St. George, UT to Overton, NV

Today was hot. Like 110 degrees plus hot. And with nary a bit of shade to be found. David, Marcus, Trent and I set out together and cruised until Marcus got a flat at mile 13. It was there that David noticed a huge gaping hole in his tire and so we were forced to wait for sweep to bring the spare tire. We were there for over an hour and lost lots of cool weather riding time. We had to stop again at mile 20, after quite a few miles of uphill, because Marcus' tire had a gash. Since the sweep tire was already in use we had to patch his with Cliff bar wrappers. We used our last tube and headed off towards lunch, which was fortunately downhill the last 15 miles or so.

We were at lunch for upwards of 2 hrs as we waited for Marcus to change his tire. I was less than patient regarding this endeavor.

We stopped at the state line, but because we were on back roads the only sign was on the highway. So...what's a group of B&B'ers to do besides clamber through a barbed wire fence and run across 6 lanes of traffic to get a state line sign picture. Totally worth it. :)

We stopped at a gas station to get some ice for our packs and then headed on to second lunch. There was a long series of rolling hills that you could see stretching out before you. And finally making it to lunch under the shade of a highway overpass was a huge relief. However, as soon as we were ready to leave...sans Trent who hopped in the van...Marcus noticed he had a flat. He changed it, only to instantly get another. So he took Tova's wheel and we headed off.

The last 25 miles or so went pretty quickly as we made it a point to keep conversation flowing. We stopped 3 times to pump and pray that Marcus' tire would hold. It did, sort of.

I'm not sure I've ever felt such effects of heat on my body before yesterday. It was a rude awakening after numerous short days in a row. It was also our first ride day in a row of 6.

But, when it's all said and done, a shower and dinner never fail to put things in perspective. Yesterday was just harder than others.