Day 12: Earth, Wind, and Fire (and Water) (Nevada/Utah Border to Milford, UT - 85 miles)

Our day started off pretty early so we could complete the 85 mile journey to Milford by mid-afternoon. We knew the route had a couple of climbs, so we wanted to get some rest after arriving. The first 8 miles came with a straight-on headwind, which we handled fine, seeing as it was still early. After we turned to head southeast into Utah, we were greeted with a flat tire and a steady wind in our faces, with 30-40 mph gusts. Not deterred, we trudged along, feeling like we were pushing up some of our favorite Nevada passes. We became especially creative in our alternative options: making a sail out of our tent, turning around and detouring through central Utah, or even camping on the side of the road, but we knew our best option was to stay the course and chug along to Milford. We passed some motorcyclists on the side of the road and talked to them for a few minutes, as they pointed out the storm clouds moving in overhead were looking pretty nasty. At this point, we just wanted to make it to Milford in one piece without our muscles taking a vacation or the skies opening up. As the miles and hours passed, we climbed up the typical 5 mile long hills and coasted down the backsides, while counting down the miles until our last descent into Milford. The skies finally opened up, but to our surprise, we were treated to a short, refreshing mist that actually came at a good time, during our last climb. The climb took a little over an hour, but after we crested the top, we coasted down into Milford with high spirits, elated that we had made it through the day. 

Looking behind us, the skies began clearing and we caught some beautiful views of the sky.

The kind people at the Oak Tree Inn donated us a room for the night, which has a jacuzzi and an awesome diner. After walking down to Subway for dinner #1, we could feel our stomachs craved real food after the endless slew of trail mix and granola bars all day, so we hit up the diner for dinner #2. Some of life's simple pleasures, such as cell phone service, clean sheets, and breakfast for dinner, really make us excited nowadays. Unfortunately, it looks like the wind is going to be pretty strong tomorrow too, but we only have a 53 mile stretch to Cedar City. Regardless, we'll be taking it slow.

Oh, and the fire part. We need to watch out for forest fires in Colorado. That could make things interesting.