The beauty of the back roads

October 4, 2021

Springville to Spanish Fork loop

Another warm and cozy night with a fully functional furnace! Don happened to be talking to our neighbor yesterday and the guy mentioned he also had a broken furnace that needed a switch replaced.

But the guy wasn't worried about having no heat as they had ceramic space heaters and an ELECTRIC FIREPLACE!!!! Good grief!!!! I suppose his rig also had a washer/dryer, dishwasher, king bed and other upscale decor. I know I looked inside their door and saw a side-by-side refrigerator that was bigger than the one in our condo!!

Our first job this morning was to do a couple of loads of laundry which we can do here at the campground. But half of the washer/dryers available are broken which makes it more difficult for everyone.

Washing finally done, we headed out on a bike ride. This time we went west of the interstate, looking for quiet country roads. Hopefully we don't get lost again!

It wasn't long before the traffic died as we jogged around on several roads, some of which had no center lines and were more country lanes. It was pleasant flat riding past farms and cattle ranches. Lots of sheep and goats, too. We wondered if they were slaughtered and where the meat was sold since we haven't seen any for sale. In one field I even spotted some sand hill cranes.

Just when we were congratulating ourselves about not getting lost, we hit a 'road closed ahead' sign. Uh oh, now how are we supposed to find the road we needed?

We took the detour but managed to get back on track. Whew! Dodged that one! It helped that we knew that we had to circle around an airport.

Our route took us to an industrial park at the northern edge of Spanish Fork where it continued east up and over the interstate. From here we had to be on a busier road that went by Walmart but fortunately there was a bike lane.

From here it was a piece of cake riding as we followed now familiar roads back home. Don said if he had known the roads were so good to the west, he might have skipped the stuff we rode in Provo. We only did a short ride today but could have easily stretched it out.

After resting for a couple of hours, we did some dance practice and then rolled up the floor. There is rain predicted for tomorrow evening and we didn't want the floor to get wet. It does dry with sun shining on it, but since we're leaving on Wednesday, there wouldn't be time to do that properly. Don also started the pack up of some of our other stuff.

We're hoping to get in one more ride tomorrow along with running several errands. It will be a busy day!

These porta pot companies sure get creative in their names!

The odor of the country was strong when we passed this farmer spreading manure in his field.

With the better zoom of my new camera, I was able to capture this picture of these sand hill cranes even though they were quite a ways away from us.

Near Springville we saw this unique reuse of shipping containers that looked like they housed several businesses, including a Mexican restaurant.

Today's ride: 18 miles (29 km)
Total: 634 miles (1,020 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0