Torrey to Hanksville, riding day 16 (July 24)

Today was a recovery ride. We all took a very easy morning in the camper and made a big breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs. Since we are going to lose several thousand feet in elevation through the day the morning was very cold where we are starting and the afternoon is going to be very hot. Additionally, we had only about a 50 mile ride so we figured we could start a little bit later and still get in pretty early.

Andrew and I got on the road at about 9 o'clock hoping to be done little afternoon. The day started off with a very nice very quick drop into Capital Reef National Park. There were some very incredible and very red rock formations, a very nice visitor center and we ran into another cross-country rider that had come from the east. As a sidenote we passed three additional riders coming from that direction as well today!

The canyon we road through is an amazing in a place!  Where there's little life and so much desert condition it was amazing to actually see a flowing river, a lot of wildlife and tons of greenery.

As we gradually left the national Park and once again entered the desert. The temperature, the son and the amount of sand gradually increased. We had very few clients today, in total we only had 1800 feet of climbing.

The last 10 to 15 miles were tough as the wind switched but it was pretty flat to down hills so it could've been a lot worse!

We arrived at our campground ahead of Rebecca and the kids but there was a nice café and we had some lunch and some much needed water! Andrew went out for a few more miles and the rest of this month back to the camper to try and keep cool. The temperature outside was nearly 100° and we covered all the windows and turn up the air conditioner as much as possible but the camper still was pretty warm. Rebecca left managed to find some Internet at the community center down the street and was able to get some work done for Rotary. I stayed back made some crafts with the kids and watch the little mermaid. The plan is to go back to the café for dinner, they have really good food, and enjoy some more for dinner.

Tomorrow's going to be an early start as we expect hot temperatures and a slightly more hilly ride.

From Rebecca...

Capitol Reef NP

Twin Rocks

Chimney 

Castle

It was bright!!

The washes were not the best thing for the camper.  We scrapped pavement on one of them, but no harm was done.

We stayed at Duke's Slickrock Grill and RV Park.  It was hot and there were very few trees around, but the air did its job!

I found wifi at a community center for free but I had to sit out in the truck to work because it was closed.  I did get a few hours worth of work done.  Tomorrow we are in the very remote Glen Canyon-Hite Rec Area.  The night at Hanksville we all went to be early...9 or 9:30 pm.  At about 10:15 pm we were all jolted awake because of fireworks across the street from our campground!  I thought someone was shooting outside our door and John thought it was someone pounding on our camper...nope...just fireworks.