Day 2

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Miles: 209.7
Total Riding Time: 7.5 hours
Needles Outpost -> Hanksville

We woke up to a spectacular view. Instant coffee was never better. Cool morning breeze soon began to turn into scorching heat at around 7:30 AM. It took us a while to pack everything as this was our first day of re-packing. We were not ready to roll until 9:30. By the time we were on our bikes, we were burning in our suit. We stopped by Canyonlands visitor center to pick up our National Park passport and our first cancellation stamp. We also made good use of their outlet to charge up our dying camera battery.

Since we were sore from our first day, we took it slow and easy. When we got to Blanding, we knew for sure that there's no way we were ever going to reach California. I phoned my friends that we will have to wait until next time to see them.

After our lunch break, we began our ride of the day on Route 95. The view on this road was amazing! There were turns after turns with amazing backdrops. We pulled over few times because it was just too pretty to ride past it. I used this opportunity to teach Anne what I had learned on the tracks and how to make turns more enjoyable.

Looking back, the best ride of the trip was probably this road. Especially so around Glen Canyon. After countless turns through cliffs on both sides, the road opened up to a massive mountain in the back with a canyon below. Probably a scene I will not forget for a very long time. We stopped up top shortly after to see what we just rode through (see pic).

Unfortunately, this beautiful road was also filled with tar snakes. Probably insignificant to drivers, these bad boys are slippery suckers for motorcyclists. This was Anne's first encounter with these slippery road fills. As a result, the rest of the ride on 95 took us a LONG time. When we got to Hanksville, it was already 5:00 PM.

After riding for the whole day at 100+ weather, we both felt pretty nasty and decided to pull into a trailer park for the night. That shower was oh-so-refreshing. Needless to say, we had to do laundry that evening as well.

今天一早騎去Canyonland 國家公園, 買了一本國家公園護照, 蓋了一個章. 前一天Eric瘋狂亂照相, 所以相機完全沒電了. 還好在國家公園遊客中心廁所前找到一個插頭, 小充一下.

之後騎公路95到Hanksville, 路上的景色實在是沒辦法用言語形容, 一定要親自來看看才有辦法體會. 經過昨天的摧殘, 今天只騎了209.7 miles, 加上天氣又熱 , 所以決定隨便找個地方紮營. 經過一整天120F度 (50C度) 的天氣之後, 洗澡完感覺像在天堂一般.