One last cruise around town

October 23, 2021

Hurricane to La Verkin loop

After the last week of clear sunny skies, I was surprised to wake up to clouds today. But the temperature was already in the 50's which was pretty warm.

After breakfast, we visited the local farmer's market but only found one produce booth. They didn't have much but Don did buy some peppers and an acorn squash.

From there we did a short drive to scout out a possible bike route for today's ride. I had wanted to go into St George to do a long ride on the Virgin River trail, but Don pointed out that we wouldn't have time to do that along with all of the things we had to do to ready the trailer for travel tomorrow. So we scrapped that plan and he put together a local ride.

By 11, we were headed out the door, going north on side streets to the community of La Verkin. To reach this town we had to cross a bridge over the Virgin River which was now in a deep gorge.

Back in the late 1800's, settlers here built a canal system that tunneled through the mountain to bring water from the Virgin River to the towns of La Verkin and Hurricane. Farmers were then able to plant fruit trees and other crops. On our rides we've ridden by small family orchards as well as larger ones. I guess that once you provide enough water, the desert climate and soil here work well for growing all sorts of things (although this canal isn't used any longer).

In La Verkin, we rode explored some more residential areas which were a mix of new homes, older homes and places with some livestock. We saw cattle, horses, chickens, geese and goats - lots and lots of goats. I wonder what they do with them all? I don't see any local goat cheese for sale in the stores or do they slaughter them and sell the meat elsewhere?

Back across the bridge, we rode more side streets in Hurricane as we made our way south back toward the airport. The sun had come out by now and as we gradually climbed, it felt warm enough for me take off my jacket.

Past the airport was a fancy shmancy new golf course community and Don suggested we follow the road south to check out the nice homes. They were all built in the SW fake adobe styles that I like. Similar to many homes in AZ and NM. I could picture living in one that was built around a courtyard complete with tinkling fountain and a garden!

Eventually we turned around and meandered our way on now familiar roads back to camp.

The rest of the day was spent packing up some things and readying Tango for the drive west. We're headed into the Nevada desert for a couple of days of trial boondocking on our way to Borrego Springs, CA. I might not be able to post any journal entries out in the boonies so be patient for updates on our next adventure!

Impressive sign for the small community of La Verkin.

An impressive bridge over an equally impressively deep gorge that the Virgin River carved.

This house in La Verkin must have liked skeletons! I thought the 2 carrying the casket was creative.

Does anyone know what this contraption is? It was at the La Verkin overlook trailhead.

We rode south of the airport in the high dollar Sky Ranch development. All of the homes were built in this SW style. The lots advertised started at $180,000 for 1/2 acre. This custom home was built on a site that looked to be on 1-10 acres. Very expensive but I liked it!

This was a large fountain at the entrance to the golf course in Sky Ranch. It was running as we biked up to it, but stopped as soon as we got there! I was going to make some comment about all of the water used to operate a fountain out here in the desert.

No goats, chickens or cattle out here in the upscale Sky Ranch development!

Today's ride: 22 miles (35 km)
Total: 439 miles (707 km)

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