Farms, fields and flats

October 21, 2021

Hurricane loop, take 2

We've never seen a saber toothed tiger skeleton before!

Today we had a several options of cycling routes. One that I had researched was driving to Virgin and biking north along the Kolob Terrace/Reservoir Rd. That would take us into Zion again which offered beautiful scenery.

But after Don looked at the route on Google, he said that it would have over 3500 ft. of climbing - some of it steep enough that we would be walking. Yikes! That didn't sound like much fun.

So we ultimately decided to do the route we tried on that windy day. Don said it would be 'mostly' flat. Hah, it wasn't!

After running over to the post office to pick a couple of packages (got our new tires - yeah! and a portable toilet - which was a fail as the seat was too big for my skinny butt) and the Dollar Tree for a few other things.

I love dollar stores! Something we purchased were several of those foam swimming pool noodles. Despite having several wind spinners on our big awning supports, I keep walking into the arms and banging my head!

So we had the brilliant idea of getting the noodles and splitting them down one side so they can slide onto the awning arms. Since they cost only a dollar each, Don bought several in different colors and when we got home, installed them on the arms. Hope they do the trick - having knots of my head hurt!

By late morning, the sun had warmed things up so we headed out on the bike.

The first part of ride was on familiar neighborhood roads until we left town behind, and entered an area with horse and cattle ranches. There were fields of green alfalfa and a few cherry/apple orchards.

As we gradually climbed south, we went around an airport until we reached a busier highway that took us to another road that went by Sand Hollow State Park.

As we crested a bigger hill, we could see the reservoir below us along with hundreds of RV's and ORV's (off road vehicles). It looked like there was a big event going on and the ORV's were noisily zooming around in the desert next to us. Many had US flags flying, along with 'Trump 2024' and tall poles on the back with colored lights. The area reminded us a lot of the sand dunes north of Brawley, CA.

The traffic on the road was busy. We were grateful that it had a wide shoulder, and although we saw several other cyclists out, didn't think it was a good bike route. At one point I saw a discarded bike tube along the highway which we didn't know would be a precursor of things soon to come!

We had just turned north along the base of the dam when Don pulled to a halt, saying the bike felt wobbly. He took a look at the tires and announced that the front one was flat. Oh no, not again!!

Well, there was nothing to do about it but fix it, so we pulled the bike off the road. What we didn't realize was that the sandy track next to us was an ORV highway! We had several buggies scream past us, dust flying everywhere! Lovely, just lovely!

This time Don found the culprit - a tiny bit of wire. As we both wanted to get off this busy highway, he quickly pumped up the tire and reinstalled it on the bike.

Continuing a little further, we were able to turn onto a side road that took us into a very nice neighborhood. We've seen lots of new homes being built everywhere in this area. This one looked to be only a few years old.

Many of the homes were quite large and one even had TWO RV garages! His and hers?! We enjoyed all of the spooky Halloween decorations.

From here, the road took us back to a farming area where we stopped at a pecan farm to buy some pecans. The farm stand with peach orchard next door wasn't open today (although I think we're out of peach season?) and I wondered why hundreds of peaches were lying on the ground under the trees. Don said that maybe they didn't have enough workers to harvest the fruit.

A little further along we went by a large sod farm. Guess they have plenty of water out here to grow all of that grass for those new homes!

When we reached Highway 6, we continued north back into residential neighborhoods. The road was a bike route and had nice views but rolled up and down with several big hills. One climb was so steep that we had to get off the bike and walk.

We opted to return to Highway 6 rather ride any more hills. It had lots of traffic but there was a wide shoulder and we were only on it for a mile or so.

Back at camp, we collapsed on our patio with some cold drinks. We hadn't done a long ride, but it had gotten into the 70's today and along with the hills, we were pooped.

After another typical evening, we headed off to bed.

Another view of Mollies Nipple with this ornate ranch gate.

This herd of horses actually galloped over to the fence to visit us as we passed!

We've seen boots and tire sections on fence posts, but never pumpkins!

I liked this creative flag. It was a change from the 'Trump 2024' flags we've seen everywhere here.

Sand Hollow SP was a busy place with hundreds of ORV's buzzing around. I'm glad we weren't camping there!

We've never seen a home with its own observatory on the roof! Makes sense out in the desert as the stars are amazing, if the neighborhood doesn't have a lot of street lights. I wonder if the HOA has restrictions on these?!

Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 462 miles (744 km)

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