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May 4, 2004
Straight Ahead..Very Straight

Dave Leonard, TREK Support crew member, stands between Andrea and Kathleen who came upon us on Route 50 outside of Delta Utah. Andrea and Kathleen were at the San Francisco Giants game on the first of May when the TREK began.    See more photos in our gallery

Route 50, Utah - Today?s journey would carry team TREK USA across the third state line, from Ely, Nevada to Delta, Utah.  At our 6:00 AM team meeting, there were many tired looking members.  Yesterday?s ascents, the cumulative mileage, the efforts of the support crew, and the late night journal writing and photo updates made for bleary eyes.  Ron Kramer gave us the basic overview of the course, ?Go straight on Rte. 50 for 150 miles?.

Under sunny skies, we took a left out of the hotel driveway onto Rte. 50 and there was barely a turn to be had for the remainder of the day.  Both groups had a few initial climbs that brought us from our 6,400 foot start to well into the 7,000 + foot range. Each climb was offset by a subsequent drop back 1,000 feet.  The runner tackling the up insisted that was the hardest part, while the down hillers complained that the pounding was worse.  We all know that we?ll each get a taste of both medicines as we continue. 

Temperatures were (by our new standards) moderate at 85˚ to 90˚ with road temperatures near 100˚.  The nearly cloudless skies have tested our sunscreen and some of our members are sporting the look of a New England Lobster bake.  Is there a SPF 500?  The cooling breeze to our backs helped us deal with the heat, but as the wind speed increased to 20-35 mph, it inched our running pace to well below the target 9 minute mile goal.  We would occasionally see ?dust devils? swirling in their tornado impression in the distance and, just like in the movies, a tumble weed would periodically blow past us as we ran.

Perhaps most impressive about the day?s run was how straight the roads became.  For those of you who have run the Boston Marathon, you can relate to this experience.  You know how it seems that darned Citgo sign just never seems to get any larger?  Imagine being able to clearly see the pick-up RV a full 3 miles ahead.  That is a straight road!

As the ?whiners? (group 1) made their way down Rte. 50, Dave McGillivray asked our photographer/team member, Bob Lussier, to take a joke picture of him thumbing for a ride.  Picking the wrong time for the shot, a passing car pulled over.  An embarrassed McGillivray approached the car to explain.  ?Hey, aren?t you with those guys running across the country?? asked the driver.   Unbelievably the two women in the car, Andrea and Kathleen had been at SBC Park the day we were introduced.  They were excited to see us 500 miles down the road.  Perhaps their faith was shaken when we got lost exiting the field!  We gave them some TREK USA brochures and they promised to do some fundraising for us at the ?four wheeling? event in Moab where they were headed.

We?ve met incredible folks along the way that have opened their hearts and their wallets for the kids in our charities.  We are blessed to live in such a giving and caring country.  Even the drivers of those big rigs that blow off our caps give us a wide berth and a hearty wave.  It turns out that the CBers put out the word about us.  We are grateful to the support all of you have given us.  We appreciate the kind emails and the generous contributions.

Tomorrow we tackle the Wasatch Range.  Yup, lots of mountains and the temperatures that will continue to be in the high 80?s to low 90?s.  Funny thing?.we?re getting to enjoy the challenge.  Yikes..