Phase I, Day 8. Baker, NV - Delta, UT

105 miles. First couple of hours..Awesome. Last 3 hours..Not as awesome.



Baker doesn't have much, especially at 5am on a Sunday, so I reluctantly left my sweet overnight accommodation in search of food. That's my room behind the dog kennel. The one with the brake lights and spare tire.



Headed out in the dark. A very nice, but brisk 36F, 10 mile ride down the road to the Border Inn. Saw another great sunrise on the way.



For the past few days at my overnight stops I've been hearing about a large group of riders ahead of me and I finally caught up to them at the Border Inn where they spent the night. A very cool story. A group of disabled war veterans are riding from San Francisco to Virginia Beach. Some are blind riding on tandem bikes along with an able bodied person. Others are paraplegic riding hand-crank cycles. It's all heavily sponsored and supported by a full staff with vans and busses and other vehicles. A really inspirational group of folks. I enjoyed visiting with them.

I crossed into Utah right after breakfast and set my watch to Mountain Time. That made me stop to realize how far the bike has taken me.

The first 30 miles was the same wonderful up and down passing high mesas and through deep canyons. Then the road made it's first substantial change in direction, all week, toward the northeast. It entered a very wide and flat valley with mostly-dry Sevier Lake in the middle. Ahead was about 40-50 miles of dead straight road. The transition was a letdown. It went from many days of constantly changing and spectacular scenery to suddenly pretty mundane and uninspiring. I hammered out the last few hours to arrive in Delta, UT. Stopped at the first gas station for 95 miles to grab a cold soda and it was closed? Oh. I forgot. It's Sunday in Utah.

Shoe tree near Hinckley, UT:



Now in Delta working on my laundry, again, and investigating food. Not easy in small town Utah on a Sunday it turns out.

Not so long ago I thought riding the bike 100 miles in a day required careful planning and a few sandwiches. Today I realize it doesn't. After another big breakfast I started to ride getting carried away with scenery and thought and soon enough had covered 100 miles without a stop to eat or otherwise. OK, I did stop to pee twice and to take the Shoe Tree picture another time bit I think that's it. Like most challenges in life I now see this 100 mile thing is mind over matter.

Tomorrow is the last day of "Phase 1" of my Pony Express Ride. 122 miles to Salt Lake City. I will take my time and enjoy the day to think about the wonderful things I have seen, people I have met, and things I've learned about Ben.

I'm looking forward to getting home to the family and, when the time is right, I will look forward to getting back on the bike to continue this wonderful adventure.

By the way, thanks for all the great comments to this blog.