Kiki Bikes Across America

Thursday, July 23rd – Hite, UT (Lake Powell) to Flaming Gorge, Wyoming (Buckboard Campground)

I woke up at 3:15am and then Chase slowly got up – we ate a bagel and then slowly started up the road out of the camping area to Route 95. Chase was really sluggish and looked like he was about to die. I waited up for him several times along the 2.5 mile hill to the main road and asked if he wanted to just wait and not ride. He looked pathetic and dead practically. He was completely drained and exhausted, yet was still drinking tons of water. We got to the main road and stopped and then Chase sat down and rested and before we knew it, we were on the side of the road for 2 hours just laying down and he started to fall asleep. I tried to get us a ride to Hanksville because he wasn’t feeling well enough to bike and was just too drained. The unfortunate thing was there was almost no traffic whatsoever. We saw maybe 4 cars in 2 hours, and 3 of them going the wrong way. One going the way we needed to go, but they didn’t have space and said they were just going to find cell service.

Chase not feeling so great and sleeping on the side of the road while we hope for someone to let us hitch-hike to Hanksville

So onward we went and left about 8:00 and slowly started biking. We had a few nice hills to climb and then about 10 miles in, we stopped so Chase could take a break and try and feel better. He was still feeling pretty crumby and all and then he rested on a bank on the side of the road and before I knew it, he had fallen asleep. I stayed awake in case a truck came by that would be able to give us a ride to Hanksville. A short bit later a truck came by pulling a boat – I tried to flag him down and he didn’t want to stop, but then did. It was an older man and he was pretty skeptical of me and Chase. He was asking questions about if I was Christian, if Chase was, and if I was with a guy or girl, and then saying that in today’s world, I shouldn’t be hitch-hiking. It was a bit weird…and then he said he’d give us a ride if he could preach to us about God. While we were talking to him and trying to figure out if and how we could fit our bikes and gear in his boat, another pick-up truck stopped to see if he could help.

Jack's truck piled with camping stuff and then our bikes and gear!

The other pick-up was pretty full, but we seemed to think it’d be better if we got a ride with him instead of the older man. The young guy and his kid are on vacation and heading to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. So that sounded great, especially since Chase and I talked about the possibility or feasibility of getting to the Transamerican Route. So we swapped our bags out of the first truck into the second and piled into the truck with Jack and his 7-year old son David. The truck’s completely full and piled high both in the bed and in the cab. Off we go to Hanksville. There we discuss our option to continue to Yellowstone National Park with Jack and David or to stay in Hanksville and rest and hope that Chase has it in him to continue through the desert of Nevada and the rest of Utah.

Welcome to Wyoming!

We decide to continue on for the adventure and see what happens – we’ll pick up with the original Transamerican Route in Yellowstone and then ride to Astoria, Oregon most likely. We’ll figure that out later once we see some maps and can figure out how many miles it is to Astoria from Yellowstone. I imagine we’ll tack on some extra miles going this way as our ride from southern Utah into Wyoming was really just north bound for 700 miles or so, so we didn’t gain or lose any miles east or west. It’s been a great ride thus far and we just crossed into Wyoming – who would have expected we’d be here on this ride? At least we’ll now escape the desert and get into more scenic areas in Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.

Our campsite at Buckboard Campground in Flaming Gorge, Wyoming

We pull into the campground around 8pm or shortly before and set up camp, then start to cook food. Jack had hamburgers, BBQ chips, grapes, striper fish from Lake Powell (the older man who stopped to give us a ride had caught it and gave one to Jack). We finished the night up with a campfire and smores and then off to bed.

Let the adventures continue!

GPS Stats (hitch-hiking + biking):
366.16 miles
08:02 moving time

Computer Stats (bicycle-riden portion):
11.54 miles
01:30:54 moving time
7.5 avg speed
40.0 max speed