Day 2: Aspen Campground (Near Hanna, Utah) to Vernal, Utah

June 27, 2010

I was up early, and riding out at 6:30, sneaking past the (now sleeping) dog that chased me yesterday afternoon. It was an easy, mostly downhill ride to tiny Hanna, where I was pleasantly surprised to find the Hanna Lounge open on Sunday morning. Kind of unusual for Utah - where we live in the Orem/Provo area, even the mall, with its national chain stores, is closed on Sunday.

There were three old guys and a young waitress in the Hanna Lounge. One of the old guys was extremely foulmouthed - almost everything he said was was prefixed with "f***ing" - and I found this jarring. I suppose my newfound delicate sensibilities are the result of living for a year in the Utah Valley, which is very, very different than the redneck milieu in which I grew up.

After Mr. Pottymouth left, my mood lifted, and the people in the cafe seemed friendlier, asking me the Usual Questions about my mode of travel. The strongest language used was "Oh my heck!", uttered by the waitress. Yes, people in Utah really do use this expression, which is one of my favorite examples of Utah strangeness. (When young male Utahns want to be edgy, they tend to say "fetchin", instead of the real F-word.)

After the nice waitress filled my bottles with ice and water, I got back on UT-35, which continued to be pleasant and virtually traffic-free. I soon turned north onto UT-87. There was a little climbing but almost no cars or trucks. I had been seeing hand-lettered signs for something called "Pinn Willies", a place that apparently featured "Used Books, Snacks and Ice Cream", so I was pleased to find the place open. I hung around for a while, buying (and eating) snacks and chatting with the proprietress.

Altamont, a few miles down the road, was a clean-looking town with a couple of interesting buildings. It looked like the entire town (pop. 225) was in church, and nothing was open, so I moved on after taking a few pictures.

Eventually, UT-87 ended. It had been a nice ride, but now I had to get on the dreaded US-40. As I expected, it was horrible, with lots of truck traffic. The shoulder was adequate, but I hate riding with noisy traffic whizzing past. When I was planning today's route, it appeared that I could get off US-40 after only a few miles, and wind my way through back streets in Roosevelt before getting onto lightly traveled UT-121. This plan hinged on my ability to ride through the Roosevelt airport, which my copy of the Utah Road & Recreation Atlas indicated was possible. When I got to the airport, it was clear there was no such road - it had been bisected by the runway. I talked to some old guys hanging around the airport, who informed me that the road had been closed for "about 30 years." Thanks a lot, publishers of the Utah Road & Recreation Atlas.

So, I spent a frustrating hour trying to find another way through Roosevelt without getting back on the busy road, before giving up and riding straight through town on US-40. Before that I did spend a nice half hour lying on the grass in a cemetery, under one of the five or so trees in hot, dry Roosevelt.

I got on UT-121 for the final, slow portion of the day's ride. I'm not sure if I was already in the Indian reservation when a motorcycle cop pulled up beside me and asked if "I knew where I was going." Only in Utah... He seemed suspicious, and I was annoyed. I was tired when I stopped in the little town of Neola (its slogan: "Move No More.") I thought about taking the advice, and stopping for the day there, but I couldn't find anyone to ask about camping in the park. So, I ate an apple pie I'd been carrying with me, and moved on.

I should have had more than the apple pie, because the next several miles were grueling. I was thrilled to find a Sinclair station seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I'm not sure if I was still in the reservaton, or just on its edge - I noticed that the shelves had been emptied of almost all the beer - but luckily for me, my preferred beverage, chocolate milk, was still in stock. I talked to the girl working at the store for a while, and answered her questions about bike touring, and then left for Vernal. The chocolate milk was enough to get me over one more tough climb, and then into Vernal, where I decided I was far too tired after riding 119 miles to camp, and got a room at the Sage motel. Dinner was a sandwich from a nearby 7-Eleven. Despite (or because of) all the miles today, I didn't feel like a big meal.

Despite the resemblance, I was disappointed to discover that this was NOT a Pepsi sign.

"Not a thru street"! The Utah Road & Recreation Atlas and/or my ability to read it has failed me.

"No Vehicles Beyond This Point".I talked to some old guys hanging around the airport, and they told me that the road had been closed for about 30 years.

The Roosevelt Airport was not very busy on this Sunday morning.

Cemetery in Roosevelt where I took a break after the airport road fiasco.

Today's ride: 119 miles (192 km)
Total: 201 miles (323 km)

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Kelly Iniguezhttps://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/chevy/vernal-altamont-ut/

Shoot - the link isn't going to go here. We stayed in Altamont in 2020, also searching for a backroads route. We failed, there was far too much truck traffic on our route from Roosevelt. 87 sounds better
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2 years ago