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Monday, July 28, 2008, Porch of Park Maintenance, Pueblo, Colorado
I am the alarm clock every day. Nobody gets up before me. I’m not sure if anyone ever wakes up before me, but if they do, they don’t let on because they want the extra rest. Most stay up too late writing in their journals. We got ready pretty fast this morning and left at 6:50. We had knocked 5 miles off the journey by riding late last night, so we had only about 75 miles to Pueblo. Johnny and Sarah were too tired to ride, so the six of us took off without them on a beautiful ride under clear skies. We had a gradual climb for most of the first 30 miles to the summit, which was under 10,000 feet. One of my chains fell off about seven times, lack of tension, which I must adjust soon. We made pretty good time up. I think everyone was giving extra effort because we were looking forward to finishing the Rockies and all the mountain climbs. As beautiful as it was, we all will be looking forward to flat land. When we hit the summit, we had 10 miles of downhill coasting. It’s so enjoyable to coast for miles at 30+ mph. You feel like you’re riding a motorcycle, all without pedaling and it’s especially exhilarating after grinding slowly up a mountain for hours at 4 mph. The cool breeze flowing past your pores rejuvenates your weary body. We saw four groups of cyclists today, the most ever, a British couple, Keith from North Carolina going to San Francisco, two recumbent cyclists from Virginia, and a trio of teenagers going it alone cross country, unsupported. Pueblo is where the Western Express and Transcontinental routes converge, so we will probably be seeing many more cyclists crossing our paths. The terrain changed dramatically from mountains to plains, green and wet to brown and dry, cool weather to hot. It was hard hot riding; the last 10 miles to Pueblo and I was glad when we stopped at the first gas station store (saw the cheapest gas so far - $3.79 a gallon). Adriana and I bought the largest cherry Icee (64 oz.) they sold and refilled it twice. Gloria drove back to Vicky and the boys who were 8 miles back wilting in the hot wind and brought them cold drinks. They eventually arrived wore out but we all needed to ride ½ mile to the city park where, according to the map, the campground was. After arriving at the park, Gloria and I drove to the p.o. to pick up our mail addressed to General Delivery. My maps and Cathy’s letter with Adriana’s camera card were there, but not my mom’s. A huge storm front was moving in quickly, and before we arrived back at the park, big powerful raindrops were shooting down from the clouds. As we pulled up, we saw the kids running for shelter by the park pool. They didn’t hear our honking over the raging storm, but finally one of them heard us and signaled the others. They ran back amidst streaks of lightning and peals of thunder. We left the bikes where they were [even the most opportunistic of thieves wouldn’t have braved the weather] and drove to locate a suitable shelter for the night. After inquiring a couple of places, Ed, the tennis director, gave us permission and a key to set up for the night in the park maintenance facility, on the porch, which had a 12’ awning, enough to shield us from the rain, should it come. After situating our bikes on the porch, we drove off, with the help of NUVI, our GPS, to find a Chinese buffet and we did – Panda Buffet. We arrived at 7:00 and didn’t leave till 8:45, eating and drinking almost continuously. Oh so good! The waitress was very attentive and the food was great, and coupled with the fact we were famished from the long ride, it was a very enjoyable meal. It turns out the waitress has a cyclist son who has toured cross country to raise money for leukemia. She returned our tip at the end of the evening and said, “Buy something for the children with it.” Then everyone went to Walmart to shop, except me; I stayed in the van and wrote in the journal. I had a couple of days of catching up to do. When we arrived back at the maintenance facility, I called Mama and gave her an update. Finally at around midnight, we began looking for the “always open” public park restrooms. They were locked, so we went back to the maintenance and used their hose to clean up before hitting the deck. 74 miles.

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Sunday, July 27, 2008, Field near Cotapaxi, Colorado
The fire pit was great; it kept us warm during the cold night. I woke up to sunlight beaming on the teepee walls, 7 am, late for me, but after getting up and starting the morning routine and throwing a fishing line in the creek, I decided to let the kids sleep in; they had had a hard ride yesterday and a real late night. The first child up was the first to konk out the night before, Sarah, and she needed to go to the restroom but didn’t make it in time. She then took a shower while I wrote in the journal. All wanted to ride today to conquer the tallest pass we would encounter the whole trip. We immediately started our steep ascent toward Monarch Pass. For seven miles we plugged along slowly, about 3-4 mph. It was sunny, but at that altitude the air was so cool that you didn’t overheat. We took one rest stop, then climbed the rest of the way to the top of the pass. At the summit was a museum of mountain wildlife and a snack shop. We didn’t stay too long before we headed down the mountain. For fourteen miles we didn’t pedal, but snaked our way down the mountains at breakneck speed, at least me and Adriana did. What a thrill! Like usual, Adriana and I arrived at the bottom in Poncha Springs way ahead of the others, so I took the opportunity to take a nap on the ground in front of a closed ski rental store. When I woke up, everyone was there, so was the van, and all were snacking. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I reluctantly got up and eventually we all headed off as a group toward the town of Salida. The wind had changed and now was at our backs, so we were flying; however, big dark clouds were forming and moving toward us fast. As we were entering the town, big drops started pelting us. Fortunately, for Adriana and me, we found cover right away because we were 5-10 minutes ahead of the others. But the others got wet. Eventually we all ducked into a sheltered store front porch to wait out the downpour. After a while, most all of the bad stuff had passed, so we suited up our rain gear and headed out behind the storm which was going east like we were but had blown past us, so we followed it at a safe distance. As we made gains on the clouds, we could see the rain balling in sheets not too far off in the distance, so we took a half hour break to let it go away. The plan worked, and we managed to stay out of the downpour all the way to Cotapaxi. When we arrived at 6pm, our first order of business was to find a camp site. Unfortunately, KOA was the only one in town and they always charge extra for more than four people, which we can’t afford, so we pedaled on in the direction of our final destination tomorrow, Pueblo, 80 miles away. Gloria was starting to get nervous because it was already 7:00 pm and we didn’t know where we were going to stay. The areas lining the road were bordered by fences and not too suitable for throwing up a tent, so I stopped at a nearby farmhouse and asked if I could put up a tent anywhere. The man of the house gave us permission to camp in one of his secluded fields. It was almost dusk when we finally arrived, so we all did our part to set up the tent, organize our belongings and cook. I usually do the cooking. Today we splurged again and ate almost everything we had: a dozen eggs, tortillas, lettuce, stew items (pork, leftover spaghetti sauce, onion, corn, potatoes), and, of course, drinks, drinks, and more drinks of every flavored beverage we could create using a variety of flavored powders, sodas, and water. All were full, but not clean, when we finally turned in for the night. Tomorrow would be a big day – 75 miles, including the last Rocky Mountain climb, to Pueblo, where I would pick up my next map series all the way to Virginia and letters from my mom and sister. 60 miles.

