Thursday, July 30: I feel kind of like a smuck saying this, but once I got though the Pahvant Mts from Salina to Filmore on Tuesday, I had pretty much lost my mojo for the remaining 3 days of riding for American Dirt. Didn’t really realize that until today, but it hit me around 1 PM as I finished up a segment in the little town/hamlet/hole-in-the-wall place called Lynndyl, UT. More on this at the end of the blog. 

Up at 5 AM, load van, have breakfast, move on out. Got going out of Filmore at 7 AM for the 30 mile drive to the junction of Harding Rd/Clay Springs Rd/FR90 and Rt 50 where I ended yesterday while anticipating a “Grudge Match” of golf with Judy. Took a quick R on Rt 50 berm for 200 yards and then a L, west on 4500. From there, with Judy leading the way on these wide gravel roads, we went R, north on 2500E. And then we went L, west on 1000S. This was gravel up until the last 2 miles, when I just got on this super wide, gravely, irrigation canal track right alongside the road. We took that to the junction with the UP/Amtrak (Union Pacific/Amtrak) line that runs through downtown Delta. 

From this junction point, I had Judy just drive back to Rt 50, and then got on Rt 6 north. I would have to get on this little dbl track dirt thing that paralleled the RR line for about 9 miles. It eventually bends around after Xing Sevier River and parallels Rt 6 where I’d meet back up with Judy. So I got my riding pack on and we each departed. My track was little more than this ATV dbl track about 4 feet wide that closely hugs the UP RR line. It ain’t the best of tracks, this due to the large mix of sand in the soil matrix, somewhat similar to what I experienced back in KS. By now, we’re in the desert, with cactus, sage brush, and lots and lots of sand. 

So in addition to dodging all the sand patches, I had to dodge these nasty overhanging sage bushes that can rake the hell out of your arms and legs. This is the same stuff that when dead forms the infamous “tumbleweed.” The middle of the track was just total shit, with thick crusted beach sand, while the right and left sides were slightly packed down, but still a tad loose. The speed was slow and the progress was labored on this stuff. I took the track into downtown Delta, where there is a smallish RR yard of 5 or 6 sets of tracks. Out here damn near everything is gravel or dirt, so once I hit the yard were some UP RR guys working on train engines, I just blipped on over to my right and kind of rode on the periphery, just outside the RR yard area. I had a couple dudes checking me out. So I wanted to make sure to not garner any undue attention as I cruised on by. Once I got another mile north of the yard, I went right back onto that track and continued north along the RR tracks. 

Now this track is actually very visible on Google Earth maps, and I used it as I mapped out this segment, but that has to be ancient stuff, because today this track eventually just disappears into nothingness after a bit. So I had to get on the RR berm on the right hand side of the north trending tracks and ride on this. The right side of this ballast dbl track had the best surface so I just stayed on this for a bit. And wouldn’t you know it but I take a look back to check for trains and here comes a UP freight train baring down on me. So I immediately went off into this non-existant track I’d gotten off of, and I began doing this total bajaing on the desert adjacent to the RR, just to be on the up and up. Once the freight train went by I jumped back on the ballast track. 

When I got up to the Seiver River valley, the RR was really elevated above this thing with zero riding room on either side of the tracks, so I had to go up onto the RR and ride in the middle for a mile or so until the RR cleared the valley area and that berm reappeared on the right hand side. With the traffic this RR lines gets, I was rubbernecking constantly as I rode down the middle of those tracks! Cleared the valley, and rather than ride on ballast again, I got over onto a dirt/sand track a bit further away from the RR, but I gather, still a RR access road. Took this all the way back to where the RR bends right alongside Rt 6. The track veered to the R and junctioned with Rt 6, but not without a really tough mile of dbl track sand riding. God, this sand riding is just one of the most frustrating, crushing experience you can imagine on a bike. It takes everything you have just to keep the bike upright and rolling. It’s a total energy drain, like opening the spigot up full force. 

Got onto Rt 6 and called Judy, who was somewhere south of me by the airport outside of Delta. Told her my location and she was there within 5 minutes, pulling into that sandy area I’d just come out of rather than on this little gravel road where I was waiting. I began shouting to her NOT to drive on the sand, waving my hands like a madman, for fear of her getting stuck. She was good though, backing out and pulling in my gravel area, shaking her head in disbelief at my ranting & gyrating. So my next step was to ride berm on Rt 6 for about a half mile to this sand/gravel road that parallels the RR and Rt 6, Railroad View Rd, and take this to the town of Lynndyl. So I hit the beginning of this road and it’s just sand 6 inches thick up a hill. So I motioned Judy to stop for a minute. Told her rather than drive all the way to Lynndyl, to stop about half way into this thing at the junction with Rt 174, just in case this track is just choked with sand killing my ride time. The total track was a good 10 miles, and I was concerned that if the thing was all sand, I’d be needing some support 5 miles in for water and Powerade. 

That was the plan. We each got rolling, with Judy driving north on Rt 6, and me walking the bike up this sandy hill. At the top the sand was much thinner, so I could get on the bike and get it rolling. The riding was easier, but definitely not easy. It was middle ring stuff and more of a dbl track than a road. Big surprise after all this time in UT right? Many of these so-called county and BLM roads here in UT are nothing more than tracks with names. I was able to keep it consistent to the junction with Rt 174 where Judy was waiting. Got more water and Powerade, as the temp by now was in the 90’s and a significant headwind was blowing out of the north. Asked Judy to meet me in Lynndyl where the RR and this track X Rt 6. 

And then I got it rolling again. Rode the five miles in Lynndyl, this dilapidated, pathetic little place on the fringes of nowhere. This was something out of the pages of Baja Mexico, what with the trash, the junk cars everywhere, the beat up and condemned buildings, and the shanty-town atmosphere. It was almost haunting to ride into because I felt like I was in a Third World country. Rode to the junction with Rt 132 and Rt 6, past barking dogs, abandoned tractor trailer rigs, and ramshackle houses. But no Judy to be seen. 

So I did a small circle around the RR access spots. And still no Judy. I had no pack, therefore no phone. Didn’t make a difference anyway - we had no service out there in Mongolia. So then I got on Rt 6 and began riding it south hoping so see her on the southern outskirts of the town. Sure enough she was there. And there we were, with Judy asking me what the next segment was? I knew we had a couple of long, unsupported segments ahead, somewhere along the line of about 15-20 miles each in length, with one a long UP access track parallel to the RR, and the other a primitive ATV track. I just kind of sat there for a good 10 minutes thinking. That’s when I knew I was done for 2015. My mojo was gone. Just couldn’t see any sense in beginning these next segments in the desert heat, with just a day to go, and with over a hundred miles left before the NV border. It just seemed so…well…useless… like a drop of water in an empty 55-gallon drum. My time had run out then and there. After three months and thousands of miles, it was time to pull the plug for this year and save the rest for next year where I’ll have cooler spring temps and a much fresher mind and body. 

I told Judy what I was thinking and she was 100% on board. We headed back to Delta where we were going to bag it for the rest of the day, but for some odd reason all the motels were booked, so rather than putz around any more we decided to begin the long ride back to Ohio a day early. Made it to Grand Junction, CO this eve. We’ll head to Denver and stay with Drew tomorrow, and then do the final push on Saturday and Sunday. 

Tomorrow I’ll give you a kind of epilogue of sorts, really dissecting the last couple of days, and then the trip as a whole. Right now I’m dead tired and ready to hit the hay…and not get up and ride in the morning!! So until tomorrow I’m out.