Day 16 -- Green River, UT to Grand Junction, CO

Miles: 101.17
Total Miles: 1164.37
Time: 6:15
Average Speed: 16.1 mph
Max Speed: 40.3 mph
Flats Today: 2
Total Flats: 5
Elevation Gain: 3345 ft
Weather: Head winds changing to tail winds around 90 degrees

Last night at route rap, they changed the mileage for today from 96 miles to 101 miles. So, we got to ride another century today. Thus far, every century we've had a flat... today, I had 2. It was just more of those little wires that are hardly visible, so it's just bad luck to get one in your tire. Those flats only happen on the Interstate or other major highways that trucks travel on. Today, we were on I-70 the whole day... We could just take that all the way to Dayton if we wanted. I-70 had chip and seal shoulders in Utah, Bob Geuy must have told them his success on maintenance of the shoulders. I hope Bob didn't tell anyone else his secret. Anyway, we rode without much wind for 5 miles, then it hit. We had a head wind all the way to the first sag stop about 25 miles in. Also, there wasn't much new scenery for the first 40 miles, so the wind was rough during those 25 miles to the sag stop. After the stop, the wind changed. It was calm or possibly a slight tail wind at first, but we were happy with anything other than a headwind. We were about 50 miles in when we realized we hadn't taken a picture yet. Almost immediately after we realized it, there was an abandoned trailer on the side of the highway. I, being so strong, lifted it up while Wade took a picture. I don't want to show off my strength, but that thing had to way about 3 tons.

After our first picture, we went about 5 miles before the first of the 2 flats occurred. It was on my rear tire, so I removed the wheel, changed the tire, and right before Wade began to pump it, a sag vehicle came with a real floor pump and we pumped it up with that pumped. Wade got lucky, but his guns didn't get the work out. We rode about 15 more miles to the second sag stop. Our cue sheet said that the sag stop was at mile 67, but we saw the van at mile 65 when we were already past the exit. So, we hopped over the guard rail and went down the hill to get on the road below. Don't worry, not everyone on this trip is that stupid... we were the only ones to miss it. At the sag stop they told us that this would be the last time we would be on the Interstate. So, when we got a few miles past the sag, we stopped to take a picture of some of the obstacles that we have to constantly dodge on the Interstate. We'll never look at the Interstate the same... especially the shoulders. We'll be driving down the Interstate when we get back home and all we'll be talking about is how we would hate to ride on that shoulder, or how rough that shoulder looks. You won't want to ride in a car with us for the first week we get back. Anyway, we rode about 5 more miles and we came upon a large sign that welcomed us to Colorado. We took a bunch of pictures, and we even turned around and zoomed in on the "Welcome to Utah" sign on the other side of the highway since there was only a line between Nevada and Utah. Just a couple miles past the sign, I got the second of my 2 flats. This time it was on the front tire, so it was easier to change. I took off the wheel changed the tire, and just as Wade was about to pump it up with our hand pump, a sag vehicle came with a real pump. He is the luckiest kid I know, but instead of celebrating about the van coming he says, "Dang it, now I can't work out my biceps." What a little runt.

After the second flat we continued up and down some rolling hills, then at the bottom of one of the hills we saw a great view of the Colorado River with some hills in the background. We took some pictures since we didn't have many today, then we rode about 5 more miles to a rest stop. At the rest stop there was a very nice Vietnam Memorial. We took some pictures there and I told Wade about some of the things I remembered about the war. That's another clue that I'm getting older... I'm starting to tell stories of my childhood. We had a little snack there, then we got back on I-70 for our final stretch on the Interstate. We decided to take a picture of the I-70 sign to prove we were on I-70 in Colorado. After our last Interstate experience, we got off and almost got lost. Luckily Fran was with us to show us the right way. When we got on the road that was eventually going to lead to our hotel, we came upon 3 different round-a-bouts. Since I know how much M-John "Super Traffic Hero" loves round-a-bouts, we had to take some pictures. Wade, being his talented self, took action pictures while still riding his bike. Don't worry Joan, there wasn't much traffic. After a couple more miles, we came to our hotel and immediately jumped into the pool. Today was a great century, and tomorrow we start the Rockies.