Lindsay woke me from a deep sleep, as i was snuggled on top of my sleeping bag that i used to put over the sheets of the bed... And lets just say it was not out of need for extra comfort. It was hard to get up this morning, even though we had a short ride to Cedar City and a breakfast sub from Subway to motivate us (and plenty of coffee, of course). We were simply slow moving. The hard work we had invested into crossing the desert had definitely caught up with us, and it was hard to jump on or bikes and go. Some days are harder than others.
the first couple of miles were slow. We hit some headwind but nothing like the previous day. We were excited to be closer to the end of the desert. About 6 miles in we noticed small yellow butterflies dancing around us. 3-4 at first, then 10. They would pass under our bikes and then back around our heads. They would play in the air. We were riding side by side, enjoying their incredible play, when it seemed we simultaneously looked up and what we saw was breathtaking. The train tracks and barren land had turned into a beautiful bright green field with purple flowers intertwining with the green leaves, and in the field, there were thousands of the yellow butterflies. They were quite literally dancing down to the flowers and then back up into the air again. We watched them for a few minutes, just standing, in awe; speechless. It was nearly magical. It would have been an incredible site for anybody to see, but it was a little different for Lindsay and I. In fact, the first words we spoke were, "looks like things will be okay." (or maybe it their dance wa in a celebration of or success so far). It may sound peculiar, but when Steve passed away, our families saw his presence as a butterfly, and there were times, like bad days or Anniversaries, where a butterfly would fly by, when you least expected it. Maybe some people can chalk it up to the fact that we might just notice the presence of the butterflies more, that it is just a coincidence, but we have found solace in it, a comfort, and a sign that he is still with us. So seeing this field of butterflies was reassuring. We had overcome great physical and mental obstacles in our travels through the desert, and today was extremely difficult to start, and this incredible field turned our spirits around and gave us what we needed to finish the day. We have found many of these instances along our journey, and it has been very powerful. Months before I left, I had the great privilege and pleasure to meet and get to know an incredible woman that i swear has wings as feet (her first "race" was a marathon, and she qualified for Boston). I had been talking to her about some of the empowering things that had presented themselves during this journey and she had a comment that I really stuck with me: "Nice how when you open yourself up and step out, you get all of these little taps and hugs from the universe...." There is certainly truth in that. One day we were struggling up one of the passes--I honestly can't remember which pass or which day--and I looked to the middle of the road, taking my eyes off of the pavement right in front of my tire, (my focus point for the hard hills, look up and you get worried about how far you have to go, loose focus, loose the moment you are in)... Anyway, when i glanced in the middle of the road, i saw 4 words written in black and red spray paint, and I followed them up the road. They read "Go.. Go.. Go......... Steve." What amazes me most about this is that it was written days, weeks, maybe even months ago, and the person who wrote it probably had no clue that it would mean so much to somebody else at different moment, for a totally different reason than what it was originally intended for. It is interesting to think how your simple actions could affect other people in time.
We were fatigued most of the day, probably due to the previous 410 miles over the past 5 days. The day served us a bit of wind as we headed up the long, seemingly endless, last pass of the desert. Half way down, we stopped for a snack and once more saw the ominous dark storm clouds looming behind us. We raced down the pass ("or bombed down" as we refer to it as) and tried to beat the storm to Cedar City, which was 25 miles away and looked about 4 mjles away. At one point I thought we escaped it, and we would barely miss the storm to our right. Then I looked up. Ugh. A lovely dark cloud ready to unleash it's havoc, and by havoc i mean pelting hail. Mother nature reached deep for one more gift to us before we left the desert. The hail stung, but the rain was somewhat refreshing. We stopped after the storm, and laughed, of course, that we couldn't catch a break in the desert. Now, Lindsay and I have certainly been having the time of our lives during this trip and we have shared so much laughter and incredible moments. The majority of it has been a result of truly cracking ourselves up and the result of our levity and nature of our friendship. The other source of our laughter is a result of just trying to survive the ridiculousness and absurdities of some of the obstacles that we face during the day. Emily Sawyer, from the Indigo Girls, sums it up when she is describing the inspiration of one their songs, Least Complicated, that reincarnates her humility in a certain period of her life. She says, and this is one of my favorite quotes "you have to laugh at yourself, because you would cry your eyes out if you didn't."
The last 12 miles dragged. Probably because our minds were already in Cedar City, and our bodies had to catch up. Luckily, there was a Subway. We recharged and made our way to the center of the city. And settled in with a point of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked (i had been talking about ice cream for the last 5 days straight). In the last six days we coveted 465 miles of desert. We climbed 15 mountains with elevations up to 7722 ft. We had completed the second map of the Western Express. We crossed into a new time zone. We had made headway in our third state. We survived heat, storms, and hail. Our total trip mileage is 789 miles.
We have finally made it to our recovery day. We will do some much needed laundry (besides the sweat and salt, there may or may not be some chef boyardee on one our two if my shirts). And try to spread awareness about brain cancer via local media. Our leggies will get a nice rest before our ascent to 11,000 ft the next day. So will our minds ;)
Photo 1: butterflies
Photo 2: nearing the top of the pass, much kf the land had fallen victim to forest fires
Photo 3: top of the lady pass of the desert
Photo 4: storm cloud creeping up behind us
Photo 5: victory!
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