July 31, 1999

TRUCK RIDE

Today didn't turn out like I had hoped it would when I started out from Vernal, Utah. For the past couple of days, I noticed that the headset was getting loose again. I had been told that this might happen after some of the excess headset grease came out. I hadn't been able to locate a bike shop and I knew that the next one wouldn't till either Craig or Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Because of the headset problem it took a little longer than I planned to ride the thirty-one miles to the Colorado state line. I crossed into Colorado around 11:50 a.m. Once passed the state line, the roads in Colorado were a lot better it seemed to me because there wasn't the continuous rumble strip that wobbled from one side of the shoulder to the next. I wondered if the person driving the vehicle that made the strips was a little drunk when he made the strip.

I was getting a bit concerned about the headset more and more. It would be at least a hundred miles to Craig. I didn't think that I could make it safely so I decided to see if I could get a ride.

In about an hour and a half and seven miles walked including a flat tire that needed to be fixed, I finally got a ride with somebody with a pickup truck. A father and his two sons were going to Craig to attend a wedding. There wasn't any room in the cab so I had to sit in the back of the truck with the bike.

It was really strange speeding along the highway over sixty-five miles per hour sitting backwards to the direction you was going. I'm glad that I was able to get the ride since there wasn't really any good place to stop along the way.

We got into Craig around 3:50 p.m. We were able to find the local bike shop but I missed them by just eight minutes according to the sign and there was no emergency numbers listed. Steamboat Springs was another fourty miles and I would try to get there after church tomorrow.

I found my way over to the police station to see if they could help me get in contact with a minister. I was surprised when they told me that they had gotten in contact with the local ministerial alliance who had offered to get me a room for the night at the local Holiday Inn on the west end of town.