Day 17…Capitol Reef NP to near Hog Springs Rest Area, Highway 95
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Over two days without a shower and Jerry is starting to smell kinda ripe. Maybe I should say something to him…
We are up a little late today, mainly because of the we drank last night! We say goodbye to Chris and Dale, and head down the Capitol Reef Canyon. The views are as good as they were last night.
Along the way we meet a Dutch rider and exchange information and pleasantries. These bikers are so friendly!
We look for breakfast at a place in Caineville all the travelouges talk about. There are big signs that say “OPEN! COME IN FOR BREAKFAST!”…not a soul to be found. Disappointed, but not surprised, we continue down the road.
Soon we come to a little place called the Mesa Farm Market and Bakery. Also coffee! Sound good…we pull in and find Randy Ramsley hard at work on some bread loaves. Randy serves us coffee (each cup individually made!) and cinnimon rolls and gives us great information what we can expect during the next couple days, which may be our hardest yet.
Randy grows certified grower of organic produce as well as bake, and supplies four of the restaurants in Torrey. He also can be found at he Torrey Farmer Market…not farmerS market, but farmer market, since he is the only farmer there.
We purchase a loaf of wheat bread for dinner tonight and head east toward Hanksville, where we find a grocery store and a restaurant, where Jerry says we can eat “our last meal”. Mind you, we have some solitude ahead of us.
Just after we pull into the restaurant, 18 French Harley riders pull in. They are travelling all the Canyonlands, starting in Vegas. They speak little English, and some of you know how well I speak French. It’s ironic that they are here doing the American thing, and we are doing the French thing (riding bicycles).
We have our first mechanical on the trip…Jerry has broken a cable. He asks a gentleman in a pickup if he can borrow some wire cutters. We get more than just a tool…we get some of the life story of A.L. Swanson.
A.L. (that’s not Al, but A.L.) is 88 years young. Originally from Lubbock, TX, A.L. spent his life working “for god”. Whenever a church was in dire need of guidence, A.L. was shipped there to clean things up…and I believe he probably did. He had great stories to share with us and wished us luck in our journey.
Leaving Hanksville was not as easy as it sounds. The wind gusts almost blew me over as we turned on State Highway 95. The next town was 122 miles away, and we were unsure if we would find any services.
Along the way I saw a man stopped, adjusting the cover on his 25′ ski boat, that was being pulled by his Ford F250 diesel. He was being followed by his wife with one child in the back seat. She was driving a Caddy Escalante SUV. With all the gas problems we are having, I referred to this as the “Three Big Pigs”. The waste is incredible.
As we approached the end of our day, a huge thunderstorm came ripping into the area. It was big and scary! Jerry and I hunkered off the road grade under a tarp for about 30 minutes or so. We got little rain, but heard in other towns it was quite a storm.
We pulled off into a little canyon that Randy at the Mesa Market told us about and bedded down for the night. We had his bread, soup, salami, cheese and tea. Our total for the day was 68 miles.