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Saturday, July 26, 2008, Sargents RV Campground, Colorado
All of us rode today, which was great. Becky rode Willie’s bike with Sarah behind. We rode next to the beautiful big Blue Mesa Reservoir for 30 miles, most of the way to the large town of Gunnison, population 5,000+. The weather was perfect for summer riding, calm breeze, and cloud cover from the scorching sun. We had only one summit to climb today, leaving only two left for the Rockies. We arrived in Gunnison around 2:00 pm and went to Safeway for food: rotisserie chicken and turkey, lettuce, Arizona teas (the big ones, 44 oz. for only $1.00), cheese, ham, bananas, granola bars, carrots, an onion, and liter sodas (only $.79). Then we rode in the right direction until we found a shady grassy area to picnic – this time a park. We planned to eat our fill then begin riding again another 32 miles to the town of Sargents, at the foot of the highest summit of the trip – Monarch Pass, 11,312 feet. Everyone was hungry and it was great to feast on everything we had. Afterwards we stopped at a McDonalds for a sundae to top it off. It was 5:15 pm before we finally left, so we had to make good time. The conditions were perfect – almost no wind, cool, and we felt well-fed and strong. My chain fell off a few times; maybe the derailer needs adjusting again. For the last five miles, it sprinkled and the wind started blowing against us, but Adriana and I made it at 8:00 pm, right before the store closed. The guy running the place let us in on a special treat – He let us stay in one of the teepees which was great, not only for the novelty, but because we wouldn’t have to set up and take down our tent in the rain. Gloria arrived about 15 minutes later, worried about the rest of the group riding so late and against the wind, 5 miles back, so we drove the van back to them and put on the hazard lights and drove in front of them and let them draft off the van at 13 mph. It was starting to get dark, but they made good time this way and before long, they were there and were so thrilled when they saw the teepee. We had showers and snacks before we went to sleep. The teepee had electrical plugs to charge our cameras and cell phones too. It even had a propane fire pit in the center which we used to keep us entertained during our Bible time (something about watching a mesmerizing flame) and warm in our sleeping bags during the cold night at that high altitude. It was after midnight when most of us finally hit the sack. Very nice day. I like arranging our day with a big meal in the middle, followed by more evening riding. It enables us to ride at the best times of the day and also alleviates hunger in the evening after a long day’s ride. 78 miles.

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Friday, July 25, 2008, Campground, Cimarron, Colorado
We woke up around 6:30 and took down the tent and got ready to go. After our Bible time, we decided to splurge and go to the best breakfast place in town (according to Belinda, the camp manager) – Nana’s Country Cooking, only 2 miles out of the way. We ordered two extra plates of pancakes. The food was delicious. We ate our normal amount and we left little for the dishwasher to clean. We finally left at 10:00. The wind was against us and we were climbing our fourth-to-the-last summit. The going was slow. I thought the breakfast would help, but I’m not sure. Everyone was sleepy and lethargic. It took about 3 ½ hours to climb the summit; finally, the downhill.We coasted down into Cimarron. We were planning to go further, but all of the sudden a huge wind storm blew against us and brought in big grey clouds. Thinking it would rain on us, we made camp at the only campground in Cimarron for $12.00 – no showers, but they had a grill. At least we were there early, around 2:00 pm, so we had time to look around. There was a beautiful clear river that wound its way through a canyon next to a dam. We went fishing there, but no luck. I had one on all the way to the bank before it shook out the hook. Too bad. Becky went running on a nearby trail. At dusk we returned and cooked up 10 lbs. of potatoes. It took forever to cook. 25 miles.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008, 1st campground in Montrose, Colorado, site of the town’s first hanging tree.
I got up around 6:30 and woke up the others. The bike seats were wet. We packed up most things and headed out. Willie didn’t come because he was sick, but John and Vicky did. It was really cold, and going downhill, I couldn’t keep from shivering. The commuter traffic to Telluride was pretty bad coming at us and much of the time, there was no shoulder. Also, there was a lot of commercial traffic and semis, making it a harrowing ride. I was glad after 15 miles when we took another, less traveled road. The gradual climb seemed easy, and as the morning wore on, the sun warmed us and dried all our wet gear. Gloria stopped along the way and dried out the tent and tarp. Adriana and I made great time to Montrose, arriving at around 2:00 pm. We waited for the others, drinking sodas and refills. After everyone came, we did the usual routine: the others rested while Gloria and I scoped out the city to determine where we would camp and where we would shop. Once that was decided, we set up camp. Then I drove to Home Depot and bought another tarp (also too small, but combining the two should work) to supplement the one we have and keep the tent totally dry in the rain. Back at the camp, we cooked up the lentils, pork and beans, and spaghetti. Everyone got plenty. Then we took COLD showers. For some reason the hot water wasn’t working. Next we visited the original “hanging tree.” Later we went to Dairy Queen and Wendys, depending on your preference, for some ice-cream; then we went off to Walmart. I slept in the van while everyone else went shopping. When we got back to camp, I went right to sleep. Later I found out that John and Sarah had accidentally walked into a water filled ditch and soaked themselves before going to bed. 64 miles.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008, Sunshine Campground, Colorado
We slept in till 9:00, nice. The sun was out and drying the tent. Today we drove off to Telluride to see the famous resort for the day. Beautiful place, bikes everywhere, 15 mph speed limit in town. First we stopped at a grocery store for food, expensive, but the grapes were not, only $1.29 a pound, and firm, fresh, and delicious, so we bought about six pounds and some bananas. There was free parking next to the river, so we parked and walked along the river trail to the gondolas, free also, that took you high above the city, up to the top of the mountain. A fun ride, fast too; the kids loved it, so did I. Mountain bikes are allowed on the gondolas, and some people bike down the ski runs. Sounds like fun. At the top, we went to a nature museum where a ranger taught us about trees and wildlife. From there we boarded another gondola to Mountain Village where John, Sarah, and I did trampoline bungee jumping. Fun. After many double back flips at that altitude, I was pooped. Again, all free. After all had had enough, we took the two gondolas back down to Telluride and walked around the city. One of the clothing stores used to be the bank that Butch Cassidy robbed $10,000 from at gunpoint in the 1800s. Across the street was the original vault that housed the money. We took pictures in front of it, of course. By then it had begun to rain, so we went to the library, everyone’s favorite place. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my journal with me, so I read the blog and tried to respond to the messages, but no luck. I’m going to have to ask someone who knows, so he can show me. After a couple of hours, we decided to leave. It was still raining, but the public bus came by shortly, and we all boarded. Again, no charge. The driver of had dreadlocks and was playing jazz music. Kinda soothing. He dropped us off at our van and we rode back to the campground. Telluride turned out to be such a nice place to visit with so many interesting things to see and do for free. Unfortunately, it never stopped raining, but at just the right time there was a lull in the rain which allowed us to start a fire in the dampness by carefully constructing a fine stick pyramid and setting it on fire. It’s hard enough to start a fire when it’s damp, but at high elevations, there is less oxygen and it always seems harder. I’m going to buy some lighter fluid. Finally we got the fire going and managed to cook and eat in the rain, hot dogs and potatoes. The stuff we had inside the tent got wet because the tarp didn’t fully cover it, so lots of clothes and two sleeping bags got wet. After everyone had eaten and gone to bed, I stayed up trying to dry my much needed sweatshirt by dangling it over the fire for 45 minutes; it worked and I got an upper body workout. I’m not sure when I finally went to bed, but it was late.

