Baker to Milford : 84 miles - 7.5 hours - 21 cars

On Tuesday, Art and Ben started out at 6 a.m. NV time. After six miles, they crossed into UT and suddenly it was an hour later. So they never got an early start, even though they started out early.

What was Hwy 487 in NV became Hwy 21 in UT. This was truly the loneliest stretch of highway. During the entire ride that day, they saw only 21 cars. It was even lonelier than Hwy 50!

They climbed the long, gradual first hill in the cool of the morning and that was easy. Then they came down into the flats and found the much-mentioned abandoned farmhouse with the single tree in front, and the continuously running hose hanging from the fence. Fellow riders had said, "You can't miss it," and they were right. The boys stopped for a minute to check it out. The farmhouse had a stove, a sink, a bedroom and maybe a bathroom off the back. There were a few dishes in the open cupboard and some salt and pepper. It was located almost exactly halfway between Baker and Milford, before the next big climb began.

With regard to carrying fluids, for several days Art and Ben had each been carrying 32 ozs of Gatorade in addition to three water bottles. They thought that on their long Baker-to-Milford ride they would need more hydration, but it was not to be the case. So they continue to carry two extra pounds each.

After the farmhouse, the climb was steep but relatively short -- Ben the record-keeper, estimates that it was about six miles. The final climb of the day was the real challenge, because by then temperatures had risen, and old Art was worn out. So much to Ben's chagrin, they had to stop several times along the way up. At one point Art yelled, "Let's stop at the top of this next rise!" Ben yelled back, "Oh come on, it's only another mile and a half to the top. Let's just go!" And so they did.

They reached Milford by about 2:30 p.m. local UT time. The high that day was 94 degrees. The miracle was that there was no wind until their final descent into town. They were lucky!

Milford is a mining town without much commerce. The boys checked into the Milford Affordable Motel. Leaving Ben passed out in the motel room, Art ambled over to the one-room public library across the street. There he found 4-5 computers with high-speed Internet access and local town kids gathered around each terminal. The librarian was more than happy to shoo away the kids when Art came in to check his e-mail.

All total, Art and Ben were elated to have ridden 84 miles in about seven and a half hours. On Wednesday, they will ride to Cedar City, UT (pop 20,000) where they will take a day off. I expect that Art will post his own news from there, maybe even with pictures. I will be taking a few days off from the blog, while I attend a reunion in southern CA with members of my Mom's family.