In the morning, Alex and I packed up, left the park, and headed south. We stopped in Monticello to grab some coffee and breakfast at a café that had a sign for internet. We parked the bikes, turned off the engines, and then noticed a pavilion across the street packed with people doing the “YMCA” dance. Some from their group were also grilling pancakes and naturally we needed to find out what was going on.
We strolled over and just tried to make conversation with the first person we could. We were met by a very friendly lady in a homemade t-shirt that read “Gail Family.” She explained, as if it were the greatest event on earth, that it was a family reunion and that we were welcome to stay and be a part of the festivities.
It must have been written all over our faces because she immediately offered us some fresh pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit, juice, milk, etc.! What a blessing. We sat under the pavilion and chowed down. They were very eager to talk, and were very friendly and hospitable to us their new guests.
They were a part of the LDS church, and as we would find out over the next few days, Mormons are extremely kind and generous people. We filled our stomachs, a real answer to prayer, and then went back to the café for coffee and internet.
We sat off after donning our raingear in preparation for the afternoon storms that seemed to be forming in the distance. This turned out to be wise because we hit a heavy, short rain blast that lasted about 20 minutes before allowing us to emerge to sunny, blue skies to the west. We were surrounded by the red cliffs of a canyon that led us down to and across the Colorado River. Massive wind gusts swirling and unseen nearly knocked us off the bikes. Alex was sure that if his chin strap wouldn’t have been there, the wind would have taken his helmet right off.
The strong winds not only tested our balance but also affected our fuel economy, and Alex and I both switched to reserve a bit early. Alex eventually ran out of gas completely before we reached the next filling station. Fortunately, he had gas in the external tanks that we carry and was able to make it the remaining miles to fill up.
The drive into Capitol Reef was nice. Twisty, curvy roads ran between a variety of stone forms and colors. There were lumpy, white forms and tall red cliffs. Capitol Reef is especially interesting because of the preserved historical Mormon settlement of Fruita that remains and is a primary attraction in the park. We arrived with the trip odometer reading 6430 miles.
On a search for food, Alex spotted a fly shop and went in to pick the brain of the cashier for some public access. He must have been rather charming because her advice led us down a dirt road to some of the best fishing on the trip to date. The little stream that hugged the side of red cliffs that rose above it was full of beautiful brown trout that were feeding off of the top water. We caught a few nice fish on dry flies and then retired due to the lowering sun.
On our way back to the Capitol Reef campground we stopped at a local hotel to soak in their hot tub. The worker staffing the front desk didn’t seem to mind and was busy talking on his cell phone. We changed in the laundry room and enjoyed 20 minutes of relaxation and cleaning, what I call a “chemical bath.”
Back at the campground we set up the tent to dry from the night before and made some hot chocolate to enjoy before catching some zzz’s.
In the morning, we decided to go on a run. We had been eying the LDS youth group next to us and their breakfast. Our other neighbors must have seen our longing looks because as we were leaving for our run they invited us over for bagels and cereal. We gratefully accepted their generosity and enjoyed the food and fellowship. They even sent us off with five extra bagels for the road.
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