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008, Sunshine Campground, past Lizard Head Pass, Colorado
We got a fairly early start, 7:20 and headed out under clear skies up the 50 mile climb to the 10, 222 ft. summit – Lizard Head Pass. It would be the third highest summit of the trip but probably the longest continual climb. According to the profile map, there was supposed to be a fairly steep grade immediately leaving Dolores. I kept waiting for it – 3 miles, 5 miles, 8 miles – no steep climb. Could it be this way the whole way to Rico, past the halfway point? Yes!! What a great discovery. The grade followed a river and was so gradual that it took little effort to climb, and the scenery was beautiful – green hills, trees, ranch houses nestled in the meadows. Chris met us about 15 miles up the road. We took his picture and interviewed him on the video and gave him a cool drink. On the way, we saw a dead black bear alongside the road which stunk to high heaven. I held my breath and videoed it a short time before I needed air. When we got to Rico, it began to rain so we left to try to beat the worst of it over the summit 13 miles away. After getting wet, we donned our rain gear, [all except Willie who must have thought it was a sign of weakness to need protection against the elements and, thus, unfitting for a teenage boy eager to enter manhood] but got drenched anyway. Five miles from the summit, it became very cold, the sky darkened and it began to pour. We didn’t take any more breaks because we would have only gotten colder, so we pressed on. Actually the cold helped motivate us; it made me appreciate the hard climbs because more effort = more warmth. The rain began to subside a little when we reached the pass, but it was still cold and going downhill through the wind with wet bodies was going to be a torturing test of cold endurance. In addition, the wet brakes wouldn’t work as well, so we had to keep our speed down, prolonging the agony. My arms were shivering uncontrollably, so I had to concentrate on steadying the bike more. Fortunately, the traffic was careful and traveled by us slowly and gave us space. We passed by the pristine Trout Lake, nestled amidst majestic mountains. It reminded me of Switzerland, so beautiful. Finally we saw the sign, “Sunshine Campground” and pulled over to check it out. We were only 8 miles from Telluride, the famous tourist resort, so we waited to decide until we could compare the two. The Telluride campground was all full so we set up at Sunshine. We decided to stay there two days so that we could spend an extra day in Telluride tomorrow. Next week, I plan to be in Pueblo to pick up my mail. Mama said she was going to send me a birthday card (July 30) there. I’ll put my next General Delivery address in the blog once we get to Pueblo. 56 miles.

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Monday, July 21, 2008, Cozy Comfort RV Park, Dolores, Colorado
I got up around 7:30 and took a walk around town near the campground. After eating cereal, the four oldest children and I went to the library and I updated the blog. We could only stay till around 10:30 because we had to go back to the hospital in Cortez to fill out some paperwork for yesterday’s visit. After that, we went to the library where I did more work on the blog. Unfortunately, it’s often impossible for me to upload pictures to the blogsite because the libraries have restrictions on CD use and I don’t have the right cord to connect from the computer to the camera. That’s why I have so few pictures on the website. Since we were in Cortez, we stopped again at Walmart and bought shoes for John and sandals for Vicky and three ½ gallons of ice-cream for everyone; we ate at the same spot as yesterday, in the shade under the tree and wolfed it down directly from the carton, all nine of us. It reminded me of watching one of those National Geographic specials featuring the lifestyles of African lions in the wild devouring a recent kill, heads buried deep in the carcass, each crowding the others out to get as much as possible. In a few minutes, two of the half gallons were gone. When we arrived back in Dolores, the kids went back to the library and I started the fire to grill the chicken. Once the fire was going, I picked up Paul, Vicky, and John and we went fishing. Vicky caught the only keeper, a bass, but I hooked a BIG fish that broke the line; the drag was set too tight. Too bad; it was probably the biggest fish I ever hooked in a lake. When we arrived back at the camp, we met Chris, a cyclist from London who was heading the same direction as we were, so we invited him for dinner and showed him our bike maps, which were better than the one he was using. The kids enjoyed listening to his accent.

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Sunday, July 20, 2008, Cozy Comfort RV Park, Dolores, Colorado
We slept in till 9:00, then got ready ot go to First Baptist Church in Cortez. The church there is breaking away from the American Baptist Church association because of the association's tolerance of the gay life style and its departure from biblical authority, so they are taking a stand for what's right. Sarah was sick, so after the service, we drove to the hospital and it turns out she has strep throat. We filled the prescription of antibiotics and then decided to splurge and go to a Chinese buffet. The selection was small, but the food was good. I methodically packed it in, plate after plate of main dishes followed by plates of fruit and desserts. By 3:30 we were done. It's now 10:15 pm and I'm still satisfied. After the meal, I was extremely sleepy, so as soon as we arrived back at the tent, I took a nice 2 ½ hour nap, which was just as wonderful as the meal, just what the doctor ordered. The younger ones, except Sarah, went fishing again tonight, but Willie was the only one who caught anything, a small bass. Oh, I forgot, Paul caught a small green water snake too.

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Saturday, July 19, 2008, Cozy Comfort RV Park, Dolores, Colorado
After eating cereal and cleaning up, we pedaled off toward Dolores. Sarah threw up last night and has a sore throat and a fever, so we are going to look for a clinic to take her to as soon as possible. Johnny and Vicky rode again today. This area is a major migratory route for deer and we saw some along the way. The ride was a constant series of rolling hills punctuated by putrid smells of decomposing deer alongside the road every ½ mile or so. Yesterday we saw a hurt deer sitting alongside the road; it wasn't bleeding, but apparently it had been grazed by a car. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything we could do. Even though the ride wasn't far, it was hot, and I was glad when we arrived in Dolores, population 857. One of the two campgrounds was full, but fortunately there was one tent site still left at the other campground at the end of town. After setting up camp, we drove to the larger town of Cortez, where we went shopping at Walmart, first one in a long time. We stocked up on needed supplies and bought a rotisserie chicken and fruit for a late lunch, which we ate under some shade trees on the grass next to the Walmart parking lot. Right before dusk, the kids and I went fishing at McPhee Reservoir and Vicky caught a bass. 36 miles.

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Friday, July 18, 2008, Weber Park, Dove Creek, Colorado
Today I got up around 7:00. We took forever to leave, fixing/adjusting the bikes, organizing stuff and playing with this stray black lab who befriended us all morning. It was hot, as usual, when we left at 11:00 am. All eight cycled today: Sarah through Becky, fun, although Sarah only lasted about 6 miles because she wasn't feeling well. My hat flew off once when we were going fast downhill, so I had to run back to get it before a car ran over it. The first half of the ride to Montecello was hot and slow uphill. Fortunately, we were riding into some black thunder clouds which eventually deposited its contents on us briefly, just enough to cool us down. Then we met two cyclists, Chris and Ben Bateman, father and son, who were going the opposite direction, heading toward Watsonville, California, 20 miles from where we started. They were raising money for a new track at Sonora High School in California. We arrived in Montecello around 2 pm and ate a picnic lunch on the grass somewhere. Being the hottest time of the day, we decided to go off to the library, one of everyone's favorite places and where I catch up on the blog. At 5:30, we headed toward the Colorado border and crossed it, another milestone, at around 7:30. It was pretty easy riding from there to Dove Creek, rolling hills all the way, and we arrived around 8:00 pm. The local sheriff said we could camp free at the park since there was no campground in town. So we gathered firewood and grilled up our pork chops and boiled ½ bag of potatoes and a dozen eggs, ate, wrote in the journals and went to bed. I heated up some hot water to take a hobo bath. I can't stand sleeping dirty. 48 miles.

