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Saturday, May 5, 2007

A Blustery Day

Grafton, UT to Cedar City, UT
51 miles

When we left the free campground near Grafton, it was a beautiful morning. But as we got closer to Cedar City, we could see the dark clouds moving closer and looking more and more menacing. At one point, the wind (a headwind, of course) really started to pick up, which often foretells rain. We pulled out our rain gear and piled on our clothing and pedaled on. Sure enough, the sky poured buckets and buckets of rain on us. I later found out that annual precipitation for the area is 14 inches. We must've gotten most of it today. So, there we were, pedaling uphill, with a strong headwind, in the rain. Things couldn't get any worse, right? Wrong! Big, fat clumps of wet snow started to fall. We continued until we found good shelter at a National Park visitor center. We were cold, wet, and miserable. The forecast for the night was: more snow. We still had to get to Cedar City, with 2,000 more feet to climb, and we didn't have much time left before the sun went down (not that it mattered, it wasn't doing its job anyway). Fortunately, we met Rita, who works for the National Parks service. Since her shift was almost finished, she offered us a ride into Cedar City. There was no way we could turn down that offer! So we piled everything into her pickup and were soon in a nice warm hotel (no way are we camping in the snow!). It turns out there are thunderstorm warnings, tonado watches, and snowstorm warnings all over the place.

I've been seeing a few animals along the way, but today I saw two new animals I hadn't seen before on this trip. Before today, I saw lizards, California Condors (an endangered species), a coyote, wild cats, dogs, horses, cows (they sure like to stare at bicyclists!), and plenty of insects. Today, we saw a bunch of turkeys on the side of the road. We must have scared them, because they all took off, but not off the road like you'd expect. They ran onto the road, and one was within inches of getting hit by a car. What a turkey! We also saw an ostrich farm, with a bunch of shy ostriches.

We haven't decided yet on renting a car, but since the snow is expected to continue until tomorrow night, I think tomorrow will be a rest day. We'll see if the weather clears up or not.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey u two! No one could have as much perseverence as you two have shown!
We, your faithful followers will stand in the gap and support you all the way!!! Enjoy the rest, the warmth as snow stops you on this leg of the journey........

lovingly,

tari k.

Anonymous said...

Heather,
hows the last pair of underwear...?
I'd be happy to go get you a few extra pairs... but I need a mail drop addy to get it to you...anyone out there have an addy to help me out here?
Would like to send them to a drop spot so Heather and Dana can receive a care package from me........
I can be reached at aslforhim@tmail.com

thanks!!

Love you both!!

tari k.