Day 49: Salt Lake City, UT to Lake Point, UT

Total Distance: 33.2 mi
Moving Avg: 10.2 mph
Moving Time: 3:14

Today was both shorter and longer than expected. Shorter because there
are no motels between here and Wendover (or at least, that was the
consensus. A lot of research went into this. First, I checked the
internet last night. Then I asked at least 3 gas station people, I
checked my GPS, and a guy at Arbys [more on him later] called
relatives in Toole and Grantsville). 

It was longer because getting out of SLC to I-80 where I could get on
took a lot more time than expected. I ended up backtracking almost 5
miles total. I found from the Arbys guy calling the UDOT that the
route I was going to use was closed, so I had to detour a bit. 

So yeah, the Arbys guy. He was this guy I met in Arbys. He was also a
biker, mostly just commuting (13mi/day) but he was thinking of
touring real soon now. He was super nice and helped out a lot by
calling lots of people and getting a whole bunch on info for me. 

Once I did get on to I-80 it was not that pleasant. First off the
traffic was pretty heavy. I was going to despair if the traffic
tomorrow was like that, but it turned out that almost 90% of them were
also getting off here at exit 99. There were also rumble strips. As
rumble strips go, they weren't that bad. That isn't saying much, but
still. One thing this trip has taught me is to always look on the
bright side of everything. Otherwise, I'd just get too depressed to go
on. That sounds rather harsh, I guess, but I don't mean it that way.

The scariest part of the day was a 20' strip of I-80 where the
shoulder narrowed to about 2'. Riding between 75mph traffic and jersey
barriers with only 1' on either side was NOT FUN. Fortunately, it was
short. 

Tomorrow is going to be one of my biggest challenges. I have just
about exactly 100 miles to get to Wendover and only 1 stop for water
in the middle. I'm setting my alarm for 4am. I've never managed to
actually get up early but tomorrow it will be worth it both for
headwinds and the heat. I hope I make it.