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Thursday, July 17, 2008, Kampark Campground, Blanding, Utah
Today was our much appreciated rest day, which everyone was looking forward to. I got up first and walked across the street to Alco Hardware store to buy an extra large tarp to cover the tent when it rained [the only other time it lightly rained, some water seeped in and formed puddles and wetted the sleeping bags]. I also bought some extra tent stakes and some fishing tackle to catch pike, the main fish at Recapture Reservoir, only 3 miles away. When I got back the others had gotten up and needed some groceries and extra boxes for storage, so Becky, Willie, Sarah, and I went. Then Becky went running [She’s been running every other day religiously, regardless of how tired she is from the day’s ride] while the rest of us finally cleaned out the van and organized our stuff. Later we went to the library where I updated the blog. In the early evening, we ate more hot dogs (We’ve been eating a lot of them lately) and it began to rain on us. Thunderstorms form so quickly in this part of the country. One minute the sun’s like an oven, the next minute, big black clouds form and dump buckets of rain, cooling everything off. Then it clears up. Not so bad I guess. At about dusk, Willie, Paul, Vicky, John, Sarah, and I went fishing for about an hour at the lake. No luck; first time we’ve been skunked so far. When we got back, it was dark, so we had our Bible time and went to bed, all but Adriana and Becky, who stayed up till probably after midnight writing in their journals.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008, Blanding, Utah, Campground
I didn’t sleep real well and woke up with a bad stomachache, which may have been the result of eating the last of the old cheddar cheese that had been waterlogged in the cooler and dried out repeatedly over the last few weeks. Plus my bum tooth was acting up and hurting too. Anyway, my stomach hurt, so I didn’t want to eat anything. I was tired from the hard hot climb from the day before and hadn’t recovered and I was sleepy-not a good combination heading into another hard day’s ride. We had a mostly uphill climb of 65 miles to Blanding, and we didn’t want a repeat of Tuesday’s heat wave experience, so we got up before the crack of dawn and left about 6:30 am. What made matters worse was Adriana wasn’t energetic either and needed a day’s rest-we all did. This has been the longest stretch of riding days without a break so far and the days have been hard. From the first couple of miles I was riding like it was the last few miles of a hundred mile trip. I dreaded every turn of the pedals and I was falling asleep with no energy at 4-5 mph. Everyone left us in the dust and I was watching the odometer click every hundredth of a mile every 10 seconds and wondering how long I could continue, being this exhausted before I hardly even started. The first 20 miles were murderous and seemingly never ending. I was literally almost falling asleep and would start to doze and weave. Finally at the second group stop, Debbie and Karin gave me two of their designer energy bars, plus I ate some watermelon and drank a lot. I started to feel a little better, but I was still tired. For the first 3-4 hours we had a parasol of cloud cover shielding us from Utah’s burning summer rays. But as the morning wore on, the cloud cover began to fray and give way to the sun which wilted us under its powerful rays, with magnifying glass intensity. The heat was beating us down, sweat was dripping from every pore and stinging our eyes; the only relief was the occasional breeze which turned the sweat to coolant allowing us to survive. Finally, we hit a couple of step downhill rides which cooled us off and allowed us to break our downhill speed twice-51 and then 52 mph. There was one real steep hot climb about 5 miles before Blanding, which we were determined to conquer without wimpering or walking, and we did. Finally, we limped in the last 3 miles and stopped at the first campground we saw, but it was going to charge us $50 (because of the kids) so we went around town and found one for only $14 a night with showers and grass. We met lots of new cross-country cyclists tonight-Celia and Wesley, a trio to S.F., and another couple. They all stayed at the campground with us. We celebrated John’s birthday again with the cyclists. They all sang “Happy Birthday.” We ate lots of hotdogs, chicken, chips, and took videos. Debbie interviewed our family members on tape. Everyone exchanged emails and blog addresses. The kids played at the camp playground and later ant night (about 11:30). Adriana, Becky, Paul, Vicky, John, and I wrote in our journals and laughed about Napoleon Dynamite scenes. 65 miles.

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Tuesday, July 15, John’s Birthday, 15 miles E. of Hite, Utah
Last night wasn’t cold at all. I slept without a shirt and rarely only used the sleeping bag as a cover. We got a fairly early start-8 am. I boiled some eggs and Mama packed everything up after we left so we could leave earlier. Plus it was Johnny’s birthday and she wanted to treat him to pancakes at the restaurant next door. We made pretty good time at the 26 mile mark Mama was waiting for us with the goodies. After eating and drinking, I took about an hour nap before leaving. John really enjoyed the echo he was making. The last 6 miles before Hite next to Powell Lake were hard because of the heat. It was about 2 pm and 100 degrees and we had to climb one last big hill. It seemed so miserable. Finally we made it and went to the camp store for cool drinks and fishing supplies. It was still blazing hot when we left so Willie, Vicky, John, Sarah, and I went swimming the lake-so refreshing, not too cool or warm-perfect. I felt much better when we got out. Gloria said she wanted us to go further tonight so we don’t have so far to go tomorrow (74 miles without services). It’s a good idea. Two girls were at the campsite last night who were heading the same way as we were. They just arrived, 5 pm, and were very tired. Gloria offered to carry their stuff tomorrow and tonight. We’ll probably pedal another 15 miles or so tonight which will leave only about 60 tomorrow. To be continued…
Well, we ate Top Ramen and watermelon with Karin and Debbie; then we pedaled off with them toward Blanding. The pedaling was nice and cool and energetic. Debbie had an interesting past-Panama, rap singer, photographer, a sister to triplets, and unknown future career. Before too long we had gone 15 miles and it was time to set up our tents for the night. By the time we settled down, it was dark so we went to bed. Unfortunately the tent stakes wouldn’t go in the rocky soil so we tried to prop panniers in the corner for support. That didn’t work (as I was to discover an hour later because of the wind) so I had to tie ropes from the tent to the van. It worked, sort of, but I didn’t get a restful sleep because of the flapping tent. 65 miles.

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Monday, July 14, 2008, Hanksville Campground, Utah
Last night the wind started howling and I feared it would rain and I’d have to get up and pack everything left out in the van and endure a wet night with rain dripping and seeping into the tent. Fortunately it only blew but didn’t rain like always. I woke up first so I got up and took a hike-nice places- then I went to the van to update this journal. For help to jog my memory, I read Becky’s entries. Boy, was it interesting. Hers is way better than mine. Much more interesting. She should be writing the blog. I hope they don’t lose their journals; they’re priceless. Everyone else slept in. Finally we got things packed up. There wasn’t much to eat so we’ll have to buy more food in Hanksville. I’ll continue later…
After eating, cleaning and Bible time, it was about 11 am when we left. The weather the entire trip has been very favorable overall for us. Usually there has been some cloud cover in the afternoons to keep the temperature down. Although we’ve had our moments, there really hasn’t been terribly hot days that we’ve had to endure. On the ride to Hanksville, we stopped a lot-Subway sandwiches, petroglyphs, Natural Bridge Hike, and rest stops. For that reason we didn’t arrive in Hanksville until around 8 pm. Luckily, the only store stayed open till 9:00. The prices were high so we bought the usual low cost food- Top Ramen, bread, yogurt, drinks, and the cheapest fruit available. Then we went to the campground for $19.00 which had nice showers and a Laundromat, which we all utilized. We ate Top Ramen and the rest of the big catch of fish before going to bed. 64 miles.

