Moab, UT to Monticello, UT – 57 miles
Yesterday I woke up at around 10. It was the latest I had slept in so far probably for the entire trip. I was groggy, but felt well rested and looking forward to a day of relaxing. I made some coffee and breakfast and hung out inside Teri Ann’s place. Relaxed and rested pretty much all day and then started getting ready to ride back to Monticello at around 5. It was uphill pretty much the whole way so I wasn’t sure how far I was going to make it that night. Luckily I had touched base with a Warmshowers host there as well and it seemed like he was fine with me arrive at anytime throughout the night.
I went into town and loaded up on calories at a burger spot called Milts then hit the grocery store for fuel along the way. Headed back to Teri Ann’s to pack up, say good-bye, and start the journey. I was on the bike by just after 7 PM. Thanks for the hospitality Teri Ann!!
The ride was really pretty, but I was incredibly bored for some reason. I tried to stifle the boredom by calling family, listing to podcasts, listening to music – anything to take my mind off of the seemingly insurmountable climb ahead of me. Something about riding at night feels incredibly lonely, especially in this vast arid landscape. It’s awe-inspiring and beautiful in its own right, but in a completely different way than riding during the day time. Somehow making one feel much more insignificant. Perhaps it’s the lack of traffic and human interaction. Or the constant reminder by way of the stars, moon, and planets (Jupiter and Venus are the first star like objects to appear in the night sky to the west right now – pretty cool) of the fragility of life. I find myself contemplating the inconsequence of our existence on this tiny planet in the vastness that is the universe. At the same time there’s something special about being able to consider these things that seems to be the product of something more than just random chance and physics.
As I passed Wilson Arch (the first arch I saw on the way into Moab) I decided to take a break and hike up to it to see how it looked at night. It was incredible at night. The moon was so bright I could navigate the steep slope without a flashlight. As I reached the arch I saw a car stop at the pull off, so I made my way back down. It was a couple on the road trip from New Mexico to Yellowstone NP. He was taking a few long exposure shots of the arch. He made some really cool shots using a tripod and adjusting the exposure length – made me really want to get a camera other than my phone, so that I could have more flexibility in the images I can capture.
Continuing my ride the wind really started to pick up about 25 miles outside of Monticello and I was getting really tired. It was about 1 am by then, so I considered trying to find somewhere to camp. After exploring a couple of turn offs, and being a bit sketched out about landing on private property due to my experience in Telluride, I decided to just slog through it and pedal on. It was about 15 miles of constant climbing into Monticello and there were a couple of spots that looked suitable for camping in the last 10 miles, but I kept pushing since I was getting so close.
When I got to Brian’s, the Warmshowers host’s place, I considered just setting my tent up in his yard since it was nearly 4 am and I felt a little uncomfortable letting myself in at that hour. In his messages he had said to just let myself in and there were a few lights on and the front and back doors were open, so I decided to go ahead and go inside. The light in the room he had for me was on and I changed out of my biking gear and was asleep almost immediately.
