Kung Fu Byk Ride: Day 2: Willard Bay to Otter Creek Lake

We had an uneventful night with tons of highway noise, so we woke up early and got out as fast as possible. We only had about 4 more hours of driving to get to our starting point and we were anxious to ditch the car and get on our bikes. While I was waxing on about life, the universe, and everything, I forgot to look at the gas gauge for a while and kinda zoned out. And the gas light came on. Or rather, I realized the gas light was on, and I had no idea how long it had been on.

Luckily we had phone service and Ani located the closest gas station... which was 14 miles away in an area with seemingly nothing to the plain eye. We didn't have a choice. So we went for it. "What is the most efficient speed to drive?" I asked Ani. Even though the speed limit was 75 mph, I went at 60 mph to conserve gas. We were on pins and needles as we coasted into the quaint town of Laven (fondly known by locals as "navel" backwards and named as such because it is has dubbed itself the center of Utah). And there it was, the promised Conoco.

Never happier to see a gas station!

The rest of the drive was uneventful and soon we found ourselves parked just outside Koosharem at a free ATV trailhead and camping area in the nearby Fishlake National Forest. We had a light lunch and then we were off! Bikes!

Glamour shot while we were still bright eyed and bushy tailed.

The day was pretty easy... no significant climbs, some inconsistent headwind, but nothing we couldn't handle after our Steens Mountain tour (for the sordid details, check out our 70+ mile day of nothing but headwind!). Then, we had a hard choice to make. We had planned on checking out the camping at Otter Creek State Park, but it was still early. There wasn't too much of an advantage for going further as our goal was to get to Bryce Canyon the next day which was a Sunday, and try to arrive right at the time the first-come first-served campsites turn over.

As we neared the state park, we saw that there was a ton of really nice dispersed camping on BLM land right before the park, which looked like a bunch of RV parking spaces. So we decided to check out our options.

This part of Utah looks a lot like eastern Oregon... small section of dirt road as we searched for camping.

Home for the night.

I am a firm believer that when a great dispersed site shows up, even if it's a little early, I never regret having a relaxed afternoon. We were able to walk around the lake a bit, check out the pelicans and other birds on the water, play cards, and otherwise just enjoy ourselves. Then Ani whipped up a gourmet Asian noodle dish with fresh veggies, shrimp, and a soy marinated egg (a la Momofuku) which pack really well on a bike.