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Sunday, July 13, 2008, Camping off the road near Lion Mountain, Wayne County, Utah
Got an early start and headed 2 miles downhill into a beautiful red rock canyon which wound its way gradually uphill toward our second highest summit so far- 9,400 feet. The scenery was great. We also passed through “The Hogback” which was supposed to be a harrowing ride on cliffs without guardrails, but it was nothing, easy and not scary at all. When we came down into the small town of Boulder, Pop. 180 (not Colorado), we stopped at the only store open on Sunday. A man with his SUV open in the back exposing fishing poles was getting gas, so I asked him where some good fishing was. His eyes lit up as he told me about where he and his wife had just gotten their trout limit. It was stocked every year and few people fished it-Garkane Power Plant, about 3 miles away. We quickly bought worms, power bait, hooks, some drinks and headed out in the van. To fish, the lady working at the store said we could leave the bikes there at the store until she got off work at 2 pm. That gave us about 3 hours to fish. After back tracking once, we finally found it and started fishing. After three hours we had a stringer full of 20 beautiful trout-best catch I’ve had in years (and boy they were delicious later on). However, while we were fishing, the sun had burned its way out of the clouds. We started riding again about 2:30 and it was hot and uphill. The first seven miles were very slow and exhausting. I think the heat tires me more than the hills. When we started the hardest grade, the clouds shaded us which was such a welcomed relief. I don’t know how much harder it would be to pedal all day in the sun. So far, we’ve had pretty favorable conditions, wind with us mostly, and cloud cover at needed times. The climbing never stopped-up up up the whole way in 1st and 2nd gear-3-5 mph. We finally reached the summit, 9,600 feet, at about 6 pm, took a quick picture, and headed down. Unfortunately it wasn’t all downhill; some short sections we had to pedal. Nevertheless, it was beautiful with pine trees everywhere surrounding us. We decided to camp there in the mountains rather than go all the way to Hanksville because it was getting late and everyone was tired and hungry and we needed to cook up all the fish with rice. We found a nice wooded level place off the road. By the time we had set up the tent, cooked, eaten, and cleaned up it was almost dark, so we had our Bible time with a flashlight in the tent, then went to bed-all but the dedicated few who write pages a night in their journals. They went back to the car to write. I think today was the hardest 39 miles I have ever cycled.

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Saturday, July 12, 2008
We woke up early and had a nice ride; 5 miles of it was on a bike trail among the majestic red sculpted rock towers in Bryce Canyon, beautiful. One good thing about the ride today was it was overcast most of the way so we never got too hot. At the nice little town of Tropic, population 508, we stopped and the kids bought souvenirs- gold flakes in a bottle of oil. Later on when we were riding together, the kids and I had a contest to see who could blow off the large (biggest I ever saw) dandelion seeds with the fewest blows-winners, Willie and I- one blow. We put in a lot of miles today and the last mile was real tough, but we all made it without walking. We pitched the tent in a nice sheltered spot near the top of the summit among some trees off the road and out of sight. The ground was so soft the tent stakes didn’t work, as I had to use sticks. We cooked scrambled eggs and hot dogs. We planned for a big day tomorrow and prepared the tent for rain, but it didn’t come. 77 miles.

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Saturday, July 12, 2008
We woke up early and had a nice ride; 5 miles of it was on a bike trail among the majestic red sculpted rock towers in Bryce Canyon, beautiful. One good thing about the ride today was it was overcast most of the way so we never got too hot. At the nice little town of Tropic, population 508, we stopped and the kids bought souvenirs- gold flakes in a bottle of oil. Later on when we were riding together, the kids and I had a contest to see who could blow off the large (biggest I ever saw) dandelion seeds with the fewest blows-winners, Willie and I- one blow. We put in a lot of miles today and the last mile was real tough, but we all made it without walking. We pitched the tent in a nice sheltered spot near the top of the summit among some trees off the road and out of sight. The ground was so soft the tent stakes didn’t work, as I had to use sticks. We cooked scrambled eggs and hot dogs. We planned for a big day tomorrow and prepared the tent for rain, but it didn’t come. 77 miles.

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Friday, July 11, 2008, Hitch N Post Campground, Panguitch, Utah
I got up early and caught 10 trout that we fried up for breakfast. Then we had our Bible time and rode off to Panguitch. It only took about an hour to get there because it was mostly downhill. Nice small town of just over 1,000. Lots of motels and even a library where I updated the blog. Nice campsite, but it charged $10.00 extra for all the kids, $25.00 a night, but it had nice showers and a Laundromat. After showering we all headed to the library. This is the first town I’ve noticed that has eastern Southern style brick houses. Nice. After the library, we went to the only grocery store- expensive so we bought only bread, milk, hot dogs, some fruit, and a can of spaghetti sauce. Oh, and some ground beef and sausage for the spaghetti sauce. It had already started raining a little bit when we got back to the campsite. I ended up cooking the spaghetti under some trees for shelter; then dumped the whole pot over in the dirt as I was tipping it over to drain the water. So I scooped what clean noodles I could and washed the rest off in the sink in the boys’ bathroom. The kids didn’t know the difference, looked like spaghetti sauce. We ate it in the car. The tent was soaked outside and some water was seeping in at various places leaving puddles and soaking John’s and Vicky’s sleeping bags, which we had to dry out in the Laundromat. We stretched out in the rain fly as much as possible but water still came in. We just hoped it would stop raining so that we could sleep dry until we could buy a large tarp to put over the top. We’ll definitely need it as we head into the Midwest where there are lots of thunderstorms. After our Bible time, we went to bed, all but Becky, Adriana, and maybe some other who usually stay up late writing in their journals. 13 miles.

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Thursday, July 10, White Bridge Campground, Utah
We decided to stay an extra day fishing. I got up early and caught one close to our campsite. Later the kids and I caught a bunch that we cooked up for lunch. We relaxed all day eating, writing, resting, and fishing. In the evening, we went back to Panguitch Lake where I caught a 14” rainbow. Later we roasted marshmallows before going to bed. Tomorrow we will plan to ride to the town of Panguitch.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2008, White Bridge Campground, Utah
Today we continued up the big mountain pass, slowly but surely making progress. Eventually, we conquered the tall summit, 10,500 feet. Close to the summit, we stopped at Cedar Breaks Monument and took pictures- beautiful red sculpted mountains and gorgeous scenery. Coasting down the summit was fun, long, and fulfilling; that’s the reward of the climbs. It wasn’t long before we had coasted down to Panguitch Lake where we stopped briefly for night crawlers and directions to the best fishing campground – White Bridge Campground. We set up camp and then went fishing at the lake where Vicky caught a 17” rainbow trout. By the end of the day, I was pretty greasy and grimy, but there were no showers at the campsite, No problem. There was a sink in the restroom, enough to take a “stealth shower,” something I practiced 25 years ago when bicycle touring in Europe. All you do is wash in stages, keeping on the lookout for approaching restroom patrons who could come in at any minute. With a soapy wet wash cloth you do first the safe parts: hands, face, then dry off; then the arms and legs and dry off and put on shirt; eventually the torso, dry off and put on pants. Voila! I’ve never been embarrassed yet, and it sure beats trying to go to sleep greasy and grimy. Actually, this time I had a lock on the door, so it was not real stealth bathing; there was no danger of being discovered. This practice is not just limited to me. Becky informed me that she discovered another stealth bather in her birthday suit in the women’s restroom. She had forgotten to lock the door, a grave error. 33 miles.

