Nearly 340 more miles southerly! We took in the food and sights of the great Salt Lake City, ventured out into the nothingness of Utah, and got caught in a snowstorm – freezing our cyclist butts off. All along the way the vastness of this country and the goodness of its people continue to awe and inspire. Also, Augustine continues to impress – she posted her biggest mileage day at 48 miles just the other day.
Best wishes and Happy Travels from the Latvian Alaskan Family!
Sept. 28th – 29th Pocatello to McCammon RV Park
23 miles. The day off in Pocatello consisted of sleeping in, watching movies, doing school work and taking a ride over to the Outer Edge play place for a round of psychedelic blacklight mini-golf with murals painted by a Canadian over three days. Just nearby our motel there was a local fast food joint called Tastee Treets where, for 6 bucks, you can get chicken nuggets, a cheese burger, a milkshake, fries, and a drink – Ance nearly lost her marbles.
The Thunderbird Motel was interesting. It was clean and nice in the room behind the battered door. The people also showed their smiles and goodwill, but many seemed on the outskirts of broken and struggling. One man, just next door, had obviously taken something that cast him into a drugged wasteland of confusion.
Took off from Pocatello around 11 AM heading south. Strange combo of industry, houses, and a high school seemingly in the middle of nowhere – situated between a Peterbilt and Cat industrial complex. Google brought us through some rolling hill back roads. Augustine had her first big crash today. Luckily, it was during a back road piece. She hit a divot created by broken asphalt and went down sideways and scraped her knees and hands. After a few mins of terrified crying, having to replace a tube on Ophelia’s trailer (unrelated), we got back on the bike for a short turn into Inkom Village market for a lunch break. Ended the day with some steep and long rollie-pollies into McCammon to a campground behind the local Chevron gas station, right next to the freeway – ah, America. Did a few hours of school work with the girls.
The wind had been helpful all day, coming down from the North. While idle, however, it blusters like a cold spited roaring lover. Finished off the night with hot soup, popcorn, and a movie.
Sept. 30th – McCammon to Devils Creek Reservoir Campground
28 miles. Got to take another shower before departing this morning – squeaky clean cycling. Followed our google route through Marsh Valley. About mid-day, while rambling toward the mountains to the west, the road ahead was chock full of 30 or so cattle being herded along by 3 horsed cowboys. Not going to lie, this Alaskan village boy, not knowing jack about herding cattle, was a little worried about what in the hell I was supposed to do in the face of a slow moving stampede. We pulled off to the side. The bovine stopped in front of us and huddled on the opposite side of the road – staring at us with their oversized dark marbles, riding our mechanical horses. After a bit of prodding by one of the cowboys, they began trotting along past us. “They’re not used to seeing something like this,” one cowboy said gesturing at us. While mounted, ten gallon hat and leather gloves, he chatted us a bit. After telling him our goal was Florida, he looked over at Augustine, “and you’re going with them?…Golly.” Honest to god, I felt like I just met Josey Wales, without the gunfights and civil war baggage.
Just another piece down the road, we passed a mother and calf wandering by themselves. Another, older cowboy, nodded his hat at us while we approached them. He trotted off somewhere else on his horse. I wanted to ask “so, we just ride on past them?” But, not wanting to further encourage the look of stupidity on my face, I nodded back and we slowly rode past the pair. The mother crouched at us in a skittish way in front of her calf, I nearly filled my underpants and continued peddling at a forced leisurely pace. If you find this humorous, you’re probably a rancher.
During the latter part of the day we began hoofing up an unanticipated steep climb, what I know know is called Malad Pass. 5 miles in total, 3 miles nice and slow up and 2 miles of some steepy business. Quick and easy 3 mile sail down into Devil’s Creek Reservoir. The mountain’s trees are in cold Autumn flame with oranges and red speckling the valley walls.
Oct. 1st – Devil’s Creek Reservoir, ID to Plymouth, UT
33 miles. Honey golden light at sunrise over the reservoir around 7:40 AM. While making coffee and writing down some notes from yesterday, Neil, our RV camping neighbor sauntered over with a smile. “We would like to invite you and your family over for breakfast. We’re having pancakes and hash browns.” How can we possibly say no?
