Just when we thought the adventure was over, a new twist comes our way.

I was getting a good night’s sleep until about 2 AM. I woke up to a scratchy sound in the wall next to the headboard of the bed. “Hmmm. Termites,” my half-awake mind said. My mind became fully awake when that scratchy noise started moving. Next there was the sound of something dropping to the floor and then scurrying across the floor. Could it be a mouse? I tried to get back to sleep. Each time I was on the verge of sleep, I would hear another noise. At about 3 AM, I heard some fairly loud noises across the room in the cabinet holding the television. I sat up in bed to see if I could see anything. Pat noticed that I was sitting up in bed. She asked what was wrong and I told her that I thought there were mice in the room. We turned on a light to see better. We didn’t hear or see anything, but we decided to leave the light on, naively thinking it would keep them at bay.

I got to sleep finally. At about 5 AM though, there was a noise in the bedside stand next to Pat. Pat woke up, turned on her bedside light and there was a glimpse of something moving from the lamp to the backside of the stand. “OK, that’s it. I’m done!” she says. I thought she was going to get in the car and drive to our home in Salt Lake City, but what she meant was she was done sleeping in the room. She put on a jacket and stormed over to the lobby.

She came back 5 minutes later with the keys to another room. We took what we needed and walked about four rooms away. I knew there was a chance that this room had mice too, but I didn’t want to mention it. We slept until about 7:30 AM. We spoke to the manager at 8 AM. She was very apologetic and admitted that the mice have been a problem and not just in our room.

As I was getting dressed for the bike ride today, we caught a glimpse of a mouse making a dash from the television cabinet to the bed. I picked up the pace of my preparations. The longer we were here, the creepier it felt.

Unlike the room, the ride was delightful. Sunny skies, calm winds, country roads — a perfect day for the last full day of riding on The Dream Tour. It was nice to start seeing landmarks I know and roads I’ve ridden on before. Mount Nebo, Mount Timpanogos, Twin Peaks — they were all visible, but had clouds hovering around the top and a fresh layer of snow below that.

Total distance:	66.67 miles
Time:	4:38:31
Average speed:	14.4 mph
Maximum speed:	32.3 mph
Total calories:	4288
Average heart rate:	118 bpm
Maximum heart rate:	148 bpm
Total ascent:	1191 feet
Total descent:	1776 feet
Ride profile:	(click on image to view a larger version)
Ride comments: We got a later start today because of the lack of sleep last night caused by a mouse in our motel room. We’re on the home stretch now! Today’s ride was the flattest ride I’ve seen in quite a while. It was nice to start seeing landmarks I know and roads I’ve ridden on before. Even better was the dramatic improvement in weather conditions.

Today’s route was the reverse of the route I took back on March 20, the third day of The Dream Tour. That was two hundred and fifteen days ago. On that day, I rode from Nephi to Delta, Utah. My entry for that day started like this:

Here’s the profile of today’s ride: wind and sun, wind and rain, snow, then snow and howling wind. Rinse and repeat three times.

I recall it was a pretty miserable day, weatherwise. Well, today was pretty miserable too. Except today the sun never made an appearance from behind the clouds and the rain never turned to snow. It was close to being snow, I think, but it was rain the whole day. I did, however, see chunks of snow fall off of a couple trucks that went by early in the day.

The first 15 miles or so of today’s ride were dry. It had rained all night, but it stopped by about 9 AM and we took that as a sign that we should get going. When we took a turn to the east to head through a mountain range to Nephi, the rain and wind started. The wind was a cross-wind most of the time, so it wasn’t much of a problem. The rain was nothing more than a sprinkle most of the time, but there was a 5 or 6 mile stretch where the rain was coming down pretty hard. I managed to stay warm for the rest of the ride only by not stopping any more than necessary. As a result, I don’t have any photos from the ride today. I think that’s a Dream Tour first.

Total distance:	50.43 miles
Time:	3:41:32
Average speed:	13.7 mph
Maximum speed:	35.9 mph
Total calories:	3224
Average heart rate:	123 bpm
Maximum heart rate:	149 bpm
Total ascent:	1867 feet
Total descent:	1368 feet
Ride profile:	(click on image to view a larger version)
Ride comments: We got a later start today because we’re now in the Mountain timezone and also because it was raining pretty hard early this morning. By about 9 AM, it looked much drier so we got started. It stayed dry until we headed east to cross a range of mountains on Highway 6. It rained pretty hard for a while and then it got cold and windy. I stayed warm though by not stopping any more than absolutely necessary.

After a rest day in Baker, it was time to finally cross the Utah border, the state where we began this adventure seven months ago.

When you cross the Utah border from Nevada on Highway 50, the first sign you see is a sign that reads “Next Services 83 miles”. The next lodging available to us is more like 100 miles. I was not looking forward to such a long ride, even after a rest day, because in the last few days I’ve developed an annoying cough. It doesn’t bother me too much except when I breathe deeply or laugh. The former happens to be something I’m doing quite a bit of these days.

This cough is something Pat came down with as we were passing through Montana back in early September. She’s over it now, but it took close to a month for it to go away.

Anyway, I was very happy to have some help on this 100 mile ride today. My friend Paul, a very strong cyclist, and his wife Christine came down yesterday afternoon so Paul could ride with me today.

We got started at about 8:30 AM and it was a great day for cycling. It was cool, probably in the 40’s when we started, sunny, and almost no wind. We stopped at the border to take a few photos to mark the occasion of us crossing the border, and then we headed off onto Utah’s version of Highway 50. It actually looked pretty much like Nevada’s version, but the shoulders were noticably narrower.