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Tuesday, July 8, 2008, Cedar Canyon Campground, Utah
Well, since we went to bed so late, I was the first one up at 8:00, so I ate Raison Bran and let everyone else sleep in. Later we decided to go to a campground before the summit and be at Panguitch Lake in two days instead of one. We wanted to be sure to go there because the fishing was supposed to be real good. Before we headed out, we had the van tire patched; it had a slow leak which turned out to be a nail. We also ate lunch and had our Bible time. Finally we pedaled off toward the 10,000 plus foot summit. Adriana and I rode real slowly; we didn’t want to tire out too quickly. We stopped every couple of miles at first and snacked and drank. It was nice to take it easy; I never really got tired. The terrain changed dramatically- cedar and pine trees everywhere and the road winding its way through sheer mountain walls. After about 12 miles of climbing, we came to campground and decided to stay. Of course, Gloria was waiting for us at the 15 mile mark, so I had to pedal up further to let her know. Fortunately, she returned before I reached her. We camped at the first campsite to the right of the entrance, a nice site with a fire pit, water, trees, and next to a fresh water creek. We made a nice fire and I barbequed 10 pounds of chicken. Later we roasted marshmallows and I burned my lips on the metal fork I was using as a pole. Not too smart. 14 miles.

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Monday, July 7, 2008, KOA Campground, Cedar City, Utah
Today I slept in till 8:30, which was nice. Since I was the first one up, I wandered over to the laundrymat and read an interesting article on memory in the National Geographic. Shortly thereafter, Gloria arrived with dirty laundry, and while we were waiting, a camp worker warned us about the hard climb ahead. When everyone was up, we decided to go back to that amazing gas station, Mavericks, and get some more snacks. I videoed the 40 different drink dispensers to show the folks back home. We stayed about 45 minutes eating various snacks before heading over to the library. I updated this blog while everyone else read. After the library, I dropped everyone off at the pool; then Becky and I rode the tandem to the bike shop to have the derailer and gears adjusted. We stopped at a hardware store and I bought some pipe insulation to put around Becky’s handlebars to absorb some of the shock. When we rode back to the camp, Mama had some hot stew ready. Later Becky and Adriana rode back to the library as the rest of us relaxed. When Becky and Adriana came back, we all drove up the mountain on hwy. 14 to see what was in store for us tomorrow. What a beautiful drive! At first it looked like the Sierras; then at Cedar Breaks Monument, we saw an immense red canyon. We arrived just at sunset, so we saw it in all its splendor. When we finally got back, it was already late, but we still needed to go to Walmart for supplies. We got some real bargains-liter sodas 67 cents and rotisserie chicken for $3.98. By the time we left, it was 11:45 pm. After eating the chicken back at the campsite it was 12:30 am – too late for an early start tomorrow.

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Sunday, July 6, 2008, KOA Campground, Cedar City, Utah
We got up early, but the clock showed an hour later than usual because we entered a new time zone, Mountain Time, when we crossed into Utah, so we left at 6:15 rather than 5:15. Unfortunately, the wind never entirely died down from the night before so we were dealing with it from the start. At 13 miles, we arrived in Minersville and stopped at a Convenience store for snacks. As we were leaving, we happened to see Mama drive by. We weren’t expecting her because she usually doesn’t leave until much later. We ran into the middle of the street waving our arms and hoping she would look in her rearview mirror and see us. After several long seconds, her brake lights come on and she pulls over. She didn’t see us in her rearview mirror, but she saw our bikes with flags leaning against the wall further down the street. Since she was there, we ate more snacks. After re-checking the map, I discovered my mileage calculations were wrong; we had over 50 miles to go to Cedar City. Oh well. Once on the road, we played an adapted version of an old game: “Name That Tune.” The first player sang the first word of a song. If no one got it, he sang the first and second word. If still no one got it, he sang the first, second, and third word. This kept up until the correct song was blurted out. The winner received a point and the “microphone” to sing the next song. Fun. I won. As the ride to the summit got steeper, we stopped playing and fell into our usual pattern of riding separately, as well as we could until reaching the summit. At the summit, we ate some more and rested briefly before descending, which is always fun and sometimes so relaxing that you can get sleepy. The descent was gradual, so we pedaled also. On the way, we saw an eagle perched on top of a telephone pole. The wind was slightly with us which was great because I was tired from yesterday, sleepy too. I was almost falling asleep while I was pedaling. Fortunately, after a while, big puffy grey clouds moved over us and shaded us from the hot sun. Close by cloud bursts erupted all around. Finally, our turn arrived and we were pleasantly rained upon which woke me up and cooled us off. When we arrived in the town of Enoch, we were wet and refreshed. We waited for the others to arrive: Becky, Willie, and Paul. Upon arrival we discovered Paul had fallen because he was not paying attention; fortunately neither he nor the bike was hurt. We went to a Maverick gas station and what a pleasant surprise. They had literally 40 different soda, coffee, icee, shake, and ice-cream dispensers. Everything you could think of. We’d never seen such a variety, and at reasonable prices, cheaper than California. For example, four ice-cream sandwiches for a dollar. I made a foot-high tower of frozen yogurt in a cup for only $1.90, which fed half the family. Later in the day, we ate Little Caesar’s pizzas in the park, where we changed and cleaned up, then went to the evening service at the First Baptist Church of Cedar City. We heard a good sermon by Jim, the interim pastor, on the “Tator Family” and sang some old hymns, something we hadn’t done for years and I miss it. Before sundown, we set up the tent at the KOA campground, took showers, ate, and did laundry. Everyone is tired and tomorrow we plan to take a day off. We rode 200 miles in three days. I am on a new map now. Our next ride should be very difficult. We are crossing the hardest mountain pass out of Cedar City over 10,000 feet. We need to rest up to gear up for it. 54 miles.