We ended up have a great breakfast and conversation with Neil, his wife Cathey, and Cathey’s parents Dora and Devon. Terrific people with hearts as warm and sweet as that rising sun. After breakfast, Neil and Cathey came back over to our site with more gifts as we were packing up – chips, fruit snacks, and BBQ pulled pork. We finished cramming our bags full and hit the road. First 10 miles into Malad quick drops. Just before town, on both sides of the road for approximately a mile, a fence with each post capped with a cowboy boot. Boots of every make and walk rakishly placed atop hundreds of posts – I’ve no idea how this tradition started, but I want to know.
Stopped into a local Malad market for some supplies. While Ance and the girls where wandering the store isles, a shy young boy approached me, “My grandpa wants to know where you are from and where you are going?” After sharing that we are from Alaska and are heading to Florida, he ran, full speed, back to the silver mini-van parked some 30 feet away. I could see the boy communicating this to his grandfather in the driver seat and felt it necessary, if awkward, too saunter up and have a chat with the horse’s mouth.
Willard had a weathered tone and a smile as big as an ancient mountain. “Nobody much likes Wyoming, but I like it. Moved here to Idaho some 6 months past…Wife,” he sighed. It was amazing to me, that this man, having apparently only lived in the area for 6 months, could tell me about all the surrounding towns in a 40 mile radius. After telling him that we were heading to Plymouth, Utah, he looked forward through his windshield and made a sound through his teeth, “I guess they have a gas station there, not much else, if I recall correct.”
Back on the road again. Halfway through the day pulled off the side of the road into a little grassy ditch just before entering Utah. After lunch, pushed on for another 12 miles into Plymouth. There is a bit of a dearth of camping spots within a 40 mile reach of this area, so we were aiming to show up at the local fire station to see if we could get ahold of someone to see if it would be okay to camp for the night.
Posted at the City Hall/Fire Station was the cell phone number for the Plymouth Mayor – Curtis Murry. After working through some initial confusion, Mayor Murry generously encouraged us to camp under the bowery next to the rodeo grounds. The kids enjoyed the nearby playground while Ance made up some delicious pulled pork pasta from Neil and Cathey’s present in the morning.
Oct. 2nd – Plymouth to Brigham/Perry KOA
35 miles. Set off from the bowery around 10 AM. Began the day with some flattish stretches and then this insane up and down divot of vertigo. Pushed on through a little past Tremonton, after 2 hours pulled off in front of a seemingly abandoned cattle maze / field. “you run out of gas?” a faceless white pickup truck shouted while rolling by.
The combination of moving south and, I think, the weather just being on a warming trend, has made afternoon lunches in the sun a sweat fest. Once moving, the light breeze is pleasant and cooling. Kept at it until Brigham City, where the children caught wind of a potential pool opportunity and pleaded with the universe to go get wet. At first, I was being a hard ass and said no, like a good old fashion father. Then after a few mins of cycling in silence with my own thoughts, “I look at things and ask why not,” I relented and we plowed into town.
Didn’t matter too much, the pool was closed but we did stop for a bit. The kids did the playground shuffle. Then we continued onto Walmart for a re-supply stop. We’re in a heavily populated area now, so there is a steady flow of people, like a tributary of water, coming from every direction in their rumbling metal beads with wheels.
Last 3 miles to the Brigham/Perry KOA. Playground, showers, and a potato/roasted chicken soup for dinner. Laundry done as well. Stayed up a bit later than usual, since we bought firewood and had a campfire – first one of the trip. Marshmallows and then bed time.
Oct. 3rd. – Brigham to Syracuse
29 miles. Another mostly flat day with some rollie-pollies throughout. After getting off a surprisingly busy and nerve wrackingly narrow road, busted out onto biking trails for most of the latter half of the day. Stopped off the trail for some lunch bologna sandwiches. A couple stopped to ask us 20 questions about our trip and why we were traveling this way (gesturing at our bicycles). Ance obliged, with her big smile and uplifting chatter.
