Life Elevated – Days 7 & 8

We were waiting at 6:30 for the continental breakfast served by the Riverside Inn.  We had picked up a couple of Moab caches for Grand County the previous afternoon before checking in the motel so that left just four counties to complete the 29.  We headed north on 191 to Interstate 70 over to Green River before exiting again north on 191.  For a while we were in more open country prairie type country.  We got caches in Emory and Carbon Counties before turning east in Duchesne County.  Now we were passing through some beautiful canyon riding which was downright exhilarating.   We got our caches in Duchesne County and headed into Uintah County and Vernal for the final.  I got a kick out of the name of the first Uintah County called “Not my dumb asphalt”.

We gassed up in Vernal, had a picnic lunch at a shady area next to the convenience story, celebrated our finish and parted ways.  Yancey headed east toward Denver and I headed north toward the Flaming Gorge.  I had a great ride up through the Flaming Gorge and into Wyoming.  I got a couple more caches in Daggett County, Utah, even though I had some on a previous trip and I picked up a three in Wyoming as well.  Even when you don’t need the caches it’s good to stop and move around because it helps keep you from getting tired on the bike.

I had considered staying the night in Evanston, WY, which is about half way to Clint’s but Yancey had reported bad winds there when he came out and I was afraid I might get some of that the next morning if I stayed.  Since it wasn’t too bad when I was there in mid-afternoon I just gassed up and headed west which put me back in Utah.  I took Interstate 80 down to Interstate 84 and back the way I had come from there.  After getting on I84 the sun was right in my eyes.  It got so bad in places I had to ride with one hand using the other the shield my eyes.  It was getting late in the day and the sun was low.  I stopped in Snowville for gas which is about the only place to stop in that stretch.

After I hit the western stretch of I84 going toward Gooding the sun had set and that wasn’t a problem.  However, this stretch turned out to be the most miserable of my whole journey.  The air would be nice and warm and then suddenly the temperature would drop like what seemed to be 30 degrees.  It was like riding into a deep freeze.  Then after a while it would warm up and the process would be repeated.  I believe this was because of sprinklers that were going in places.  Then I hit a cloud of bugs that got so bad I had to pull off the Interstate and into a service station to clean my visor.  And I wasn’t the only one.  Cars were pulling in as well with the same problem.  By this time it had gotten so dark that I simply could not see with my dark visor so I had to put on my glasses and ride with the visor up.  Fortunately by now the bugs were gone or I couldn’t have made it.  Eventually I made it to Clint’s around 8:30 or 9:00 having traveled 666 miles and having logged a dozen caches plus one DNF.  Now that was a full day.

The next morning Clint had a good breakfast made and I mode a more leisurely start toward home.  Luckily the Interstate part of the trip was without a headwind and went reasonably well except for some construction slow downs.  I used this slow down to count on-coming semis and learned that white ones out number all others by about 10 to 1. 

This time I took Highway 95 north instead of Highway 55 through McCall.  I knew there were forest fires and thought 95 would be the better route.  It was hot and I stopped for gas and a Subway lunch at Payette.  I only stopped for a couple of caches along the way for breaks.  I stopped in Grangeville for gas and refreshment and visited with another motorcyclist and his wife who were returning home to Canada from a long road trip.  I arrived at the town house in Clarkston around 4:00 having traveled 399 miles for the day and my GPS odometer for the trip registered 3,048 miles. 

It was a fantastic trip and one I’ll never forget.  I still have Montana to finish and if Yancey doesn’t do that with me we’ll probably do some Colorado next or maybe Arizona.  The End (finally)  M/W