Woodland - Coalville, UT - The cat named Chevy won't stop this tour, and neither can COVID

July 3, 2020

Woodland - Coalville, UT

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358 elevation gain

By the time we got back to our room last night and got to bed, it was midnight! It's a very good thing we had a short day today. I slept my usual six hours, but felt as if I got an entire night's sleep because I didn't wake up until 6:30. We had scheduled breakfast for 8 AM and hardly made it there in time. What a lazy girl I am! I could have been on the road at 6 AM, climbing to almost 11,000 feet on Mirror Lake Highway. But, no - here I am eating a spinach omelet and fruit with whipped cream on top. Ah, the choices I must make.

I had called the Best Western last night to request an early check it. That has worked for me this entire trip - until now. The clerk assured me that they were sold out and housekeeping was overwhelmed. There's no way we could get in before 3 PM. I'm glad I called. I asked Sheri what time check out was and explained that we unexpectedly would be lounging around. Sheri said check out was 11:30 - I thought we would be out by 11, but Jacinto takes forever to get organized. It was 11:25 before we pulled out. Highway 35 was very busy with holiday weekend traffic. It took us a minute to get across the road. I'm glad we figured out a couple of side roads. We followed a road bike rider onto Lower River Road, our first side trip. I was happy we avoided the big climb right from the B&B. The laugh was on me, when it was time to turn north, we went up a big granny gear hill. At least we had a couple of miles warm up.

Ben had told me in the guestbook to be sure and stop at the Chevron in Kamas for a cinnamon roll. Jacinto thought I very definitely should stop and get him one. He was taking an extra loop to the west and riding 20 miles of bike path into Coalville. I dutifully stopped at the Chevron. The clerk all but laughed at me when I asked for a cinnamon roll. Those were long gone. I bought Jacinto a cherry turnover instead.

Today is the 3rd, not the 4th, but I think people were on the road, getting where they wanted to be for the 4th. Traffic was heavy. Lots of people pulling campers and trailers with toys. I was happy to take my second detour onto Rob Young Road into the named town of Peora. This was lovely! Not only is it not the highway, the road has fresh pavement. It's a shame the road didn't last longer. I was back on the highway up to Rockport Reservoir. Did I say the road was busy before? This is busy! Everyone was patient before passing. There wasn't enough shoulder to move over and let them drive by at normal speeds.

I was happy that I was headed roughly downhill with a tailwind. The better to get away from the mess. I reluctantly pulled in at a potty by the lake. Potties aren't my first choice, but today is far too high traffic to try to hide behind a guard rail. I noticed a woman loading her road bike on her car and wondered where in the world had she ridden that she chose to ride from here. When I came out of the bathroom, there she was, with her car door open, changing her shorts, with her ass hanging out. She was hiding from no one. The parking lot was directly adjacent to the road. I probably would have gotten in the back seat and wiggled around changing shorts . . . but, there she was. Jacinto missed his chance!

Jacinto and I had agreed we would assess the bike path when we got to it. If the dirt looks well packed, we'd give it a try. I rode a short distance on the dirt and thought about turning around and going back to the pavement. Then I thought of the traffic. Nah. This was ok. Downhill with a tailwind . . I can deal with firmly packed dirt for seven miles.

I started so late that I was hungry before I got to town. I decided to go right into Coalville proper and have tacos at Neena's Grocery - that was another recommendation from Ben. I spent quite a while inside, killing time before riding back to the motel. It is .7 miles from there to the motel. Jacinto won't bicycle, we will have to walk in the heat. Which is 82 degrees right now. That leads me into a review of the double walled bottles. It still hasn't been Tucson hot, so I don't feel I can firmly say the bottles are the best. I have gotten to town with ice in my bottle each day since I started filling them completely with ice and then pouring in water. Two ice cubes don't last long. I find the straw style sipper top slightly inconvenient. I flip it up before I lift the bottle. I learned quickly to not put the straw in my mouth on a rough road, lest I pinch my lip.

After eating my tacos, I headed over to the motel. I passed Subway. It is much closer to the motel, but probably Jacinto won't want that for dinner . . . there is a small motel right in town. They didn't answer their phone when I called and now I'm picking high cotton (according to Spoon) and I only want to stay in nicer motels. Thus, we are inconveniently over the bridge at the Best Western (in a big, nice room).

I arrived there just before 3 PM - along with several other groups. Almost everyone had a dog or cat with them. Jacinto asked if there's an animal show somewhere. I've never seen so many animals at a motel before. A man walked in with two cats in carriers, they didn't seem distressed.

Last night when I called asking for the early check in, the clerk said she had us in a king room that was also a pet room, and was that ok. Yes, as long as it's on the ground floor. Today when I checked in, this clerk asked me if I would like the second or third floor. ??? We discussed the many pets checking in and not enough pet rooms. The clerk offered me a handicap room and seemed surprised I would take it. She said it didn't have a king, but it had a bed bigger than a queen. Tell me, what bed is bigger than a queen, but isn't a king? That makes no sense. But, we took it. The clerk said the price was the same, but it wasn't. I went back with my phone to show her my reservation. She said the manager's special price was the best, but it wasn't. The manager happened to be there and adjusted the rate to what my reservation said. It was the difference between over $100. and under $100. otherwise I might not have caught it . . .

Jacinto pulled up right as I was checking in. He had a good ride, he rode about 20 miles of the dirt bike path and said there were many riders on the path. Some of them were walking their bikes, he thought because it was slightly uphill and into a headwind. We are finally heading north again, so the southern tailwind should be to our advantage most days.

Let's see what we do about dinner tonight. It's past our usual 5 PM dinner time. I'm still full from lunch. Jacinto ate a couple of burritos left over from . . . . I think Rangely . . . I told him to throw away all of that food that didn't get refrigerated in Hanna, but he didn't. Instead he froze it last night. Because that makes up for being unrefrigerated for 36 hours!

We parted ways after five miles. Jacinto went for more miles and more climbing.

Sheri from the B&B recommended this excellent country road. It was freshly paved.

There have been many old buildings the past couple of days.

The pavement on the bike path lasted about a block before turning to dirt.

Carne asada tacos from Neena's Grocery for lunch. $7.99

This underpass was long enough and dark enough to be a little scary.

Jordanell Reservoir, seen from afar. It's a huge reservoir.

Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 1,406 miles (2,263 km)

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