Part 2: Riding Through Autumn Splendor Utah 2013--------west to Duchesne

By Frosty Wooldridge

“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”  — Christopher McCandless

Another aspect of adventure: when you power yourself through the natural world, whether walking, running, cycling, climbing or swimming, you gain mental, spiritual and physical nourishment unknown to those who engage gas powered engines.

With the sun rising, Camp Church brought below-zero morning temperatures that let us know we were alive.  Funny thing about being too hot or too cold: a person becomes distinctly aware of his or her life with extremes. 

When people eat regularly, they don’t appreciate being hungry. On a bicycle journey, we feel intense hunger, which in turn, makes food taste better, more purposeful and totally enjoyable.  An apple never tasted so good until you devour one on a bicycle tour.  To bite into it offers sweet juices cascading into your mouth.  The skin feels fun against your lips.  The succulent core of the apple makes your taste buds spin cartwheels on your tongue.

“Sleep well?” said David, popping out of his tent.

“Like a baby,” I said.  “I put my wool socks and down booties on before going to sleep.”

“Let’s eat in Vernal at an all you can eat pancake house,” David said.

“Works for me,” I said, rolling up my sleeping bag.

We packed and hit the road with the temperatures already into the mid 40s.  With the sun rising, the temps jumped quickly into the 50s.  When you ride at high altitude, the air loses its heat very quickly once the sun sets, but warms quickly when it rises into the sky.

From Jensen, Utah, we rolled through irrigated hay fields with mountains to the north and south of us.

We reached Vernal, Utah after fifteen miles of pedaling to stop into an old fashioned county auction—with thousands of items on sale.  Big bear traps at 24” across sold for $975.00 to collectors.  Old 1870 pistols sold for $200.00.  Rifles commanded $1,000.00.  Small figurines sold for $1.00.

The auctioneer sounded off, “I hear $50, 50, 50, and now, 55, 55, and now, $70, 70,70, going once, going twice, sold for $70…..”

(David dancing with dinosaur. )

Someone paid $400.00 what the auctioneer called an old Stradivarius violin in a worn-out old leather case. You never know because it could be worth tens of thousands.  People sat in the stands making bids on everything from potato smashers to Ball canning jars.

I sat on a toilet imitating Rodin’s “The Thinker” while David took a photograph.  We enjoyed watching the variety of people milling around searching through all the junk for their particular treasure.

We left to stop at the Naples County Café for a fantastic cup of hot chocolate, giant blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs.

At the local grocery store, we bought food for the road.  Remember: food is fun!  Apples, bananas, Cliff Bars, trail mix and oranges.

(Frosty poses as Rodin’s “The Stinker”.)

As we headed into Vernal, we stopped at a 40-foot tall, happy, vegetarian Brontosaurus welcoming visitors to the city. Giant pods of petunias in red, purple and white bloomed up and down the streets.  The city presented visitors with more flowers than you might see in the Rose Bowl Parade.  David hugged the tall dinosaur. 

(David stopping to enjoy the journey through the city with a million flowers and dinosaurs walking around for added excitement.)

We pedaled over to the Vernal Dinosaur Museum where we encountered T-Rex attacking little women and children. But when it saw David, it ran after him.  David leaped onto his steel horse and with a burst of energy, he out-raced the monster.  I, of course, videotaped the entire death-defying chase.  I’ll try to get the entire sequence on You-Tube.

 (T-Rex and Stegosaurus romping around in Vernal, Utah.)

We headed west out of town on Route 40. Not far into the desert, a state trooper turned around, stopped and engaged us in conversation.  He told us stories about different people he pulled-over with their various excuses and reasons for breaking the law.

One guy he stopped because of his going 90 mph said, “Officer, it’s because of my oversized tires that goofed up my speedometer…could you give me a warning ticket.”

“Yes,” Trooper Jackson said. “I’ll give you a warning ticket and a ticket because you were actually going 95 mph which is 35 mph over the limit and could be written up as reckless driving…which means I could take you to jail.”

