104 miles – 10.25 hours – Max Speed 34.5mph
I set out northbound on the 6 after breakfast. I went through a little town after just 10 miles, and then there was nothing for the next 40 miles. I knew there was food in the town of Eureka (Utah version) though at mile 50 so I was not worried.
However, shortly after Llewellyn I suffered a flat, the first that I had since probably California. I fix it, and head on.
Not really in the desert anymore.
On the way I notice a ton of these little cricket things that jump everywhere when you get near them. There are literally millions of them hopping around, and millions more crushed on the road. I took a video, but I don’t know if it does it justice.
I stop at a rest area at around mile 40 of the day and eat some food. On the way out right after I get back on the road I hear something tear, and then a loud POP. I look back, and there is a hole in my sidewall of my tire and my tube has blown out. This is bad. I take my spare tire, which has almost no tread left, and put it on and fill it up. It has to last me to at least Provo. This really annoys me because the tire that blew out was the one that I just had bought in San Francisco.
I got there, and both restaurants in town were closed because it was Sunday. Apparently it is a really bad plan to assume anything is going to be open on a Sunday in Utah. I later learned pretty much the entire state shuts down. For probably the first time since the first day, and all the technical issues I had then, I began having doubts about my ability to do the trip. I have no idea why, probably just because of the tire and me being starving and everything else. I eventually get over it, but I don’t think anyone can have only good days touring. This was a bad one.
I go through a few more decent sized towns, and still, there was nothing open.
At least the state is really pretty.
Definitely out of the desert
I guess someone carved a little town or something into the mountainside.
I think I liked all the colors.
Finally, there is a single restaurant open in the town of Santaquin that I stop at at around 6pm for ‘lunch’. I look on my phone and see there is a Starbucks in the next town of Payson. I get there, and see that it is shut down as well, but because it is closing, not because of Sunday.
D'oh
I buy some stuff in Walmart and wonder what to do next. I figured that because I saw some construction sites on the way into town it would be easy to find some on the way out, so I continue heading north.
I don’t really see much, so I keep going and keep going, and soon enough it is dark and I am in the town of Provo, home of BYU. I have to say, for being a mormon school, and it being Sunday night, there were a lot of drunk people around, which was amusing. Anyway, I made it to a KOA, got a sweet spot right next to a river, and showered and went to bed.
My money campspot.
View Larger Map