Cedar City

Entering Utah was like driving into a beautiful story book. The flatness of the Nevada landscape gave way to rolling green hills and snow, capped mountains in the background. We drove into the town of Cedar City, a former mining town. We had decided that going to Moab would be too long a drive and this would be a good half way stop. This was the original plan but the more we thought about it we needed to spend at least a week in the Moab area and we would not make it in just one day. So we decided we would go directly to Salt Lake City and have an extra day to see friends there instead.
We found the Koa to be in the middle of the city. We drove in, found our tent site, set up our tent and headed for the pool. It wasn't a large one but it was cool and refreshing non-the-less. There was a large public laundromat on the property and we had it was easy to get out laundry done.
We returned to our camp to find a young couple setting up their tent near us and we got to know them. Chris and Lauren originated in Main took a plane to San Fransisco and rode on their bikes over Donner Pass, through Carson City, across the desert all the way to Cedar City. Lauren was looking at the map given to them by a local friend who was a distance rider. It showed them all the less traveled roads that would be safer for bikes to ride. They usually stayed with people along the way having connected to the sight on line. They both carried Blackberry phones to stay connected and sent e-mail and blog notes. Their blog is wheel horse with no name. She uses Blogspots as I do. Lauren commented on the difficulty of riding long distance in the dust so I gave her my windsurfing glasses that were more like goggles. I hope they will help as she had a long way to go.
They had met two other riders who were leaving later as they usually road faster so that way they would all meet at the next point of destination. Lauren commented that one of the fellows was boxer and he was riding a bike with only one gear. We thought that was amazing thinking of the high hills and mountains they would have to cross. In the morning we found that both fellows came to the campsite late in the night and we saw them still asleep in their sleeping bags. We wished them luck as we drove off to our next destination, Salt Lake City