Least Scenic Ride of the Last 25 Days

July 18, 2013

Day 25: Cedar City, Utah to Milford, Utah

Because of the distances between the few towns on this part of the route, today would have to be either a short 57 miles or a long 140+ miles. My departure at 7:45 determined it would the short option. Even if I had gotten up extremely early, and ridden in the dark, I doubt I have the stamina to ride 140+ miles in the desert with only a few service stops.

Breakfast was a quart of chocolate milk and two cake donuts at the nearby Maverik convenience store. I had a slight tailwind leaving town, and it was still cool this time of the morning, so it was a pleasant several miles. Most of the morning was a steady climb, but nothing as strenuous as the big climbs to mountain passes I'd been doing in Colorado and Utah, of course.

It was forty miles from Cedar City to the next little town, Minersville. The scenery for most of the morning was dull. During the steepest part of the climb, flies began buzzing around me. Very aggravating; the slight tailwind allowed them to keep up with me during the ascent, and even when I briefly sprinted they stayed with me. How in the hell is a fly able to travel at 20 mph? These were super-flies, or something.

Eventually I reached the top, left the flies behind, and coasted down to Minersville (pop. 987.) There wasn't much going on in Minersville, imaginatively named for the presence of a nearby silver mine. I had a sandwich and an Orange Crush at the grocery store, asked the clerk if she had seen any other cyclists this morning (she had not), and rode on.

It was only about fifteen super flat miles to Milford (pop. 1409), my destination for the day. This part of the ride was undoubtedly the least scenic of this trip. First I skirted the pig farm zone, then I rode past the Minersville Sewer Lagoon (with its prominent, and presumably unnecessary, "Keep Out" signs), then I rode past the Minersville land fill. It was dry, dry, dry. The few green areas were irrigated.

I could see Milford in the distance for what seemed like forever, and somehow came into town on a dead end road that dumped on some railroad tracks that I carried the bike over. First I went to check out the city park, where camping is allowed, but I found there were no showers, there would be a baseball game played well into the dusk, and the bathroom wouldn't be open during the night. Given that it was 95F, and I had a long service-less day tomorrow, I decided to explore other options.

There was a quirky, cheap motel in town, but, as one of the many hand-written signs informed me, no one would be in the lobby until 4:00, so I hung out at the nice town library for a while, then walked around the downtown, where most of the businesses were defunct. There was a restaurant adjacent to the motel, so I had an OK late lunch, walked around town some more, then finally checked into the motel, where I got the "special" with the oddly specific pre-tax price of $34.86.

Later I walked around town to see if I had missed anything on my previous walks (I had not), and spotted Andy and Claudia's bikes in front of the convenience store. I had asked people throughout the day if they had seen any other cyclists, and now I knew why they hadn't: Andy and Claudia hadn't left Cedar City until 11:00. We discussed the day's boring scenery ("Did you see that dead snake?" "Yeah, it was fresh." "Did you see that pile of bones?" "Yeah, I should have taken a picture of that.", etc.). They then checked into the motel in the room next to mine, after informing me they were leaving at 2:00 in the morning and inviting me along ("We have plenty of lights. You can borrow one".) I assured them I would most definitely not be leaving at 2:00 in the morning, despite the heat-avoiding logic of such an otherwise insanely early departure.

My motel was decorated with many, many hand-written signs. This is just a small sample.

Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 2,046 miles (3,293 km)

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