Utah

Hello again! We crossed into Utah a day earlier than we planned and we were so happy to make it. Seemed like it took us ages to get out of Colorado! We just had way too much fun at those hot springs. So, when got to Utah on Thursday, we reached the first town, Monticello. We were both so very hungry and tired from the ride. We could only find one pizza shop and an old diner in town that was open. The diner was so very depressing...the food wasn't terrible. We were starving so it was lovely to eat. Being that we were so tired, we got back on the bikes and headed toward the closest road to National Forest. The spot Mim found was amazing.

We had to chase a few cows out of there and kick some pies out of the way for the tent, but it was one the most beautiful campsites so far. There we were in a big, beautiful aspen grove just outside Monticello. I love camping for free...and they always seem to be the best spots. We woke the next morning to a very loud buzzing noise, much like you would hear if there were a hive of bees up above in the tree. I looked around but didn't find it. There must've been some loud bees somewhere not far from where we camped. SO, our next destination was to a river called Doloros River, just past Disappointment Creek. Well, after a hot and long ride in the desert, that river was sounded better and better. But when we got there, all we were was disappointed. It was nothing but a bunch of scattered, muddy puddles. No choice for us but to keep going...so off we went.

We stopped to view the desert mountains, there's Cheese Box there to the left. And we finally did find some water!

The Colorado River was a little muddy, but had to stop and put our feet in. There was a group of people getting ready to raft down the river and they saved Mountain from being sucked into the earth by the muddy quicksand! They offered us a spot near their boat and even gave us some free beer and water to drink. It was way to hot to keep standing out there in no shade so off we went again.

And not twenty minutes later we got stuck in a desert storm. Here we are crouching under a cliff to keep from getting soaked. I was pretty much already soaked because, well, we figured it was only going to be a light drizzle and I didn't put all my gear on. Learned that lesson pretty quick! I now have all my rain gear in one bag, ready to go as soon as we see any formidable clouds a comin'. I got to test out all my gear later that day when these clouds came upon us...

Since we were denied any good places to camp and the river we wanted was run dry, we continued on toward Capitol Reef National Park and made it there late that evening.