Utah---"This rock has been waiting for me my entire life."

We were up before the sun, and so was Lucy, bless her heart. She fixed us some scrambled eggs, and along with some toast and yogurt, we were fueled for the morning. Thanks for the great hospitality, Lucy...hope to see you in the Pacific NW one of these days, where we can return the hospitality and take you on some great rides.






We headed east on Highway 9 towards Zion, climbing as the sun rose over the hills. This is gorgeous country...and we all thought Rockville was a charming little town. Patty had left the truck in Springdale and ridden to meet us, so when all three of us got back to the truck, we loaded everything and drove into Zion through the west entrance. All of us kept looking around, saying! "Wow...". There is a tunnel that is one mile long that cyclists have to shuttle through, so we drove to a parking area
on the east side of the tunnel and Karen and Patty unloaded to ride. I bumped the truck up to the east entrance and rode back to meet them. I don't think we could've taken enough pictures. I will be back.





















At the truck, I kept riding east...past the Moqui caves. Karen and Patty bought me a "Moqui marble" for my rock of the day. The marbles are concretions of iron. They consist of an outer shell of hematite with a center of sandstone. Very cool.






At the junction of Highway 9 and Highway 89, I turned south. A huge climb was ahead of me along with strong headwinds. I guess you can't have it your way all the time, eh? The gusts of wind were so strong at times that I wondered if it was sandblasting my frame.
Fortunately, I got to head east at Kanab, and then that awful headwind became a sort of cross/tailwind. Patty rode with me and we had some great stretches of downhill called the Grand Staircase Escalante. We saw a bike touring company with a group of maybe 20 cyclists headed in the opposite direction. They might want to take a look at their marketing plan if they are sending folks out uphill in a headwind. I felt sorry for them.
I finished up the day with 101.3 miles and 4596' of elevation gain. My average was 12.73.
We drove to Lake Powell RV Park where the fellow in the office told us it was the "windy" season. No kidding. The weather board said 26 mph, and I'm sure the gusts were over 30. Setting up the tents was difficult, and we finally tethered them to the picnic table and rounded up some heavy rocks to weigh them down. Karen's went sailing at one point, and her poor rainfly is now torn in several places.
We fixed a dinner of chicken wraps, guacamole and chips, and a cold beer and ate in the truck. Using the picnic table would've been a disaster.
Tomorrow will be day 5 of this adventure, and it was the first 5 days I was most concerned about. I feel like I am about to turn a corner.
maybe you can't...because you won't...