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Saturday, July 5, 2008, Lions Club RV Park, Milford, Utah
We got up early and were on the road by 5am. There was a slight headwind, but not too bad. We were no longer on Hwy. 50, America's Lonliest Highway, but Hwy. 487 is lonely too - no cars passed us for 16 miles. We took pictures at the Nevada-Utah border and the road changed to Hwy. 21. We had the time and safety to play our bike travel games: our spelling game “Word” and our singing game “Encore”. At the 45 mile mark, we came discovered the only building for miles, with two trees, in the midst of the desert. It was an old deserted farm house that someone had left years before. The door was locked, so we looked through the windows and saw old furniture and dishes from the 40s and 50s inside. There were two wood stoves and old style beds. Outside was an old ranch corral with farm remnants lying around. Strangely enough, the hose, which must have been from a well, was running, thus the two living trees in the midst of the dry barren countryside. The water was good too, so we drank and filled up our water bottles. This oasis was right in the middle of the 84 mile stretch without water or any services, the longest we will encounter in the cross-country trip. So, for those stuck in the middle of the desert on this stretch, check it out, it could be a life saver. Shortly after leaving the farm house, Mama arrived with the van and lots of ice-cold drinks and watermelon. I think I ate half the watermelon myself – with salt. I find that I drink almost constantly. I’m not sure how many gallons a day. After the pit stop, which drug on for almost an hour, a sudden cloud cover lured us on the road again. The thick clouds covered us almost the entire way up the last summit, and, even better, it began to rain on us. So cool! I was actually a little chilly going up the summit. Near the top, we stopped to check out a dead coyote and abandoned mine. We also saw the remains of an elk. After the short break, we pedaled over the last summit and coasted downhill but against the wind toward Milford, our destination for the day. For a small town of less than 2,000, it was nice and pretty clean. We set up the tent next to the park and ate meat, hot dogs, cottage cheese, and lots of drinks and snacks. We made it to Utah today! Tomorrow we plan to ride to Cedar City, about 40 miles away. I hope we make it in time for church. We also pedaled our most miles for a day. My odometer is on the blink, so I’ll have to reset it. Fortunately Becky’s works. 84 miles.

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Friday, July 4, 2008, Campground, Baker, Nevada
I got everyone up early so that we could get an early start. I left a note for Steve, the Ranger, to send me a camp survey at: General Delivery, Pueblo, Colorado, because I wanted to let everyone know how nice our experience was at Cave Lake. Our first seven miles to Hwy. 50 were downhill and pretty cool that early in the morning. At first as we headed east, the wind was against us for about 10 miles but later changed to a cross wind. We met a trio of cross-country cyclists heading to San Francisco from the east coast- Charlie, Jesse, and Annie. They were looking good and planned to stop in Ely for the night. Going over the second pass was hard. The wind was against us and twice I fell because while clipped in to my cleats, we slowed down so much I tipped and couldn’t get my feet unclipped in time. No injuries, but a lesson learned: Don’t clip in on extremely windy days. Gloria was delayed in the van because she thought she had a flat and had it checked out in Ely. Fortunately, the tires were only low in pressure and she didn’t have to fix anything. She arrived near Sacramento Pass at the 46 mile point where we ate and drank till our hearts’ content. Coasting downhill wasn’t as thrilling because of the headwind. However, earlier in the day down the first summit, Connor Pass, Adriana and I hit our all-time high speed: 49 mph.
Before entering Baker, we stopped at Great Basin National Park Visitor Center and watched two short videos about Lehman Caves and the Great Basin area, very relaxing. Not much action in Baker, a store, restaurant, post office, and a camp ground. Like always, I try not to pay money to sleep, so we checked out Pruess Lake about 15 miles away to see how camping there would be there. Mama didn’t like it, so we ended up staying back at Baker for $17. It had nice showers and a shady level tent site. Three black lab puppies came to visit us for about an hour until they became to pesky, so the camp worker took them to their owners next store. Later in the evening, we met Adrienne and John Alston from Colorado, who were on vacation, nice couple. Mama made a nice stew dinner before bed. John had a slight fever and went to bed early. Tomorrow should be our longest ride to date- 85 miles to Milford Utah. We’re planning to get up early. 62 miles.

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Thursday, 7-3-08, Cave Lake, Nevada
In the morning, I got up early to fish off the bank and caught three right away, so I woke up Vicky and John and we caught about 10 more. In the afternoon, the family drove to Cummins Lake, about seven miles away, to fish. It was real windy. No luck, not even a bite. It was a hot day, so after we got back, everyone slothed around until about 4:30 when we went on a hike to the peak of a mountain overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful hike with lots of shade, but Sarah pooped out on the way up so I had to carry her part way. At the top, it was a little dangerous, so we had to be careful when we took pictures. When we finally got down it was already around 7 pm, so we ate a quick spaghetti and fish dinner so that we could go see the “largest elk herd in Nevada” up at the mountain top. Unfortunately, they weren’t around that night.

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008, Cave Lake, Nevada
I woke up early and went fishing with the canoe; I only caught one. Steve Gray, the ranger, and Terry Evans talked to me about the bike trip and wanted to sponsor us. Terry gave me $30 “for gas”. What nice people! Later the kids went canoeing, and in the afternoon, we all went fishing and caught a lot – 22 trout. The fish fry at night was great.

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Tuesday, 7-1-08, Cave Lake Campground, 15 miles past Ely, Nevada
After packing everything up, Gloria and I went to the sporting goods store to buy another fishing pole and a few supplies and Willie's fishing license. We also stopped at the thrift store and bought a frying pan with a lid, two plastic boxes for fishing tackle, and a pair of sun glasses - $2.75. Good buy, I like thrift stores. Finally the main five cyclists- Becky, Willie, Paul, Adriana and I - mounted our bikes and away we went, out to find Cave Lake. On the way we stopped at a KOA RV campground and bought some night crawlers. The wind was against us the first 9 miles; then at the turnoff for Cave Lake, it was with us for the last 7 miles. Cave Lake was prettier than I expected - not real big, but the water was clear and not too cold. After the rangers gave us directions, we settled in our new campground. Nice well-kept facilities - clean bathrooms and showers. The tent sites had water and picnic tables with trees, all for only $14 a night. After staying awhile, we decided to extend our stay to two or three nights and enjoy the fishing, hiking, swimming, and relaxing. The park rangers were particularly friendly and helpful. Steve and Terry asked a lot about our trip and let us use the extra canoes to fish. Great time. By the end of the day, we had 19 rainbow trout. The kids had a blast rowing the canoes and reeling in the fish, and really enjoyed the evening fish fry. After showering, we went to bed under a peaceful, starlit sky. 16 miles.