Pat and Christine had stopped in the Confusion Range of mountains (about 43 miles into the ride) so Paul and I could refill our water bottles. When we stopped there, I commented that I thought the mountains were particularly beautiful. Christine thought maybe I’ve just been away from home too long. I’m sure she’s right about that, but I was thankful for the opportunity to be away from home so I could appreciate the mountains again.

Paul and I had some headwinds through the mountains, but when we started a long gradual descent towards Sevier Lake, we made a small turn towards the north and the winds were more at our backs. For about 20 miles, we enjoyed the tailwind and being able to carry on a conversation while cruising along at about 23 miles an hour.

I had just commented to Paul that I thought the wind had shifted from being at our right shoulders to being at our left shoulders when suddenly the wind stopped completely for a second and then we got a huge blast of cold air right in our faces. A few seconds after that, we were working hard to maintain 14 miles an hour. This was the shift in the winds that the weather forecast had predicted for today. So, we knew it was coming and the dark rainclouds in front of us told us the shift would be coming soon. For the remaining 36 miles of the ride, we fought against the headwind. Have I mentioned that Paul is a pretty strong cyclist? For 65 miles or so, Paul and I shared the extra work involved in the lead position, but as the miles added up, it became harder for me to share the load. When the headwinds really kicked in the last 35 miles, all I could do was take brief pulls at the front so that Paul would have a chance to rest and take a drink of water. Thanks for your help, Paul!

Total distance:	97.48 miles
Time:	7:04:59
Average speed:	13.8 mph
Maximum speed:	35.1 mph
Total calories:	6223
Average heart rate:	125 bpm
Maximum heart rate:	177 bpm
Total ascent:	2583 feet
Total descent:	3277 feet
Ride profile:	(click on image to view a larger version)
Ride comments: A nice day for riding. My friend Paul came out today to help me through this very long ride. We had about 20 miles at the beginning with little wind, then we had about 25 miles of headwinds, then 20 miles of tailwind. We finished up with 36 miles of strong headwinds. As we began struggling against the final stretch of headwind, we watched a large storm cloud pass in front of us from west to east. We never got wet though!

I knew it would happen. I raved about the great weather in yesterday’s entry on the web site and today, the weather changed. It was colder and cloudy and it looked like it might rain as I left Ely this morning.

By mid-morning though, I could see that the sun was trying to come out. By the time I was making my way up Connors Pass (7722 feet), I could see my shadow, but just barely.

I stopped about a mile from the top of Connors Pass to take a rest and a photo of the scenery. As I was doing this, a young couple came walking down the mountain. I figured they were on their way to a nearby trailhead. As they passed, I said good morning. They returned the greeting and the woman said that my wife was just around the corner. She added a congratulations for being so close to finishing my tour of the 48 contiguous states.

I replied, “I guess she must have told you about The Dream Tour.”

She said “No. We asked.” I guess that makes sense because how often do you see a minivan like the BayerMobile?

I noticed that they had backpacks on. The backpacks were much bigger than you would need for a day hike. I asked them where they were headed. They said San Francisco. That got my attention. I asked them where they started. They said they started in April in Delaware! Wow! What an adventure!

I rode the rest of the way to the summit of Conner Pass. At the summit, I found Pat and the two touring cyclists, Bill and Art. We got to talking about Chicago, probably because Pat is originally from Chicago and Art is planning a trip to the Chicago area soon to visit family. I mentioned to Art that when he’s in the Chicago area, he should stop by Turin Bicycle in Evanston and say hi to my friend Chris Mailing. Bill chimes in “I know Chris Mailing!”

Bill shared some details about Chris Mailing that convinced me that he and I knew the same Chris Mailing. As it turns out, Bill and Chris knew each other from years ago when Chris lived in New York City. They saw each other not too long ago at a bicycle trade show of some kind. It truly is a small world!

We’re staying in Baker, Nevada tonight. We’ll be here Sunday night too, making tomorrow that very last rest day on The Dream Tour.

Tomorrow afternoon, my friend Paul and his wife, Christine, are driving down from Salt Lake to meet us in Baker, Nevada. Paul, a very strong cyclist, and I will do a long 100-mile ride to Delta, Utah on Monday. You might remember Paul. He’s the guy I wrote about back on September 10. He had finished in third place in his age group in the annual Logan to Jackson Classic, a 206-mile, one-day bicycle race from Logan, Utah to Jackson, Wyoming.

It’s so nice of Paul and Christine to come down. They’ll be the first Salt Lake City friends that we have seen since we left town back in March. Also, it will be a great help to me to have Paul along on this long ride on Monday. I’m sure I could do the ride alone, but it will be so much harder alone and it will be so much more fun having someone along.

Total distance:	62.61 miles
Time:	4:53:55
Average speed:	12.8 mph
Maximum speed:	32.6 mph
Total calories:	3585
Average heart rate:	112 bpm
Maximum heart rate:	152 bpm
Total ascent:	3179 feet
Total descent:	4264 feet
Ride profile:	(click on image to view a larger version)
Ride comments: Two big climbs today, Connors Pass (7722 feet) and Sacramento Pass (7154 feet). Cold and cloudy in the morning, but there was some sun by mid-day to warm things up a bit.

I’ve learned some more details about the ride on the final day of The Dream Tour.

First, I decided on a 2:00 PM arrival time. This should give anybody who’s riding with me time to get back home before it gets dark (sunset is at 6:41 PM on October 19). Also, if the weather isn’t so great, 2 PM is likely to be close to the warmest part of the day.

* The actual return will not be at the Utah Diabetes Center, but it will be near it. This is so we don’t interfere with normal daytime activities at the clinic. It might be in the parking lot or it might be across the street, I’m not sure yet because those details haven’t been worked out yet. I’ll post an update to this as soon as I find out.