Friday June 30, 2006 48 miles - Total so far: 1,226 miles

At the risk of sounding repetitive, today started off with yet another 20 plus miles of uphill cycling to reach the town of Monticello, Utah, where we coincidentally reached 1,200 miles completed (30% of our trip!). As is our custom, we continue to mark every 10% milestone by painting our mileage completed on an object found on the roadside.

We then enjoyed a well-earned breakfast at the Spurs Restaurant. David noticed the impressive belt buckle our young waitress, Seantae, was wearing and she said it was won by her father in a rodeo competition before she was born. A few minutes later her father, Eddie, came over to our table to chat.

We learned that he was a Utah high school state champion rodeo rider and placed fifth in the national competition. We can recommend this restaurant to hungry cyclists looking for a good home style meal.

After breakfast we turned to the east towards Colorado. Riding along I started kidding David about leaving a string of broken hearts in towns across the west. He replied by breaking into song with his rendition of "The Wanderer" by Dion: "I'm the type of guy who will never settle down...I'm never in one place, I roam from town to town...and when I find myself falling for some girl..." Mercifully, the song was interupted by the shout of a construction worker by the side of the road... "Sounds like all talk to me". I was laughing so hard I almost fell off my bike. Where did that guy come from?

Today we kissed the desert goodbye and are moving into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We look forward to cooler weather, forested vistas, and mountain streams.