Cedar City, Utah

First, let me say that we are all safe and yesterday made it to Cedar City, Utah. Djina will most likely give all the details. Here is one incident. The stuff of stories Yonah and Solomon will tell their grandchildren. Baker, Nevada to Milford, Utah. 83 miles. Desert. Hot. No services. No water. 2 passes. 1,500 feet each. Headwinds or sidewinds. Hot. No water. Two dead cows. Flat tire. 2 of them. Hot. Desert. First flat 40 miles from Baker. Baker is considered the middle of nowhere by some. Our first flat was 40 miles east of the middle of nowhere, and it was hot. And windy. 43 more miles to go before getting water. Our stocks were already low. Which tire went flat. According to Murphey's Law it should be the rear tire on the tandem. Why? The rear wheel has a drum brake on it. To change the tire, one must detach the brake from the frame, remove the cable to the brake, loosen the very tight nuts that hold the wheel from the rim (can't have the wheel fall off, right?), take off the wheel, remove the tube, figure out why the tire went flat, replace tube, and reverse process. Many, many curses accompany the process. It was hot. It was windy. Solomon got a bloody nose during the hour tire replacement. I flagged down a bewildered couple in a truck and asked for water. They came up with 2 pints of cold water. I meant to save them for the kids, but drank most of one down before I knew what I was doing.


Pass number one was brutal. On the way up, a car pulled over and overed us each a cold bottle of water. There is a god. We struggled to the top of the summit and looked east. 20 more miles of desert. 10 miles down and 10 up. Hot. I flagged down a pick-up truck. They offered to take us to Milford. No, thanks. Just some water please. On the way down, another flat tire. I'm getting better at fixing them. 45 minutes this time. More cursing though. Flagged down another truck. He gave us a gallon of water. We were within 2 miles of the summit and one more flat tire. I have no idea what is going on with this $@*&% bike. At this point, I flagged down a pick-up truck, threw the bike in, and Solomon and I rode the last 15 miles in the back of the truck.

If it weren't for the kindness of strangers, we would not have made it alive through the desert. Here in Cedar City I figured out the bke problem and hope that it is now fixed.

Addendum: 56 miles to Cedar City through headwinds the whole way. As Nevada begs for solar energy development, how about wind turbines here?

Matt