JUNE 20 A FATHER'S DAY SURPRISE

The early morning rides out of these small Western towns is always a special part of each biking day. It is so peaceful. The only active people it seems are the AbB bikers, ablaze in multi-colored jerseys carving through the traffic-less streets. We stop at red lights in empty intersections looking at the store fronts and fast food joints. We have done this for 15 glorious days of good weather (what's a litttle wind?). We know we are lucky.

The route today took us 67 miles East on route 6 and 191 to Green River, Utah, "The Desert Treasure" according to the Chamber of Commerce.

The "Father's Day Surprise" was announced to us at last night's route rap, so we all had a reason to get to the motel early. Jim, David, Mike, John and I "pushed" and we had the bikes in the barn at noon! It was a fast day through changing landscapes. First, we had fenced ranch land on both sides of the road. Then it changed to a barren desert-like scene with eroded sandstone mountains, stratified to give a Grand Canyon appearance. I thought it captivating and unique, but it was nothing compared to what was to come.

The motel had made box lunches for all of us, since we were in no-man's-land, and our only stop would be a SAG. We had lunch at 9:30 am, only 2 hours into the ride because of our speed. At the SAG, I noticed several peoople on their cell phones calling "Dad." Jim (FL) marked Happy Father's Day in the sand and had me take a picture to be emailed to his dad. As I rode I thought a lot about my father--and all he meant to us. I also thought about Betty...of course.

The big event of the day was the "surprise" offer by AbB to take us to Moab, UT in the vans. Moab is the mecca to mountain bikers and a big tourist attraction. Located here is the PHENOMENAL Arches National Park. What a beautiful monument park to the forces of nature. We hiked 3 miles to the "Delicate Arch" (seen on Utah license plates). We took pictures of the incredible red-rock formations. It should be the 8th wonder of the world!

Arches National Park

Graceful Arch

Under the Delicate Arch

Willie (CA) has compiled some stats of our first 2 weeks of the journey:

• Total miles to date: 1041
• Total elevation gain: 34,700 ft---about 7 miles up! (An UNADVERTISED SPECIAL of AbB is that the total elevation gain across the country is over 96,000 ft)
• We have spent 80 hours "in the saddle".

Since the beginning of our cross country trip on June 6 we have seen and done so much, with so much more out there in front of us.

         - Bill

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