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Monday, 6-30-08, Armory, Ely, Nevada
I didn't sleep too deeply all night because I wanted to wake myself up at 4:30 to get an early start on a long ride. At about 3:00 am, I noticed my sleeping bag was wet by my feet. I thought it had been raining and that water had leaked in, but discovered that a drinking bottle hadn't been closed properly and had tipped over and soaked the bottom of my bag, so I got up and went to the car and wrote in my journal. At 4:15, I woke up the others because light was in the sky and I wanted to start as early as possible. After packing some snacks and turning on the tail lights, we headed out around 5 am. We had four passes to cross. The first was steep with a ten-mile downhill coast - fun, 45 mph tops. There was a cross wind that developed as the morning progressed. Paul was going kind of slow, so I took his panniers. At about the middle of the second pass, Pancake Pass, I felt very tired and sleepy. We crept along very slowly. Finally, I stopped and made some powdered electrolyte drink. I think it worked. I managed to make it over the third pass. Close to the bottom, Gloria finally came from Eureka. She had finally packed up the camp site and met us about 48 miles after we started. We ate watermelon and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I also drank my usual vanilla Ensure and V-8 drinks. It was just past 10 am, but I needed a nap, so did Becky, so we stopped for about 2 hours and slept, at least Becky and I did. It was good that we did because it was getting hot anyway and riding was becoming oppressive. When we started riding again, I felt better, and knowing we only had one more summit to scale motivated us. Another plus was it was beginning to cloud up and would spit rain now and then to cool us off. The shade cloud made a big difference in the temperature, so for 10 miles we were cool. As we plodded up the summit, the wind increased against us. Going down the other side wasn't as much fun as usual because the headwind slowed us down a lot. As we approached Ely, we had to pedal pretty hard to keep our speed over 10 mph even though it was slightly downhill. We arrived in town at about 2:30 adn waited for the others to arrive: Becky, Willie, and Paul. While waiting, I inquired about the usual: campsites, fishing, and restaurants. After the other cyclists arrived, we went to the police station and asked about tenting sites. They directed us to the town armory, which was next to a baseball field and park with trees, picnic tables and soft green grass. After pitching the tent, we went to the store to buy food. It took a long time to and I was already getting tired by the time we got there. It seems like everything goes in slow motion after a hard ride because we are mentally and physically tired and don't have much energy to do much besides shuffle along in a daze. We may stand 10 minutes trying to decide whether to buy caramel chew or marshmellow filled cookies.
When we made it back to the camp, John and Sarah were excited about cooking again and made us some stir fry style pork strips with garlic, salt, and pepper. We also ate watermelon, yogurt, chips, and cottage cheese. Gloria and I were tired so we went to bed about 9:30, but Becky and Adriana wrote in their journals while the other kids went to the playground. All of the sudden, I woke up to a loud BAM. Gloria was saying something about kids throwing a rock at the tent. How did she know? (I found out later she was a light sleeper and jumped up as soon as she heard the noise and saw them running away). She wanted me to go outside and chase them, but I was still half asleep and thinking they wouldn't be there. But she went out anyway. I heard her talking to Becky about it and decided to get up. Right then the sheriff's car pulls up. It turns out that Becky and Adriana both had seen the likely suspects - teenagers walking by witb nothing better to do. After about 2 hours of talking about it, we went to sleep knowing we would be camping somewhere else tomorrow. 78 miles.

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Sunday, 6-29-08, Eureka Park, Nevada
I woke up before the others and wrote in the journal. I had fallen so far behind. I hope to be more diligent from now on. It's so quiet here. No wind and the terrain is a perfect setting for a western movie. Today we should arrive in Eureka by around noon. I guess I'll wake everyone up now. It's about 7:30.
LATER... We finally left around 9:00 am. The ride was pretty level the whole way until around 5 miles before Eureka. We saw a buck running parallel to us along the road. The wind turned against us (or maybe we turned against it) the last 5 miles uphill to Eureka. Like Austin, it wa all uphill right when you're hot and tired. A funny sounding noise is coming from the rear crank of the tandem. It doesn't seem to affect the performance but it bugs me. With every turn of the crank, there's a click. Otherwise it runs great.
We arrived around 2:30 and bought (and refilled twice) a large Pepsi from a mini mart. At first we were going to camp at an RV campground, but I asked the Sheriff's office and he said we could camp in the park - a perfect setting, lush green grass, clean restrooms, shade, and picnic tables. we dropped the kids at the public pool - only $4.00 per family - and we bought food and ice and set up camp. By the time we made it back to the pool, they were closing early for tomorrow's swim meet. At least they let us shower and the kids had a couple of hours to swim.
When we got back to the camp, Sarah, John, and I made dinner - pork, hard-boiled eggs, and Top Ramen. Sarah and John stirred the food and did most of the cooking. They were excited and proud about that. By the time we finished all our evening activities, it was getting dark. Tomorrow should be a long day, our longest anticipated ride, to Ely, 75-80 miles. We have to get up early, before the crack of dawn. 48 miles.

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Saturday, 6-28-08, Hickison Summit, Nevada
Originally, we were planning to rest today, but we decided to pedal 25 miles to Hickison Summit, to a campground at a Petroglyph site on the way to Eureka. That morning, Gloria and I did the laundry. I decided to walk through the town on the way. Austin is a sleepy town of about 200 residents; a lot of businesses were closed or out of business. I went from shop to shop inquiring about the condition of the Hickison Campground, and the general concensus was there was no water but there were toilets. The Austin laundrymat is a great place to sit and do nothing but ponder life and watch a car go by every few minutes, so I took time to reflect and take personal inventory. Finally the clothes were dry and we managed to restock the van with supplies. It was too hot to ride, over 100 degrees, so after eating tuna sandwiches and the rest of the pickles, we sat down in the shade at the park by the pool and had our Bible time. Later I worked on my bike and made the necessary adjustment. Becky went running (believe it or not) with John (who didn't tell anybody so Mama was in a near panic looking for him). My bike ran smoothly, such a relief. I was worried it would give me trouble over the long mountain range. It had cooled down but the climb out of Austin was steep. We made it though. So far we haven't had to walk the bike anywhere on the trip. Of course, the downhill ride is thrilling - something to look forward to after the hard climbs. The wind was slightly against us though, so we didn't set a new downhill record, only 43 mph. Maybe tomorrow. It was pretty pedaling through the vast open country - green hills. desert vegetation, quiet with only an occasional car passing every every 5-10 minutes. Yes, it probably is America's lonliest highway. It made the riding pleasant, low stress. we played our word game we used to play on our long runs when we lived in Nevada. I won. When we arrived at Hickison Campground, Mama already had the tent set up. It was about 8 pm, not much daylight left, so we walked around and saw the petroglyphs. Beautiful area with nice views, so we took lots of pictures and video. Later we cooked up the spagetti. Ummm good! 25 miles.

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Friday, 6-27-08, First Baptist Campground, Austin, Nevada
Today was our rest day so we went fishing at Big Creek about 13 miles away. On the way we caught Mormon crickets for bait on the dusty, unpaved road. Becky got some driver training. We ended up driving about 17 miles and crossed shallow streams five times before we could go no further because the snow blocked the road. It wasn't bad; we were able to cut away blocks of packed snow for the cooler. The fishing was pretty good and we caught 14 altogether, which were thoroughly enjoyed later. When we got back to Austin, we went swimming in the public pool, which stayed open until 10 pm. Then we showered, ate the fish, and hit the sack.

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Thursday, 6-26-08, First Baptist Campground, Austin, NV

We woke up pretty early, had breakfast, cereal, and our family Bible reading then left with Jacob toward Austin. It would be our hardest mountain climb day. On the way, we stopped at Nevada's famous Shoe Tree. I finally managed to hang a pair way up there on a high branch after several misses. The climb to Carrol Summit wasn't too bad at first; towards the end it got hard, but we made it all the way to the top without walking. Jacob cycled with us to the top where we took a picture of us - me, Becky, Chimi. The ride downhill was fast and fun. Towards the end of the day, everyone was hot and tired. My chain fell off several times. Something was out of adjustment. The gears were slipping and the chain was loose too. The last 10 miles I rode with Willie and Adriana rode his bike. It was a very steep climb for being as tired as we were so we rode in first gear the last mile into Austin and got there around 7 pm. We were directed to a campground up the hill at the First Baptist Church. The lady in charge, Donna Wright, was very nice and let us stay our first night for free. There was a shower too. I helped her pack boxes with food for needy local families. It's part of the church ministry. When I left, she gave me a box of food - tuna, spagetti, beef stew, and other treats. Nice lady. She also gave us two hymnals. We cooked up all four cans of stew along with boiled potatoes. It was delicious. 66 miles.