Sept. 23 – The International Community

I headed out of Tropic and struck out for Escalante, a nice little tailwind pushing me along. Soon I came across another cyclist going West and we stopped to chat. I couldn’t believe it when I found out that Juan was from Colombia! Not from Cali, where my girlfriend Carmenza is from, but from the Capital, Bogota. He had started his trip in NY four months earlier and was headed to Tijuana, where he would catch a flight back to Bogota.

We had a nice chat before heading our separate ways – he recommended a campground at Calf Creek as a good place to stay before tackling a grueling 20 mile or so climb that was coming up after that. My anxiety already started building as I was still traumatized from the last massive climb. Juan had met a German cyclist who was on a similar path and they were traveling together – I met up with him a few miles further down the road (no photo) – Jan has started his trip in Alaska and was headed to Argentina – just like the German couple I had met a week or so ago. What is it with the Germans and that Alaska-Argentina trip? I rode into Escalante around lunch time and saw a promising local burger joint that was bustling, so I pulled in. I was enjoying my huckleberry shake and waiting for my burger when a couple asked if they could share my table – Dmitri and Celina were French, but had been living in Playa del Carmen, MX for many years. They have a travel agency that specializes in Mexican travel for travelers from France.

They were on vacation touring Utah (and I think Colorado) – super-nice and friendly people. We could have talked for hours in our combination of Spanish, English and French (them to one another) – it was interesting and fun, but we both had places to so – so we said “au revoir”. I headed on to Calf Creek, where the climbing intensified as went along, as did my anxiety about the 4,500 + foot climb coming up! You know it isn’t good when you see these signs!

This should not be legal! I made it to Calf Creek just in time as there was one campsite available. The camp host, Richie, got me signed in – but, instead of going right to my site I hung out and talked to two really nice couples from Northern Utah who had been down at Lake Powell and were interested in my travels. By the time I went down to set up camp…..someone else had set up there. Yikes! I went back to talk to Richie and in the laid back manner you would expect from an old, gristled, bearded, hippy campground host with purple hair, he said “don’t worry dude, I will set you up with my favorite campsite” – and then he led me down a trail to the “Primo” campsite, which is rarely used because you have to walk there on a trail – so not car access. It was right on the stream that goes through the canyon and was a great site.

I was lulled to sleep by the stream rushing by.