With the intent of one rest day in Moab, we ended up taking two so that our exhausted bodies could rest. However, they didn’t do much resting because there was so much to see in and around Moab! Before we enjoyed fireworks on the 4th, Mark rented a mountain bike and cruised through a nearby route called The Whole Enchilada. The next day, I biked up to Arches National Park and explored the first few miles.
Then after a weekend where we spent more on accommodation than anywhere else (worth it), we started to head west again, but this time with a northern tilt. We’d had more enough southern heat for the summer! Our first day out of Moab we headed to a campsite in Green River. It was a fairly straightforward path, and we were excited when google maps showed us what appeared to be a hypotenuse-style shortcut. This, however, was another lesson against blindly trusting google. LITERALLY THE WORST. SHORTCUT. EVER. The route we ended up taking was at times more mud than road, with intermittent rivers cutting across it. Also rough enough at points that an almost full jar of peanut butter managed to bounce its way out of my panniers without me noticing. RIP peanut butter :’( I received my first flat tire of the trip, and we had to stop multiple times to scrape off the mud that had built up in our fenders (if we didn’t do this we could hardly move forward). We were relieved when we made it to paved roads again, having added 2 hours to our arrival time with this “shortcut”.
The next day we had a less eventful ride to Price, but there was some rain when we arrived in town. Considering our options for the night and hoping to avoid the rain, I called the RA on duty at the nearby college to enquire about dorm rooms that had been emptied for the summer. She directed me to campus security, who informed us that we could camp in the town fairgrounds where there was some cover. Mark found an inexpensive motel in town and voted for that, but after spending so many dollars in Moab I vetoed it and sold him on the fairgrounds. We headed there after our two dinners (we ate at one restaurant, then walked across the street to another). When we arrived at the fairgrounds, we found a big covered stage that we set up our tent on. There were also outlets and bathrooms! I was convinced we had made the right choice. Then we went to bed, and a bunch of Utahian teenagers with nothing better to do on a Tuesday night showed up and starting playing basketball, blasting music, revving their engines and possibly even shooting guns (?!). I admitted to being wrong and apologized to Mark for vetoing the motel.
From Price, we headed to Provo, where we had warmshowers hosts Raquel and Oliver waiting for us. We were tailed by a thunderstorm most of the day, and even had to climb up into some sort of drainage tunnel to escape a downpour at one point. A while later we took refuge again behind an abandoned house and watched a few episodes of Bob’s Burgers on Mark’s phone. Also on this day, I dropped my phone (surprise, surprise) and somehow the impact caused it to become a sentient being. It would have moments of clarity, but usually I had absolutely no control over what it did. I sat and watched helplessly as it sent nonsensical messages to people, downloaded random apps, and posted dozens of cat pictures on a random facebook status (these are all true stories). Also on this day, my tire did a strange thing. The sidewall had developed a slight bulge over the past week that suddenly started feeling much worse. I stopped riding to inspect, and found a massive bulge that I was watching grow larger by the second. After a couple minutes it popped, leaving a hole in the sidewall. However, the tube had not lost any air and the rest of the tire was still intact. We are still accepting theories on where the air in the bulge came from.
We finally arrived in Provo, and were amazed by the fairytale home that we were visiting! The first thing that caught our eye was the massive garden stretching all around the house, followed by the 4 story treehouse and the hammock heaven on the back patio. Oliver and Raquel had 4 friends visiting that night, but they didn’t mind letting us join the party as well! We were all set to have a bonfire when yet ANOTHER thunderstorm rolled through and soaked the backyard. Instead, we cooked hot dogs indoors and talked about Raquel’s bike touring through Denmark. In the morning, we had a fun family breakfast of omelettes filled with goodies from the garden. We set off after warm goodbyes and headed towards Salt Lake City!
