Sunday June 16:  Price, Utah to Green River, Utah
Distance:  67.2 miles
Total time:  6 hours 9 minutes
Riding time:  4 hours 9 minutes

Given that today was a relatively short day, and that it was net downhill, we slept in and didn't get started until about 8:00 a.m.  A luxury.

Here are some of the team warming up in the hotel parking lot before the ride:

Here are Dave from Walnut Creek, Loic from San Jose, and Allan from the UK before liftoff:

A half mile after leaving the hotel, we ran into a "road closed" sign.  We considered riding ahead anyway, but it turns out that the bridge was under construction and had a considerable gap.  Bad idea.  But six cyclists with GPS were able to plot an alternate course and we were soon under way again.  Two of our teammates weren't so lucky - they went 12 miles out of their way before they found they were off course.  A rough start to the day.

Nine miles into the ride we passed the 1,000 mile mark.  Jamie from Maine and I were riding together.  He took the picture of me in front of the sign, and I took the selfie of both of us:

Not long after hitting 1,000 miles, we couldn't resist pulling off the road when we saw this sign:

The Jerky Guy was alone in the desert, 20 miles in either direction from the nearest civilization.  His answers to our many questions didn't really illuminate his marketing strategy for being out there, but a lot of the guys bought jerky from him.  You could choose from buffalo, deer and antelope.  This is the Jerky Guy with Michael, who was a customer:

The Jerky Guy's entrepreneurial spirit was not limited to jerky.  He also owns the only outhouse within 40 miles, and it's use doesn't come cheap.  Can you read the hand-written sign?

We rode through miles and miles of desert.  It wasn't salt flats like the western part of the state, but rather desert with very scrubby vegetation, flanked by high buttes - the kind you see in John Wayne movies.

We rode parallel to these rock formations for forty miles.  Ironically, the only real rain we've encountered in 14 days of cycling was in this region, which as I say is desert and only gets 9 inches of rain per year.

We were able to make very good time today - the route was net downhill and the wind was at our backs most of the day.  We were often cruising at 20 miles per hour, which is clipping along when you're riding long distances.  Still, we stopped to rest and admire the scenery, and to give our bikes a rest as well.

Jamie is the most dedicated photographer in our small riding group, and he took this shot of Michael and me late in the ride.

After cresting a small hill three-quarters of the way through today's ride, we saw the Rockies for the first time, far in the distance.  If you look closely you can see the snow caps on the highest peaks:

Soon after spotting the Rockies the Brits caught us (they had started late, as usual) and we cruised into Green River together.  One of them - Andy - snapped this shot of Michael, Jamie and your humble servant:

We were only two miles from the hotel at that point so we all headed to Ray's Pub, which had been recommended by a waitress a couple of cities back, and had lunch.

Tomorrow - 90 miles, desert, and some climbing.  Apparently no civilization, meaning no food, after a truck stop at 18 miles.  Our route takes us back onto the interstate - this time I-70.  Sounds like a slog.  Tomorrow we'll finally leave Utah behind and enter Colorado.