I guess only fishermen take this sideroad to Fish Lake.
Sofie decided to clean her bicycle in the afternoon, while I searched for a spot away from the cold wind, in the sun, with a view on the lake. Life can be so simple!
We had our dinner at the lodge again. The busy squirrel from last night was out... Tomorrow we are on the road again.

August 7th: Yesssssss!

THE DAY!!!
This is IT!!!
Anyone who has ever reached the top of a tough climb, has reached any kind of goal... you know what it feels like!
Getting up was already the first difficult job. The breakfast at JB's is not really that exciting nor healthy, but I managed to eat lots of fresh fruit. Next problem was leaving the hotel. Somehow we never got registered in the hotel computer...maybe we stayed here for free! Would that be great: two free nights! Two persons kept searching for some evidence of our checking in, but they did not succeed.
The first part of the ride is back to Sigurd. This flat stretch runs along farmlands. Close to the small village we notice a deer stuck in the barbed wire. I was already looking for a car to stop and help us getting the animal out of there, but luckily it could get away by itself. I kept wondering if it was hurt...
Numbers on this ride are very important to me: it keeps my brain focused on something different. Scenery on this ride is not so wild - especially not in the beginning. Farmland changes into woods on the first climb. After reaching the top the downhill brings you into open country with lots of sage bushes. Way ahead - if you know where to look - you can see the road climbing again. The last four miles are the most beautiful ones: the view is astonishing. The elevation now is 2686 meters: meadows and aspen trees are abundant. The dominant color of the day is green - all kinds of green!
The wind, you are asking me, well it was mostly a headwind, but somehow that did not bother me too much since I knew that the last 9 miles would be tailwinds then! Yes, we were blown up UT 25 and that made up for the pedaling on the downhill earlier during the day.
During the whole day there is not one house along the road. Luckily, somewhat more than halfway, there is a rest stop with water! A great life saver, a bit scary too since there is hardly anyone around there! A great rest stop... just before the steepest climbing of 10%.
"Crazy to do this", Sofie says... but what an accomplishment! "Never again...", she says! A novice in cycling touring and she climbed 1350 meters on one day - what a hell of a good job!
The view of the lake, after going over the top, is awesome. We have a cabin at Fish Lake Lodge for two nights. This is a primitive wooden building but it has all we want. Once off the bike my quads are already getting sore. I wonder if I'll feel it tomorrow!

August 6th: Is it a game?

Sofie is feeling a bit better and this means I can drag her to all the shops in Richfield. Relaxing is what I call this! The dollar shop and K-mart are first. Spending traveller cheques in K-mart is becoming difficult with their new register. This time they cannot figure out how to get the machine to read my cheque. In the end I need to turn to Wal-mart and luckily I manage to get rid of the already signed cheque while buying postcards. A library visit is another must do this: reading email. The wind is blowing today at 80 km/hr - it feels as if 100 persons are using a hairdryer. No whining though because another cold front is coming in - hopefully the wind will then come from the north which means a tailwind on our ride to Fish Lake. With this hard ride in mind we do not do any vigorous activity - watching the movie "Artificial Intelligence" is just what we need.

August 5th: Electricity all around...

I feel excited today: from this point forward it is as if we enter a part of Utah the way it is supposed to be - some red rocks, dry and looking a bit like a desert.
Breakfast at the café takes longer than I expected, but we still manage to leave Manti early enough to cycle the first part of the route in the somewhat cooler morning air. Sofie blasts away - I can hardly keep up with her pace and decide to let her go. I enjoy the view of the reservoir and the barren grey hill behind it. In GUNnison we cycle along the central Utah prison - kind of eerie! Road work in Axtell forces us to make a detour to Redmond. Yes, this is the place where the Real Salt originates from. At one point I speed up to get away from the bee which is annoying me by circulating around me. On to Salina where a slice of pizza from the gas station serves as my lunch. From here it's a boring 20 miles to Richfield and I do my best to find distractions along the road. There are the two longhorn cows and I wonder if they are the same ones of last year. I see the Fish Lake plateau in the distance and wonder how the ride will be... I'm slowly catching Sofie who's speed is dropping while the temperature is rising, the grade is getting a bit steeper and the wind is blowing a bit stronger. The bridge of the Interstate is a welcome shady place, but we know we cannot linger here too long. The red mountain to our right is fascinating at first, but after looking at it for more than 30 minutes the wow is gone! At last we reach the rather big town of Richfield. A room in the Comfort Inn offers us the possibility to cool off. I still feel very energetic and I drag Sofie to Wal-Mart. A sudden stomach ache sends Sofie back to the hotel. After my shopping I know things are not right: a dust wall is approaching from the south! This means lots of wind and the black sky brings rain or even worse ... thunderstorm. I try to run to the hotel, but one block short of it I have to seek cover for the lightning, wind and rain. Guess I couldn't find a safer spot: an electric appliance shop with TVs and computers, but also furniture to relax in. The door of the shop is thrown open and closed by the wind, the TVs and computer flicker off and on when power is lost and turned on again. The saleswoman wonders if she needs to turn them all of and she also offers me something to drink. Luckily the storm is short and after only 10 minutes or so I dare to go outside again. I notice the police is now leading the traffic around a cable which is lying on the street. A vision of cables trying to grab people sparks up in my imagination... I wonder how Sofie did in the hotel room...did the window hold??? I find her still in bed, still sick. Time for me to relax also while viewing the Little House on the Prairie... The soup and bagel form Albertsons is a great evening dinner for me.

August 4th: A fight with a Mc.Flurry with m&m's

Today the members of the volleyball team at home started their first practise and I couldn't resist to tease them a little and send a text message, wishing them good luck being sore!
Today US 89 was our route again, this time going south as this is the main direction of our trip.
After the 2nd mile, Sofie was already 500 meters ahead of me. Suddenly three young men on bicycles passed me and I decided to draft them... We flew by Sofie who was too amazed too jump on the train. Almost in Mt. Pleasant (again the mountain!) I let them go and waited for Sofie. This town is rather big - it even has a Family Dollar which we had to check out: they still sell the same goods, but at least the shop was arranged somewhat different.
The roadsurface to Ephraim, a college town, was chipsealed. We had another Mc. Donalds event in this town: I went for the coke float while Sofie chose the Mc. Flurry with m&m's.
The ride to Manti was easy for me, altough the heat was building and the air became hot. I heard some yelling in Manti and noticed a swimming pool! That looked like fun, I thought, until Sofie joined me. She had a fight with the Mc. Flurry along the road and didn't feel that well. A cool room helped. And instead of going swimming in nice cold water, we trotted to the laundromat, where it's usually hot.
The valley we cycled through today is known for Mormon Pioneer towns. Manti even has a big white tabernacle towering on a hill.
That evening we updated our adventures with NCIS, on TV.