Day 32: Up early, eggs with leftover fake chicken & curry rice (actually pretty good), packed up, rode our loaded bikes to Canyon Junction (a shuttle stop within the park), pitched our gear under a bush, & took the shuttle with our bikes up to the last stop (Temple of Sinawava) so we could ride downhill & see the park one last time. It was so beautiful & peaceful; a great way to start the day.
Back down to our gear, we lathered on the sunscreen & hit the road for our eventual destination: Hatch,UT. We made our way up the switchbacks to the tunnel, which wasn’t too bad. We got lots of encouragement from people driving by, which was fun. Bikes aren’t allowed through the tunnel (we knew this ahead of time) so we had to wait for a truck with an open bed. We maybe had to wait 30-45 minutes – not too bad. We chatted with the nice ranger the whole time & he helped flag down trucks to ask for their help. A couple in a little white truck were more than happy to help us out. We loaded the bikes & sat in the truck bed with them. It was a nice, cool ride through the tunnel with pretty outlooks every so often. As soon as we made it out, they dropped us off & we bid adieu. Thanks for the ride, Woody!
The views on the other side of the tunnel were beautiful as well. We passed Checkerboard Mesa (pretty neat), then stopped at a little gift shop for water & to charge our phones. I got to talking with a few people as soon as we pulled in. Two of them were visiting their friend who attempted a 50 mile ultra marathon (his first one ever) but had to bow out around mile 32 from a foot injury 🙁 He said he’ll have to do another one now. That’s how I feel about my Boston Marathon run – it sucked so bad I need to run another one to do it justice! They were nice to talk to.
Back on the road for a while before stopping in Mount Carmel Junction for lunch at Subway, cold water refill, & more charging. I finally had cell service to check in with my mom to see where they were at. We were about three hours away now. Eeekkk!!! They were going to find a motel, drop their gear & come find us on the road wherever we were biking. It felt like Christmas as a kid & I was on my way to meet Santa – I couldn’t contain my excitement!
It was a pretty hot day today so we took a break midway to cool off in a river. Ooohhh, so good. We just laid in the riverbed – so refreshing. One of my favorite river rinses to date. After that, for the next hour as we were biking, I kept checking my watch, knowing it could be any minute now we might see them driving down the road. Every silver vehicle we saw would fill my stomach with butterflies, thinking it was them, but every time it would be someone else. Around 6pm, as we were climbing uphill we finally saw them! YAY!!! They quick did a U-turn to be on the same side of the road as us, we got off our bikes & I ran to their car for big bear hug with my mom. It was such a nice, long embrace. I love all hugs, but this was an especially great one. So much love 🙂 It was great to see family again after being on the road for over a month now. We caught up, shared some stories, drank lots of ice cold water they brought us & then back on the road.
They leapfrogged with us all the way to their motel in Hatch (Riverside Ranch). It was fun having them stop every few miles & cheer us on as we went by or out the window as they passed us again. It felt like I was in a triathlon again – fun 🙂 At last we made it to Hatch. As we were riding through town, a semi passing us laid on the horn when it was directly next to us. Fill in what you will, but holy %$&*#@! crap, it was SO LOUD!!! It really hurt our ears, not to mention scared the living daylights out of us. Don’t do that! It’s loud enough when a normal vehicle does it, but a semi? Downright deafening. At last we made it to the motel.
This place, & especially the hosts (Barbara & Bill), were awesome. The view was great, the place was quiet & the hosts were from Minnesota!!! They live in a tiny house (not just a small house, but a legit Tiny House) on the motel property for half the year, to run the ranch their daughter bought, & back in Edina the other half of the year. My mom had chatted with Barbara on the phone when reserving the room & made friends immediately. She let us use their little oven in the tiny house to bake a veggie lasagna. So sweet! We cleaned up while the lasagna finished & then enjoyed dinner at their picnic table. She was so sweet & brought out a few lit candles to add to the table & Bill lit the campfire for us – our first fire of the whole trip!
We sat around & shared stories from our trip for a while. It was nice & relaxing. The night sky was so clear & full, you couldn’t help but stare up at it. We were all exhausted: us from biking; Mom & Don from non-stop driving on very little sleep to get to us as soon as they could. Mom has a lead foot & heart of gold, so a typically 4 day drive only took her 2! She sets the bar pretty high for what a rock star mom is. She’s the best. She always makes you feel so loved, special & important. After a long, exciting day, we all passed out pretty quickly.
I was super spoked to see my mom, I didn’t have time for reflections today – just excitement, love & pure joy 🙂
Til next time.
Whitney