April 15th, 2016
Spent the night in tall sage and tetradymia near Circleville, Utah. Pitched the tent to get out of the wind but it was a lucky thing as it began raining pretty hard at about midnight and was lightly snowing by morning.
But yesterday’s head wind had turned into an incredible tail wind and the few miles into Circleville went fast. Got food at a small grocery store then took advantage of the tail wind to get me 30 miles to Panguitch in about an hour-and-a-half. It was snowing lightly the whole way but the flakes just floated ethereally along side and the miles were easy. I got breakfast in Panguitch during which time the snow flurries became a blizzard and began sticking to the highway. So, I retreated to the town library and descended into the dark hole of figuring out computer mysteries; more specifically iPads, which are new to me and wholly different from the prosaic, but seemingly more understandable world of Windows. These computers are certainly a jigsaw puzzle, but one without border pieces- just indefinite expansion.
Spent the afternoon in the library all the way to closing. The blizzard was still howling at 5 pm and I had to make a choice whether to ride or get a motel and I decided to ride. Fifteen miles of extreme tail wind got me to Hatch, but over wet highway, spraying semis and at times heavy snow. Camped in a thicket of cedars 5 miles beyond there as the storm was abating. I found a patch of rocky ground in the lee of the wind and on a skiff of fresh snow. Once in the cocoon I was warm and a clammy sort of dry.
The next morning it was still cloudy, same tail wind but no precip. The irony was that the best way to get out of the wind was to ride. After a cup of coffee I went 25 or so downhill, downwind miles to Mt Carmel and another 17 to Kanab.
I met Sylvia, my renter for the house in Logan, and her mother here. They are traveling across the country east to west and fate had it that our paths crossed in this small southern Utah town. We had a quick dinner and cut short a conversation that could of gone for days so they could find a place to camp while it was still light.
Today I start a two day trip to Page, AZ. Hope the wind gods are kind.
Lets see if this works. Steve, your comments about technology and so true, and are the best stated I’ve ever run into. Hope all is well. Not sure if this will go through. You legs must be like rocks. Have a good day!
Steve,
Your writing is so God damn beautiful. My heart and I are with you. I am hanging by a thread waiting for the next posts.
JA
Steve
I sent this before, but not sure you got it. I’m working on getting GOOGLE EARTH up. Not yet. I will look at maps and give you Central America comments. That is still a ways off.
Several comments now.
1. Rainy Season is something like June- September in Central America. It can rain hard.
2. On security your bike will be quite attractive. There are usually cheap hotels in most towns. I had a cheap padlock that I would use on the door to my room. It was easily broken, but I think a discouragement. It worked. You could put your bike in the room and go wander around town. One experience I had hiking the Inca trail in Bolivia. I was with someone who had a tent which we used. I thought I would leave my boots outside the tent. I didn’t. That night some robbers came by and took anything outside the tent. I was good but others on the trail lost more. I became cautious about potential losses. Glad I didn’t lose my boots.
I am taking a break from puzzling over the anatomy of cliffrose leaves to read your travelogue. I love the comparison of an ipad to a jigsaw puzzle without border pieces. I wonder how long it will be until you are wishing for snow.
How lucky to run into more friends! I felt so suspenseful while you were talking about the blizzard! I’m only half surprised that you chose to continue to ride!
Hi Steve, I really enjoy your descriptions. It shows well how flexible, adaptable you need to be. Take good care, Rose W