He asked us what we did for a living.  When I told him I authored books, he asked about my last one. I said, “How to Deal with 21st Century American Women.”

He said, “Run fast!  You can’t deal with ‘em.  Run faster. That’s the best way I’ve found to solve the drama.”

David and I laughed at his quips.

Later down the road, David spotted a pink Teddy Bear discarded along the highway.  He stopped to pick it up.

“Cute bear,” I said.

“I like it,” David said. “I’m going to hang him off my pack to show everyone that we are happy cyclists.”

(David and his Teddy Bear along the road of adventure.)

The bear looked pretty cute as it stared back at passing traffic. We pedaled long hills and fast descents until we reached the town of Roosevelt.  We stopped at the Frontier Bar and Grill with a picture of President Teddy Roosevelt over the fireplace back in 1902.

 (President Teddy Roosevelt, one of the most popular U.S. presidents, also featured on Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.)

Ironically, and I never knew this factoid; above the mantle next to Roosevelt’s painting, an 8”X10” framed note said, “In 1902, President Teddy Roosevelt visited Mississippi to participate in a bear hunt. The good citizens of that state wanted to make sure that he bagged a bear, so they chained a young bear to a tree while the guides maneuvered Roosevelt to the vicinity of the bear.  The president immediately noticed something wrong because the bear behaved abnormally.  Upon closer inspection, Roosevelt saw the chains and demanded an explanation. 

“After they gave him their reasons for chaining the bear, the president said it would not be sporting of him to shoot a chained bear. He let the bear go.  From that point, the local media ran the story about the president saving the bear.  It became known as “Teddy’s bear.”  An enterprising man started making “Teddy Bears” for little girls.  The bear caught on and today, endless millions of Teddy Bears lay in cribs, kids rooms and homes around the world.”

“I’ll be darned,” I said. “I never knew anything about that story.  And today, you found your own Teddy Bear!”

“Pretty neat,” said David.  “He’s a cute little guy.  I kinda’ like having him along with us.”

“Very cool,” I said. “Let’s find a campsite.”

As we walked out to pay the bill, a man stepped in front of us, “I’m inspired by your bicycle ride,” he said. “I’d like to pay for your dinner.”

“You’re so kind,” David said.

He paid and told us we could camp at a city park at the top of the hill near a soccer field.

Sure enough, 10 minutes later, we pedaled up a hill to find a beautiful grass soccer field with toilets.  We pitched camp and watched a beautiful sunset.  We called our home: Camp Soccer Field.

In my journal, I wrote: Today, a state trooper stopped to talk with us about his story.  David found a Teddy Bear alongside the road.  The little bear became the “Velveteen Rabbit” of our journey because he took on a life of his own as we interacted with him.  We stood near some dinosaurs.  Another man paid for our dinner.  We celebrated flowers along our journey; we relished our growing energy with each stroke of the pedals. It showed me that life constitutes a collection of little moments that transform my day. While on my bike, I dream, gaze and marvel at the world around me.  To end it with an ephemeral sunset allowed for a punctuation mark to the magic of our moment.”

(Perfect sunset for a perfect day. A day well lived by two touring cyclists.)

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Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as eight times across the USA, coast-to-coast and border-to-border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. In 2012, he bicycled coast to coast across America.  In 2013, he bicycled 2,500 miles, climbed 150,000 vertical feet and crossed 19 passes from Mexico to Canada on the Continental Divide. He presents “The Coming Population Crisis facing America: what to do about it.”  www.frostywooldridge.com.  His latest book is: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World by Frosty Wooldridge, copies at 1 888 280 7715/ Motivational program: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World by Frosty Wooldridge, click:  www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com

Live well, laugh often, celebrate daily and enjoy the ride,

Frosty Wooldridge

Golden, Colorado

www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com

6 Continent world bicycle traveler

Order these unique cards today: http://www.howtolivealifeofadventure.com/