A Bike Riding Adventure

 We haven't traveled much this spring break. When I proposed to the kids that I could take them to Cedar City for the afternoon and the next day go skiing, they said no. (In a few years, they might wonder about passing up a paid ski trip!). So I went out for a run, and when I came back, they had a plan. They wanted to bike alone to Ely.

"We've figured it out by math, Mom," said Desert Boy. He explained that if they left by 8:30 in the morning, they should arrive by 8:30 at night, covering the 64 miles. That's because they could ride 16 miles for the Wheel-a-thon (a school fundraiser) in three hours. I was impressed, they were actually doing some logical thinking. They might have left out going over two mountain passes, but they did have headlamps packed and blinky lights for the bikes, front and back.

So I said what any good mom would say. "Okay, you can go, but I'm going to go with you." They were surprised by that. And then I made them reduce the weight in their backpacks. We didn't really need a hatchet. Or a book for reading. Or two changes of clothes. Or sand from the broken snow globe. But they had water and food.

We put on sunscreen and saddled up and started out of town.

Desert Girl wasn't as convinced that riding for 12 hours was that great of an idea. "Why don't we go to the Border Inn instead?"

Desert Boy resisted. I told them we could wait until we got to the cutoff road to decide. And less than two miles later, when we got to the cutoff road, we were all unanimous. The Border Inn would be our destination.

We turned and enjoyed a delightful downhill. Desert Girl rang her bell, honked her horn, and sang. We kept an eye out for burrowing owls and kit foxes. We didn't see any, but the clouds were beautiful. We were under a wind advisory for later in the day, so the clouds moved fast.

We took a break, and the kids still had smiles.

Then it was onto the highway.

Even the highways out here have cattle guards.

I was very nervous about them riding on the highway with a speed limit of 70 and no shoulders. Fortunately there was very little traffic, and everyone that passed us moved into the other lane.

A strong tail wind propelled us to the Border Inn quickly.

Desert Girl rode to the Utah sign. We rode to another state!

Just past it was the "Next Services 83 miles" sign. Desert Girl mimicked a reaction. It might not have been too bad a ride with the tail wind. But we were ready for a break.

So we went inside and had brunch. Yum!

We took the back way to return home. This time we had to bike into the wind.

Desert Girl was not happy. Tears were shed.

We had a long break at the Stop sign. It's the beginning of the runway and also marks the ranch property boundary.

After more tears and more wind, we made it home. It was a good 3.5-hour adventure. I was so glad the kids had decided to do something outside.

And Desert Boy already has his alarm set to go do more bike training tomorrow morning.