July 20-21 - Cedar City, UT to Milford, UT to Baker, NV

Mileage: 63 miles, 85 miles
Terrains: Very Gradual Long Climbs
Temperature: 90 ish degrees
So the night in Cedar City was very interesting to say the least. It was about 11:00 or so until I got to bed. Was excited because the grass on the ball field was very soft and it seemed to b e a good place to sleep in a tent. However, we were wrong. There had been sprinklers that went off earlier in the evening and we figured that they were finished however decided to put the fly on my tent just in case they were to go off again in the middle of the night. Well it was a good thing that I did!! At about 4 in the morning on came the sprinklers. They weren’t little sprinklers they were full force. I didn’t know what to do so after one of the rounds that they went over my tent I jumped out. Realized that just a couple of the others didn’t put there flies on their tents and they were wet. Felt bad for them however, didn’t know what to do so waited for the sprinklers to go past again and then jumped back into my tent. Thought to myself please hurry up!! It was almost like a pouring rain shower that came on and off. They were hard on and I was glad that my tent held up through it. Someone even started taking pictures. It was as if it was storming with the sprinklers and then the flashes of light from the camera imitating lightening. Was awake for over an hour and got up at 7 the next morning due to the trailer leaving at 8. We were all very tired!! Went to The Great Harvest Bread Company for breakfast had lots of coffee and wonderful bread!! Decided to finally start riding for the day. Rode about 20 miles to the first rest stop filled up on water ate and then decided to ride back about 1 mile and then off route about 2.5 miles in order to see some petro glyphs. Only did this because for this portion it was fairly flat. Saw some very interesting pictures carved in the rocks and then rolled on. Came to a town at about mile 40 had some ice cream and snacks chilled out at the gas station/snack shop for awhile and decided to ride the last miles to Milford where we stayed at the town park/ high school. Hung out for awhile under the pavilion and just as I got my tent out we found out that it was optional to stay inside the HS and that there were showers there. I was all about air conditioning and showers and put my tent right away. Got a shower and then the Lions Club made dinner for us at 7 pm. They had a salad bar which was delicious and nutritious. We don’t get many fresh vegetables and were very excited about it. Went to bed at about 9:30 and got up at about 7 this morning.
Had breakfast, mmmmm bagels. Left Milford at about 8:30 am for a very long day of riding. We had about 85 miles and absolutely no towns or houses. No services what so ever for the entire ride. Rest stops were provided at miles 20, 40, and 60. There were 3 climbs for the day and none of them were too terrible. You can see for miles upon miles out here, it’s crazy!! Had a nice ride, chatted with the girls, listened to some music and squired each other with squirt guns. At about 7 miles from Baker was the Nevada border which was fun and exciting. It was also a time zone change as well. Got into Baker and wanted ice cream however, it didn’t seem that any place in this very small town had any so we got ice cream bars from the convenience store. Come to find out that Trish one of the riders had found ice cream at a place across the street. So we decided to go there for milkshakes after the ice cream bar. Mmmmmmm peanut butter milkshakes!! We were informed earlier in the day that the campsite that we were staying at was 5 miles off route and a very steep uphill to get there so they shuttled us here with the vans. Unfortunately there are no showers so I tried to clean up in the small stream by the campsite however, the water was EXTREMELLY cold so therefore I used wet wipes. Out west here everything is so dry so you don’t even know that you are sweating except for the crystallized salt all over your skin and shorts. Many days I will have white on my shorts from the salt and sweat however not even realize that I am sweating. Tomorrow I am sure will be another interesting day out here in the desert with 65+ miles with no services as well. However, we do get to start out with a descent, the one they drove us up to camp.