Dawn produced fire over the mountains as we left Delta. East on Route 50, we watched awestruck as the sky changed from a star show only a desert can produce to an orange and red seeping of light on the craggy horizon. This was what we rode toward. As the sun rose, light pierced the clouds and sent pink shafts toward earth as if Heaven was opening up.
The cloud cover kept the temperature in the fifties for a few hours. We were so cold, double layers and gloves were the order. Small rock formations and canyons began cropping up to remind us that we were in Utah.
Quickly the clouds disappeared and we needed to unleather. From 50 to 90 in 15 minutes! At Salina, 50 joins 70 and cuts through The San Rafael Swell to Green River. At 110 miles of highway with out services, this is the longest stretch of Interstate in the US where there is no gas. We saw one poor soul pushing his motorcycle up a hill about five miles from Salina.
Immediately we were thrown into another world. First we were enchanted by The Salt Wash - a bedding of smoothly sandpapered stones worn down by time. We walked out to the edge of the world and looked over.
The San Rafael Swell, a jagged ridge at the edge of nowhere, took us to even greater heights, figuratively and literally. Buttes, monoliths and canyons, with multicolored prehistory, rose around us in a spiritual display that lasted for miles. My heart rose to the beauty of this natural phenomenon and I understood why humans throughout history found this to be a mystically holy place. I hugged Jules tighter as we rose and fell through curves and canyons, feeling so blessed that we could share this day.
At the Spotted Wolf Canyon, modern engineering joined ancient geology. A view point suspended us over the highway below where a miracle of road construction presented itself. Cutting through massive walls of stone, highway 70 wound out before us.
Out of the Swell and into Colorado, we began some serious sweltering. Stopped in Fruitvale for lunch and air conditioning where a cute and chatty waitress clued us into a ride over Grand Mesa, the largest Mesa in the US. Again, we challenged the thermometer and Magic. Starting at about 4000 feet and 100 degrees, we reached the summit of 10,000 plus at fifty. Rain clouds threatened, but the few drops that fell did nothing but cool us.
Careening down the mountain as heat rose from the valley, we decided it was time to chill. We have found our Garden of Eden in Cedaredge. A gem of a motel/resort/nirvana sits by a rock tossed stream. Appropriately called the Cedaredge Lodge, the owners, operators, and maintenance crew, Donna and Gary, have revitalized an aging motel of 9 units into a charming place to stay and play. We drank wine, in a swing on the bank of the stream, watching the sun set. Then a delicious meal by the fire, where we thoroughly enjoyed the company of our attentive hosts.
From sunrise to sunset, our ride has been one of complete elation. As we sleep tonight, the sound of the lulling brook is the amen to a prayer of a day.
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