Showed up at Kimber’s house – our second warm showers host. She greeted us with a warm smile and kindness – plus hand sanitizer. The kids nearly lost their mind when they found that Kimber ran a pre-school out of her house with all the fixings. A little playground and a whole basement floor full of books and toys.
We were then treated to a dinner with Kimber and her family – pot roast, green beans, potatoes, gravy, and dinner rolls. I am pretty certain that I ate around 6 freshly baked dinner rolls (but who’s counting). After dinner, chatted with Kimber while Ron cycled through live concerts of the Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, and Neil Young.
Off to bed in the backyard for books and dreams.
Oct. 4th – Syracuse to Salt Lake City KOA
28 miles. Almost the entirety of the day spent chugging along bicycle trails all the way into Salt Lake City. Stopped at a trail pull out near the Legacy Nature Preserve for lunch. After mowing down some food and while repairing a flat, Jim Litaly stopped by on his bike for a chat. He told us of his worldly travels and something of his beliefs. “I’ve been to all the churches and religions, short of signing up.” He’s a great conversationalist, we ended up far out staying our lunch spot. Jim forced 22 dollars in travel donations on us and on our way we went.
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I’d called Cranky’s before showing up to confirm they’d had the break parts for Augustine’s bike. However, after I showed up, the hipster, incredibly nice bike mechanic, found out that he really did not have the parts. Luckily, the other guy working there confided that he had fitting brake parts at his house. So, a deal was made that they would keep the bike for the night and the following morning, where, magically, Augustine’s bike would be fixed the following afternoon.
An extended Salt Lake City stay, here we come.
Oct. 5th – 7th – SLC KOA to South Jordan
20 miles. Ended up staying at the KOA for an extra couple of nights. Spent our time in SLC digging the public transport. Jennifer, a misfire potential host, sent us a Venmo gift to enjoy a meal at the regionally famous (maybe nationally?) Red Iguana restaurant. We hit up temple square and were told of some interesting facts by polite Mormon women. We then trekked up the hill to the Utah Capitol building – holy marble batman. We also made it to the sugar house district to the Cinemark for the 20th anniversary showing of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. We, of course, decided to traipse around town while lugging around newly bought gear in backpacks and, oh, a Burley trailer. When we asked the girls behind the ticketing counter if we could stow our Burley box somewhere – they looked at us in confusion and disbelief.
Dinner at Denny’s, 1 staff member. A one to two hour wait time, that was a thing.
The cycle to South Jordan was a clown show. The brand new Burley manufactured tires suck something special. We got 3 flats on the way to our Super 8 for the evening. The clerk at the desk let us park our bikes and gear in the covid-19 closed swimming pool area. Ance and I celebrated our wedding anniversary a day early, eating pulled pork sandwiches on the floor and watching Everything is Illuminated – a movie we watched when we first got together some 11 years ago.
Oct. 8th – South Jordan to Willow Park (Lehi)
19 miles. The morning began with a mad dash to thrown down some breakfast, repair the trailer flats, and then push into the rain with roaring traffic. There was only 10 mins or so of riding on the streets until jumping on a bicycle trail, but it felt like an eternity.
The bike path was pleasant, but with the rain and headwind it felt like were were cycling Tierra del Fuego through a winter storm. A cyclist, Dale, road with for a piece – has 6 kids, loves to tour cycle with his kids as well.
After getting pummeled for a little over an hour, we modified our ambitions for the day and opted for a closer goal. Some 12 miles away. Bluffdale turned out to be an ass kicker for most of the next dozen miles. Ups and downs like a roller coaster – only powered by your legs and around 3 miles per hour.
Rolled into Willow Park just as the wind and rain began began to kick up again. Setup camp and got the kids laid out in the tent for school work. Augustine volunteered to give us a date night for our actual anniversary day. We leveraged this gift by going out on unloaded bikes to re-supply for random things at Walmart, Dollar Tree, and the state owned liquor store.
Setup tarp for cooking a meal of hot soup. Camp host stopped in to make sure we weren’t vagrants. Tent movie night.
Oct. 9th – Willow Park to 5 Mile Pass
28 miles. Slow grinding day with a U-Turn involved. Finally made it out of the heavily populated Salt Lake City area. We’ve come to a strange combo of desert and American suburbia mansions impossibly springing forth from the nothingness of the surroundings.
