Day Fifty- Five - Utah.

I've invented a new alarm on my phone called 'lie in', that goes off at 06:45. Today was the first time I tried it, and it worked wonderfully. After much faffing about and talking on IM to home (seems to be the only way at the moment), I was ready to go by about 9:45. After yesterdays shennnigans, I concluded that my inner tubes that I'd spent were beyond repair, as in each case the valve was damaged. I rolled up to the bike shop to find that it opened at 10. No big deal, I thought. 10:20 came and went, without any sign of it opening. I did speak to a guy who was at the shop on behalf of his family, buying tyres. Apparently there were four of them who had come from San Francisco and were going to somewhere up in Canada. I asked how long ago they left, to which he replied 3 and a half weeks. Fair enough, but he then went on to tell me that they were only doing 20-30 miles per day. There must have been a breakdown in communication somewhere...

Anyway, the shop eventually opened, and I got 2 tubes for $10. bargain. Time was pressing on, and so I said my goodbyes and left. I was quite pleased to find that my corridor between mountains opened out into rolling countryside, much like that of western Kansas. I had fairly simple navigation too, 10 miles on one road, 50something on another. Just as I was coming down a hill and preparing to make the transition from one to the other, I felt a searing pain on my stomach, so much so that I had to pull over to see what it was. It turned out I'd either had a bee back into me at 30mph, or I'd caught it up, and it was hanging off me by it's sting. I quickly discarded it, and went for some bite cream, witch on opening wouldn't stop coming out, must be the pressure or something.. anyway. I tended to that, and was back on my way.

The riding for today was mostly uneventful. The roads were back to being straight, but there were a lot of undulations. The Ozarks of the West would be the best way to describe it, only they were slightly more drawn out than the real thing. They were plenty tiring enough though, and by the time the state border came with 18 miles to go, I'd had enough for today. I plodded on into the headwind (that's what you get for hanging about in the morning), and eventually reached Montecello (the second one I've been to since being here, I can't remember where the other was, all I can remember is Bert the Dutch guy saying it in his accent, so it must be Virginia). I had the option to go on 20 miles to Blanding, but I opted against, having been told there is a big hill between here and there.

I found my RV park of choice, which was absolutely deserted. I was prompted to pay at an ATM machine thing for the site ($15), and I could have wherever I wanted. While I was deciding where, it began to pour, so I made for a sheltered driveway area and decided that would be it. It is on gravel, but I've slept on concrete before since being here (Telluride was rock solid too), so I prioritized staying dry with comfort. I put my tent up spectacularly (I have a photo that I'll eventually get round to putting on here), without the use of any tent pegs. My tent isn't free-standing either, which makes it even better. It is a bit of a death trap getting in and out of, but ducking under ropes and over a strategically placed bike is a minor inconvenence I'm willing to put up with.

I'm now writing this in an ice cream parlour, having had an Oreo Malt. I didn't spot my usual hot fudge until after I sat down, it was on special offer today at $1.99. Dang.

Anyway, I'm off to Blanding tomorrow, the grand total of 21 or so miles away. The reason for doing this are as follows - It's cheaper than getting a room for two nights, I don't need to spend a day going 0 miles, and there is nothing for 74 miles west of there, so I kind of have to go there. It will give me a chance to do some laundry and all that kind of stuff too.