Day 15

Milford to Cedar City
59 daily
822 total


I sleep in today and grab a proper breakfast. Outside my room I meet Dave and Camille. They got caught in the wind near Eureka and a highway patrolman gave them a lift all the way to Milford. Nice. My ride to Minersville is flat and calm. Lots of irrigation and greenery. The air smells great.

This buckaroo moves in for his close-up when I stop for a sip of water.

>I stop in Minersville at Todd's Market for a sandwich. The woman at the counter is from Imperial Valley,CA and we chat about our home-state. I pack up the sandwich for later- geez it's getting warm! I happily ditch the long sleeves and rock out to Journey as I climb the only hill of the day.

At this point the wind returns and I slowly grind away at the summit.

The drivers on this road are nasty! I have more close calls on this section of road than any other so far. Some folks don't budge even when there's no oncoming traffic as far as the eye can see. A mile from the summit I stop to enjoy my sandwich and grapefruit where the air is a bit calmer. This climb is epic- all I can do with the headwind is about 4 mph- sometimes gusts bring me to a dead halt.

>I get about 8 mph on the descent and then it's a gradual haul up to I-15 and Cedar City. My rear-end is so tired I stop every half-mile. I can see the city but I never seem to get any closer- one of those desert basin optical illusions.

>I finally reach the mighty Interstate 15. I've rarely been this elated to see a freeway. Six miles more and I'm at my cheap motel. By the end of this ride I've had it. I'm seriously ready to call it quits- this wind sucks. $571 for a one-way van to Oakland. I'll take a day off and think about it.