Damn it's hot here...

Hey everybody, hope you're reading this latest update in good health and high spirits. Happy almost 4th and Meg and Matilda, happy almost birthdays. I'm in a town called Vernal in the northeast corner of UT, about 1/2 hour from the CO border. If my good friend Josh, Maui roommate, didn't live here then there's not a chance that I would have stayed longer than it takes to fill gas. We're near one of the highest concentrations of dinosaur fossils in the world so pretty much all of Vernal's 10,000 residents work in the fossil fuel industry drilling for oil. Lot's of big pickup trucks and bad teeth. My kind of folks.

Since my last post a lot has happened. I stayed in San Fran for 4 nights and saw a lot of good friends. The weather was great which I guess is pretty uncommon in the bay area. There was actually a heat advisory, so we went to the beach. The water was still cold enough that it gave me a headache. I did a pretty solid walking tour of the city and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge. It's pretty cool because even though I'm just a visitor in all these places I've been going to, I'm staying with locals when I get there so I'm definitely getting the local experience.

After San Fran I rode through the smoke from all the wild fires to get to Davis, where I stayed with my aunt and uncle and cousins. We had a solid tri-tip dinner and I got a lot of good recommendations on places to visit from my uncle Jeff. From Davis I started to make my way across Nevada on HWY 50, a.k.a. "The Loneliest Road in America." The moniker is apt because I rode for an hour one day and the only living thing I saw was a coyote that loped across the road in front of me. I stayed in a town called Austin that night where I didn't get cell phone service and there was only one diner.

The next day I made it to the Ruby Mountains Recreational Area and camped there for the night per uncle Jeff's recommendation. You were right man, that place is stunning. 11,000+ foot peaks on all sides of you as you hike up this lush and still snow covered glacial valley. I fished at a mostly frozen lake at about 10,000 feet that sits at the base of a huge bowl. I was surprised to see such captivating scenery in the state of Nevada.

Following my stay in the Ruby Mountains I made my way to Salt Lake City. To reach SLC I had to come through a town on the Nevada/Utah border called Wendover. Full of topless bars, casinos and liquor stores, this is where all those devout Mormons jump over to get their thrills. I couldn't wait to get out of Bendover, but the seemingly endless expanse of the salt flats with nothing but two huge strips of black tar cutting through the middle (HWY 80) was just as uninviting as the town itself. I made it about 40 miles before my bike started to overheat in the 105 degree weather. So I stopped at a rest area and let the bike cool down then went about 60 mph for the remainder of the ride.

Salt Lake City was great. The people there were really nice and the town itself is beautiful, set right at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains. I stayed with some friends there who took me around and showed me a good time. We had breakfast at Park Cafe which, if you've been to SLC, I guess is kind of a big deal. Thanks again Alexandra and Kaelan!

After changing my oil to a higher viscosity (thanks for the help, Caleb), I was ready for some more warm weather riding so I saddled up and came here, Vernal. On Saturday Josh and I got to check out some petroglyphs in Dinosaur Nat'l Monument and then raft a section of the Green River. Yesterday I rode 40 miles out to a place called Flaming Gorge to go fishing. I bought a one day fishing license, spooled some new line onto my reel, baited up and was about to cast when the thunder and lightning started. I didn't want to ride back in the rain cuz i was without my jacket and gloves so I got the hell outta there and still got soaking wet on the ride home. The one time I don't wear my jacket and it rains. C'est la vie.

It's funny, a lot of things about this trip remind me of when I used to drive from LA to Bloomington in the Jeep: the long hours of sitting watching the scenery as it goes by, gassing up at questionable truck stops in the middle of nowhere, checking into a motel and sundown and buying a tall boy from the place next door (don't worry Gramma, a "tall boy" is just a 16 oz. beer). The difference is that this time I don't have climate control or heated seats, I don't have a 10 disc CD changer, and my sunroof is open all the time. The main difference, though, is that this time I don't have an itinerary or a deadline. I can make my way as I please. That's a nice feeling. Thanks for checking in again. Miss and love you all. Until next time.

Dane