In Which We Reach Utah

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Today I thought about how mid-19th Century migrants to and through this region must have seemed to the people already living here.

I’ll share my thoughts another time. Tonight, Jeffrey is too tired to take nuanced dictation.

He pedaled us 111 miles (179 km) today. It was his longest cycling run, ever. He is, as the English say, knackered.

The towns we traversed early this Sunday morning—Soda Springs, Georgetown, Bennington and Montpelier (settled by Vermonters?), looked as empty of people as this field.
Deer warnings with flashing lights appeared every few miles.
At a roadside historical marker, Jeffrey walked a little of the Oregon Trail.
Each ”summit” was followed by a long descent. Pavement quality allowed us to take full advantage and use the brakes sparingly.
This house was someone’s pride and joy.
“Place of the heist”
Another ”summit” near the Wyoming line.
YEE-HAH! Goodbye Idaho. Wyoming is our 42nd of the Lower 48 states.
We had thought to stay the night in Cokeville. But we traveled the 62 miles from Soda Springs before noon. It seemed a shame to spend so much daylight in so small a place. So we set our sights on the next town with a motel: Garden City, Utah, 50 miles away.
Chad, who moved with his wife from Utah, lives nearby. Jeffrey asked him about the roads to Garden City. Chad said to take the longer state highway route because the shorter county road is unpaved. Jeffrey explained what brought us to Wyoming from NYC, and told Chad that Human Rights First provides free lawyers for asylum applicants who are as overwhelmed by our legal system as we would be in their countries’ courts. Chad gets it. He took one of our cards and wished us a safe journey.
Today we saw several trains too far away to photograph. These tracks stood still for us.
Utah! This Ride’s destination. And the 43rd state we’ve visited on the Rides.
Utah’s signature red rocks erode into red soil.
We climbed for miles to reach a 7150’ summit. We wish we could show you the subsequent 4-mile 7% plunge through a spectacular canyon. There was no time for photos. It was all Jeffrey could do to stay on the winding road.

We came to Bear Lake, and then to Garden City.

Bear Lake’s blue hue has been compared to the Mediterranean. We didn’t see it at its bluest because a thunderstorm was forming. The storm hit just after we found shelter at the Bear Lake Motor Lodge. The owner offered us a 10% discount. She and Jeffrey got to talking about the Ride, and about her Chicago roots. She increased the discount to 25%. They talked some more, and she raised the discount to 50%, all on her own.
Jeffrey had to rest before he had the energy to eat some halvah. He had to wait until the halvah took hold before he had strength to go next door to see Austin about dinner. He and Austin discussed physical culture (Austin is more into tumbling and handstands than cycling) and human rights. Austin took a card and will check out our site to see what the Rides are about.

Time for the chauffeur to rest. Tomorrow will be another long day.

1 thought on “In Which We Reach Utah”

  1. I’ll be interested to know what the highest elevation you reached was (I’m sure you’ve already passed it). I can only imagine how exhausted you were after today’s long journey! I’m sure you are looking forward to seeing the end of this journey. Kol hakavod!

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