I am back in the right time zone. Exciting – it means I am getting closer to home, to my honey, my dogs and my cats. I love my time on the road, but love my people and pets more, and I am missing them. Two more sleeps til I can get home.
Today started out quite cool – probably 11 or 12 degrees when I got the bike ready this morning. I stayed on the same road – the lonely Highway 50 – for a big chunk of today, too. I usually have a plan for a breakfast stop, but the map offered nothing, so I set out, half expecting to get hungry at some stage, and stop to eat my beef jerky.
I am generally not much of a beef jerky fan, but I found one brand that does a decent job of smoking and curing the meat – so I don’t mind having some of it. After about an hours ride, I saw a small service station and what looked like an inn. Turns out, it was exactly on the Nevada Utah border, and is probably the first/last place people can gamble in, so there were already a few sorry souls there, at 0820, pushing their coins into machine.
Breakfast was OK though, so I did not have to break into my jerky rations. After breakfast, I moved my bike under the “Utah” sign, and took a few pics.
Crossing in Utah, my timezone went forward by an hour, so I was suddenly late. Another 90 minute of the same kind of rising as yesterday brought me over a crest, and an odd sight opened up below me. There was a huge lake – or it looked like a lake – but he surface was white. At first, I thought it was just sun reflecting off the water, but then I realized it was actually mineral deposits.
Sevier Lake lies in the lowest part of the Sevier Desert, Utah. The lake has been mostly dry throughout recorded history. It was certainly a striking view.
I finally parted ways with Route 50 at Delta, and took a smaller road which continued east. This brought me to the start of the Mt Nebo loop, about 30 miles or so south of Provo.
Mt Nebo is just shy of 12,000 feet high, and can be seen from many many miles away – I had certainly been eyeing it for an hour. The ride was wonderful – after days of straight roads and unchanging scenery, the path was very twisty, windy (windy as in wind, not as in wind) and steep. I stopped at various vantage points, and have included a few pics:
There was snow by the road from about 8,700 feet. It was not cold, but rather pleasant, as the surrounds of Utah are really hot. My final vista stop was to look at Lake Utah – the large body of water that sits about 30-40 miles south of the Great Salt Lake.
The bear came down the mountain, joined the fast and busy motorway, and found his way to a clean, modern, and very sanitized hotel pretty close to absolutely nothing, which is my perch for the night. I need to plan tomorrows route – I cross the state line back into gods own state at some stage tomorrow – excitingz.