Toward the latter half of the day, near Fairfield, we stopped in at a house too bum for some water – where we are headed there is quite literally nothing. An elderly woman obliged our aqua request – a trucker driver who indicated that Florida was about 2,200 miles from her house. While Ance was in with the truck driver, her hard hearing son spotted me. “Can I help you?” From a distance I couldn’t tell if he was the husband or son or someone else. “My wife just went inside to get some water,” I shouted. As he came closer, it was clear he was the son. “My wife just went inside with your mother to get some water.” After some introductions and chit-chat, “If it was a man, I’d need to be in there. Dad died last week, of cancer.” The only thing I could muster was, “that sucks, my dad died a few years back of leukemia.” Small talk.
Google had set us on a route past the nearby landfill. After a mile or so the road turned to mud and puddles. We flagged down a truck to see if the road improved – it does not.
Quickly adjusted our route to head to 5 mile pass – which added some 25 miles to our goal of Cedar City. Slow and steady climb to the BLM Recreational area. Light rain in the evening. The mountains are epic and the night is cold.
Oct. 10th – 5 Mile pass to Vernon
22 miles. 7:15 AM wake up call. A group of women happy campers fill the pass with gaggles of giggles. Wrapped up breakfast, dried out gear, and packed up around 10:30 AM. Last of a minor climb for the first hour and then a slow and steady downhill. We managed to make a wrong turn and headed north for a mile or so – a 2 mile whoopsie daisy.
Got back onto the Pony Express for rolling hills. Little side note here. The Pony Express was a mailing route by horseback for 18 months from 1860 to 1861, a 2,000 mile route from California to Missouri trekked in 10 days – a pace we could never live up too. Stopped for lunch just after Faust – a town which consisted of 5 red porte-potties, a shipping container and some unoccupied work trucks. The sun is glorious today, drying out our soggybones.
Trucked onto Vernon for a stop into the Silver Sage store and cafe. Quickly realized we essentially have 70 miles of nothingness before us. Opted to camp behind Brian’s, the Silver Sage owner, place. Drank some local 5% Utah beer and watched the sunset.
Oct. 11th – 12th – Vernon to 39°54’13.5″N 112°09’10.7”W, Utah
23 miles. Head wind with Ance at the lead with the trailer. Going downhill, you still need to peddle. Epic surroundings coupled with challenging weather pushing against you. Last 6 miles or so were a blessing – wind at your side or behind you and some downhill. Rolled down a dirt road for a mile or so to some trees and called it good. Setup the tent and tied up the tarp, preparing for a rain/snow storm rolling through the area.
We woke the morning of the 12th to an on and off flurry of snow and low hanging clouds – the wind whipping its own tune from the north. While freezing our asses off making coffee in the middle of nowhere with our children in the adjacent tent, Ance and I considered our options while the weather made its own decisions. We made it some 20 odd miles from Vernon, packing 14 liters of water. The smartphone weather app calls for a high of 28 with a 72% chance of precipitation in the form of snow. We went back and forth several times before we called it – a weather day, we’re not riding.
A day of tenting when it’s freezing outside consists of doing school work, playing games, horse play, and watching movies. I stayed up until 1 AM reading a book – most likely because I exerted no energy doing nothing for the whole live long day.
Oct. 13th – 14th – 39°54’13.5″N 112°09’10.7″W to Delta
48 Miles. Our biggest milage day. It wasn’t snowing or raining, so we decided to ride. Gloriously easy ride while I had the trailer with barely any headwind. Ance gets the days of infuriating uphills and headwind, I get the days of progress. She is thousands of times stronger than me – this is not so much a confession than just a statement of fact.
I was freezing with sweat and took a hot shower. Shortly after, we had dinner at the Rancher’s Motel cafe. The hot food, coupled with the heated indoors, makes this the most glorious meal in at least two days. We spent an extra day to rest and repair Augustine’s bike – her front right rack decided to break a bolt. We also get a chance to wash our clothes and be respectable citizens of the United States of America.
