After awaking and getting dressed and packed for the day, I found myself at the local Wal-Mart at 4AM looking for a can of Teflon Multi-Use Chain lube. My can ran out yesterday and I forgot to go look before retiring for the evening. It turned out they didn’t even have any…so I got a suitable substitute for the rest of the trip. Now I have two cans of the suitable substitute. One just like it at home from a ride I took in April and forgot my chain lube. HaHa!

Since I was up very early and all packed and everything, I got a good head start on the day’s riding. And I was taking the I-80 to get a ways up to my highway connection, so I could ride fast and not worry about the deer in the dark of the early morning….So I made some good time, and watched the sun come up off to my left a bit.

And here are some of those “soft” hills I mentioned in yesterday’s post. Only the ones I saw yesterday were green and red from two kinds of flora growing on them.

I dumped off the slab at Nevada 278, taking it down to connect with US 50 at Eureka.

Now Eureka is a splashy little town out there in the middle of nowhere. I filled up with gas and go a hot coffee while I studied some of the locals as they came and went. Then it was on to Ely, Nevada. By the time I got to Ely I was ready for some food. I located the very same MacDonald’s I ate at 7 years ago on my first trip out here, and scarfed down a steak and egg burrito and a root beer.

Once on the road again I rode on down Hwy 50 a ways and got off to go south on US 93..marked as a scenic bypass..And it was pretty nice. The highway takes you down this huge valley, called Lake Valley, with mountain ranges on both sides, but they appear to be at least 10 miles away on each side. Distances are very deceptive out here.

I got off the US 93 finally after following a Goldwing towing a trailer for some miles. We both exited at the Pioche business loop to get gas and  it turned out to be a woman rider alone on her big ole Goldwing. We chatted for a minute and she said she was from Denver and headed to Las Vegas. I told her I didn’t need to go to Las Vegas this time and was going east over the Cedar City for the night.

After that little encounter at the gas station, I turned east onto Nevada 319 which turned into Utah 56 into Cedar City. The crosswinds on this highway were ferocious! I was doing the perpetual lean and the left sides of my tires are now worn uneven I’m sure. That wind was coming from the south up the valley and it was much like the wind tunnel I rode through near Palm Springs, California.

In Cedar City I rode around a little searching for the KOA which is right on Main Street. I just got through stuffing myself on some really good pulled pork barbeque, a vendor sells here at the campground.

I have a nice shady, grassy campsite and the showers are very clean.

I’m gonna go get one here real soon and get some more sleep. Monument Valley tomorrow!