Day Fifty-Eight - Day in the Desert II.

I set my alarm for the same time as yesterday, but that was obviously optimistic because after my fourth 'snooze' I set a new alar
for 6:30. I managed to haul myself up, and after a breakfast of protein-type cereal bars, I set off at 8:00 on the dot.

My riding was progressively up for the first half, and progressively down for the second half. It was more of the same scenery while I was going up, moving between the shade of the massive canyons either side of me and the hot sun that was still low in the sky. I could have taken pictures all day, but it was again kind of important to reach my destination before I got grilled, There was no danger of rain today.

The last 10 miles or so were in more what I would call 'desert', with wide open views and scrub bushes scattered about. I'm looking forward to my first piece of tumbleweed, but today wasn't the day.

I arrived into Hanksville at.. I don't know what time. Lunchtime. I pulled up at a service station, that was relatively heaving. I was surprised to see so many people there, I guess it was because it's the last stop before the desert. One thing that surprised me was that there were a huge amount of water-going vessels. Powerboats, Jetskis, Canoes, the lot. I couldn't help thinking that they were a couple of hundred million years too late, but I guess there must be something here for them.

I went to the only campsite I could find, which was conveniently not far away. It has wifi too, which was great. The only problem I found was that it was hotting up now I didn't have my self-generated breeze in my face. I chatted to people on Facebook for a little while, before deciding enough was enough, and I didn't want to be hot anymore. I went for a shower and then as fast as I could went back to where I had lunch, where I promptly froze. This must seem like a completely irrelevant problem to peoples everyday stresses back home, but for me this is about the size of it. I left there after taking full advantage of the unlimited refill policy, and went to the restaurant conjoined to my campsite, getting some much needed vegetables, which brings me to now, where I've been typing up yesterday and todays blogs which has taken me hours. I rather short sightedly put my yet under a fruit tree, thinking it'd offer me shade. It didn't, but it does have a whole load of flies that enjoy eating the fallen fruit on the floor.

I have no idea where I'm going tomorrow, but I know it's almost all uphill. I'm not sure what your preconceptions of Utah are, but it is a lot hillier than I thought. It is by no means flat open plains that I was expecting, making this quite a tough place for riding.