Our alarm buzzed at midnight after a surprisingly good off-hours sleep. We had breakfast and coffee while packing and watching The Late Late Show in the room and set off at 1:30AM. We were energized to ride and had some cool air (~70F), which made a world of difference.
We rode with only one headlight on whenever reasonable (two for steep hills) in order to conserve the batteries, since we would be riding in the dark for about five hours.
After about 20 miles, we got onto I-15. It is the first interstate we have ridden on, and it was pretty enjoyable, with mostly wide shoulders and little traffic given the time.
The Arizona state line appeared under the moonlight after about 5 miles on the interstate. Here, we crossed into Pacific time. Fun fact: most of Arizona is exempt from Daylight Saving Time, so it switches between MST (winter) and PST(summer).
There was only one sketchy section, going through Virgin River Gorge, which is steep (downhill when riding south) and twisty. It wouldn’t have been bad, but construction caused one lane to be shut down and there was no shoulder in spots. Thankfully, we moved pretty quickly through there, and, whenever there was traffic approaching from behind, we found somewhere to safely pull over. I’m sure we missed some great scenery by doing this at night, but it would have been much worse if we attempted it during the day, with normal traffic volume.
We found ourselves well below 2000′ elevation by the time we made it to Nevada, which is the lowest we’ve been since Kansas.
No good state sign, had to zoom across highway for photo
Just before getting back on I-15, I got another flat tire. I think it’s time to swap my rear tire for the spare I have been carrying! While making the repair, we met a woman named Kelly, who grew up in Las Vegas and still has lots of family there. She is currently living about 75 miles east of it now, but she will be there this weekend for a family barbeque. She kindly offered for us to join her and her family, if we are around. Thank you so much, Kelly!
The miles flew by until we got off the highway and headed towards Overton. We finally arrived around 10AM and rewarded ourselves with McDonalds (we rode 100 miles and still made it in time for breakfast!), which is almost directly across the street from our motel. We will relax for the afternoon until going to sleep around 4, and get up to ride at midnight again, but only for 65 miles tomorrow!
Trip stats, to date (Day 75)
Hurricane, UT to Overton, NV
Daily mileage: 102mi ; Trip total to date: 4,468. 7mi
Daily riding time: 7hr 33min; Trip total time: 385hr 55min
Daily ascent: 2,870 ft; Trip total ascent: 220,728 ft
Flat tires: Rachel – 3; Chris – 4