More bad news

I woke up this morning to another flat tire, on the rear wheel. Apparently I missed a thorn, which had worked it's way further into the tire after I changed it last night, so I changed my third flat tire in the morning.

After that it was relatively uneventful until I got to the Capitol Reef area. Then the wind started to really pick up a lot, and of course it was a headwind. I saw some cool petroglyphs on the way in, and then went most of the way down the scenic drive in the park, until I was going up a steep road into a strong headwind, and didn't think I would see much of anything different I kept going. The way back was much nicer with the downhill and the tailwind.

That was until I got back to the campground area, where my rear tire blew out completely. I pushed my bike into the camping area and started to change the tire again, when I realized that the actual tire had worn through, and not just a popped tube.

I sat there for a bit trying to figure out my options until the camp hosts stopped by. I asked them about the area, and they didn't think there was anything close but offered to call the rangers. A bit later a ranger stopped by and told me he was going to call a place in the nearby town, about ten miles away. He took the info about the tire and rim and then left. A while later he came back and told me the store did have a suitable tire but that they would close in ten minutes. He offered to drive me and my bike there, so I threw everything in the back of his truck and he drove me into town. We arrived around 4:05 and the store was supposed to close at 4:00. Fortunately the owner hadn't arrived yet to lock up, so I was able to buy the new tire. It's a bit wider than the one I had, and more of a mountain bike tread, but it fits just fine. For $27 I was able to get back on the road and didn't even have to hitch a ride or take any extra time to get things up and running again.