Utah at Last

I was so looking forward to the Nevada portion of this trip--but now it is over. What hard work. As I described in my earlier post--every day was hot-98-100, dry 7% humidity, lots of wind--most of it headwinds, and lots of climbing. Plus Hwy 50 is certainly not lonely--it is fairly busy. The tiny towns though are fascinating--they are a haven from the old west--where time appears to have stood still.
When we finally left Hwy 50--I let out a big hoot and holler!!! Of course no one was around to hear it--not even cows.
Now we are in Utah--and what a change a people can make--the valleys are green and lush with farms--the cities are well kept and there is a pride in there towns.
As before on the rest day here are the summary's of the last days travel since the previous rest day:
8/12--Fernley to Middlegate-70 miles, low temp 60-high 85, climbing 1581. Easy day with good winds--finished by around 1.
8/13--to Austin-65 miles, 57-100 degrees, 4124 climbing, beautiful day with a hard ending with the climb up to Austin.
8/14--to Eureka, 70 miles, 60-98 degrees, 2805 climbing.
8/15--to Ely, 78 miles, 60-98 degrees, 3782 climbing. Hard day with 4 passes and heavy headwinds on all the descents.
8/16--to Baker, 62 miles, 57-100 degrees, 3011 climbing--great day--road alone until Lisa joined me with 20 miles to go--good winds and crossed the highest pass we road in Nevada 7722 feet. Finished around noon--a solid descent of almost 20 miles.
8/17--to Milford Utah, 84 miles, 66-102 degrees, 3674 climbing--hard--hard day. Two of the hardest passes we have done--miles up with no break with at least 100 degrees beating on you-no shade-fierce winds in the valley floors-throwing up dust devils 100 feet high--just brutal.
8/18--to Cedar City, 40 miles, dito on the temps, 2949 climbing.

Now two days off until we start the hardest climbing of the trip up and over Cedar Breaks--more about that later.

From Utah looking back on Great Basin National Park, Nevada