Velowander

Day 75 (Wed 09/20) Escalante to Cannonville, UT (no photos)

(No GSM coverage area, can't post photos)

Last night I spent about 1/2 an hour talking with Mr. Munssen from the LDS church about their faith. I found it quite worthwhile but I will spare the details here.

Mag and I were about to hit the road in the morning from the Griffin's trailer when Mrs. Griffin invited us to have breakfast in their house. Of course, Mag and I accepted. We had eggs, tomatoes, toast, and potatoes. Afterwards, Mr. Griffin played the guitar and sang (I was impressed he was actually pretty good).

We had headwinds right out of Escalante. Obviously headwinds and climbing, often the steep grades here in Utah, make for slow going. On top of that the winds were chilly. Mag's computer said we were averaging 6 mph. Typically, I would ride a bit ahead of Mag so that I can ride at a pace more comfortable for me, then wait for her to catch up (I wasn't doing that last week when I was sick, I could barely keep up with her and often she had to wait for me). I could see Mag's look of determination and gritted teeth as she fought the winds, but it took a lot out of her.

Around 14:30 we arrived in Cannonville, famished the both of us. Our intended destination for the day was Ruby's Inn so that we would be right next to Bryce Canyon to see tomorrow. We bought some food and ate at the convenience store, while the store lady mentioned that accomodation was very tight everywhere around Ruby's Inn. For some reason, in September tourists were descending on southern Utah in force and this took us by surprise. The lady mentioned a price of $150.00 for one of the few remaining rooms in Ruby's Inn and $100.00 here in Cannonville at the Grand Staircase Inn (named after the Grand Staircase National Monument). The Grand Staircase Inn owner Carlin ended up calling places all over the area and nearly all were full including the next town of Tropic. I hit the bricks to ask local residents if they could house us (we had given up proceeding to the next town and decided we were happy to get lodging in Cannonville).

Ultimately, Mag talked Carlin down from his price of $100.00 to only $50.00 since he took pity on us puny cyclists. We gratefully accepted and are staying at the Grand Staircase Inn tonight if anyone needs to reach us.

Labels: Bike Touring

posted by David @ 5:01 PM