Time in Saddle: 3:42
Distance for the Day: 29.6 miles: From Page To South of Page
Accumulated Trip Distance: 1321.3 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 4041’/6010’, Highest: 6040’, Accumulated: 2999’
Speeds: Avg: 7.9 mph, Max: 37.2 mph
Weather: Coldish, clear, warming to almost warm
Expenditures: $17
Got up at 7:45 to the cooing of mourning doves and the roar of the gas station store’s exhaust fan. Had a very interesting dream this morning: I signed up for a computer course with this group, but found out they were con artists, so I hung around them to warn off prospective customers; this turned into a disaster film kind of dream, where I was climbing up buildings and watching other buildings falling over, and *then* I decided to climb up into an English castle (right near downtown) and met the old lady caretaker, who gave me “gifts” of crystal devices that when activated would materialize useful things, like a car, and other things (I was pretty amazed at this technology). She also gave me a handful of “pepper snaps” that looked kind of like miniature eucalyptus seed pods. These would explode when thrown. She went to bed, and I continued to sneak up some stairs to find the children’s bedroom, where a little boy sat up and said his crazy brother was up the next set of stairs. That’s when the mourning doves woke me up. Probably a good thing!
We loaded our bikes, and I suggested hitting the Denny’s in Page for breakfast. We left the gas station site, and continued on, crossed the Lake Powell Dam, pausing to take some pictures. Then up and into Page, and Denny’s with free wi-fi ($17). During breakfast, Cati wondered if I wanted to go with them to see Monument Valley, which I would have loved, but it was a little too far off my route. Rats! We finished breakfast, and then went up into the downtown section of Page to look for the tourist center for maps. It being Sunday, they were closed. At this point, our paths fully and finally diverged. We hugged, took a few
final pictures in front of the local bike shop, and said our final farewells. I’ll sure miss ‘em – they were good company and good friends along the lonely road, but we’ll keep in touch, and see each other again someday in the future – of that, I’m certain. For the record: While hanging out with C&E, I was forced to go a lot faster up hills and in general than I naturally might. This trained me well for the 18 days we were together, and I am a much stronger cyclist because of that. The muscles in my thighs are noticeably more bulgy. On my own, again, I don’t push myself as hard, and so don’t go as fast. It’s easier going, though!I went back to Denny’s to completely bring the blog up to date, try to find out what happened to the sunglasses I ordered online (failed), and to “sort of” bring the Google Maps route up to date. It got pretty late in the day (4:40pm), before I could tear myself away from that wi-fi, and I headed south on Hwy 89 towards Flagstaff, AZ. I got a fair distance, all a slow and gradual uphill grade, before I found a suitable stealth camp off and away from the highway on a rough dirt road that led to what *looked* like a house, but there was no activity around it, or parked cars, so I figured it was cool, and it was. Still not hungry because of my stay at Denny’s, I just put out my gear, and bedded down for the night, not long after sunset. It was pretty cold.
Note to future road builders: Please leave enough room on the sides for trikes, at least 2.5-3.0 feet wide of clear, vibration-strip-free pavement. Also, please forget about those expansion joints; they apparently don’t work, and they make driving cars and cycles an exercise in Chinese Water Torture technique. Oh, and my severance package, last paycheck, and backpay for unused vacation and medical leave came all together in one big check back home. I’m having Auntie M mail it forward to Julie in NJ, where I’ll deposit it, then.
No comments:
Post a Comment