Mormons who live by the “Word of Wisdom” don’t smoke, don’t drink coke, alcohol, or coffee – and eat meat in moderation. Apparently, this sort of lifestyle modification is good for you.

Some years ago, a study of 10,000 LDS Church members in California concluded that those who follow the Word of Wisdom have death rates from cancer and cardiovascular diseases about half that of the general population.

We should begin our last full day in Utah the way bikers usually do: a strong cup of coffee, chicken fried steak, eggs and hash browns piled high on our breakfast plates.

Let’s call it the Harley Word of Wisdom.

Leaving Springville, US Highway 89 takes us south through Thistle and Birdseye, skirting the west side of the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Soon we roll through Ephraim, home of Snow College, one of the oldest junior colleges west of the Mississippi.

Next stop on US-89: Gunnison, named in honor of John Gunnison, a US Army officer who surveyed the area for the transcontinental railroad in 1853. Gunnison is also where you’ll find the Central Utah Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison that houses up to 1,125 felons.

The last city of note before joining Interstate 70 is Salina. Salina’s first permanent settlers moved into the area in 1864 at the direction of LDS church leadership. The settlers – about 30 families – found abundant salt deposits nearby, so they named the area Salina.

We pass by Richfield, birthplace of Jake Garn, former Salt Lake City Mayor who was later elected to three terms in the US Senate. Garn is a Mormon who graduated from the University of Utah (yay!) and became the first member of Congress to fly in space.

In 1985, he flew on a five-day mission on the space shuttle Discovery. Garn experienced severe space sickness, whose symptoms range from mild nausea and disorientation to vomiting and intense discomfort. He became so sick in space that NASA jokingly referred to the “Garn Scale” to measure reactions to space sickness; a “One Garn” is the highest possible level of sickness. Apparently, most astronauts get perhaps “one-tenth Garn,” if that. Garn turns 85 in October.

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After 33 miles of interstate riding, we exit I-70 in Sevier and climb back onto US Highway 89 for another 60 miles, passing Piute State Park and Piute Reservoir. The park and reservoir are named for the Native Americans who once dominated this area. The Utah state legislature changed the original spelling from Paiute to Piute.

Soon we arrive in the city of Panguitch, population 1,500. Panguitch is a Paiute Native American word meaning “Big Fish.” The city is named for the plentiful fish found in nearby lakes, filled with some of the larges rainbow trout in Utah. Major events in Panguitch include the Annual Quilt Walk Festival, held in the spring, and the Panguitch Valley Balloon Rally, held in June.

Not much happening in Panguitch at the moment, though its proximity to Utah’s red rock country and Bryce Canyon National Park brings tourists to Panguitch and gives the city life.

In Panguitch, we turn west on Utah Highway 143 and head toward Cedar Breaks National Monument. We’re riding through Dixie National Forest, past Panguitch Lake, a high alpine lake sitting at 8,400 feet.

We follow UT-143 until it runs into the tiny town of Brian Head, elevation 9,800 feet. Brian Head calls itself the “Highest Resort Town in America.”

Here, we find the Brian Head Ski Resort, the largest in Southern Utah. Day passes are only $45. In the summer, Brian Head offers mountain biking, zip lining, avalanche tubing, disc golf, and family-friendly hiking trails.

From Brian Head, we descend south and turn on to Utah Highway 148, which takes us to Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Its rock formations are similar to nearby Bryce Canyon National Park. Cedar Breaks includes a natural geologic amphitheater that’s a half-mile deep. Elevation along the rim of the amphitheater is above 10,000 feet. In fact, the road reaches 10,626 feet above sea level, and is Utah’s second-highest paved road. Cedar Breaks, which has been a national monument since 1933, receives nearly 800,000 visitors each year.

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Leaving Cedar Breaks, we turn west and follow beautiful Cedar Canyon for 18 miles til reaching tonight’s destination: Cedar City, elevation 5,846 feet, located on the western edge of the Markagunt Plateau. Cedar City was settled in 1851 by Mormon pioneers, sent there to build an iron works, because of the vast iron and coal resources only ten miles from town.

Cedar City is a tourism gateway to nearby Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and of course, Cedar Breaks National Monument – which we visited less than an hour ago.

It’s a charming city where you’ll find Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire, the Utah Summer Games, the Neil Simon Theatre Festival, the Frontier Folk Festival, and the Groovefest Music Festival. No wonder it’s called “Festival City.”

The city of nearly 30,000 is named after the abundant local trees, which are actually junipers, not cedar. Easy mistake to make.

Scott Donaldson, a third of what remains of Team Sturgis, is quite familiar with Cedar City. His son, Kyle, played football here for Southern Utah University. Kyle was the starting strong side tackle for the Thunderbirds in 2013 when they won the Big Sky Conference title and advanced to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. In his playing days, Kyle was a 6’4”, 323-pound monster, bench pressing 440 pounds and squatting 650 – and also scoring several scholar-athlete awards. “He’s not just a football bonehead,” says his proud Dad.

Clearly a product of good genes, Kyle received his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice – and today is an operator at Kittyhawk Products, a Southern California company that specializes in heat treating parts for applications ranging from aerospace to racing engine blocks.

Term of the day, and fancy name for heat treating: Hot Isostatic Pressing.

You’re welcome.

Oh … some great new about Kyle: he’ll soon be putting his Criminal Justice degree to good use. He’s been hired by the Santa Ana Police Department, and will begin his training to become a police officer in September. A Milennial doing good for the ‘hood 👍👍👍

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Day Sixteen Summary: Following the Word of Wisdom (sort of), barfing with Senator Garn, confusion with trees.

Click here to see today’s complete route from Springville to Cedar City.

We’re on our way home.

Vroom, vroom.

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Today in Bucket List History:

Bucket List Goal: “Make a Lot of People Happy.”

Goal Achieved: On August 12, 1955, President Eisenhower raises the minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an hour. When the US set its first minimum wage in 1938, it was 25 cents an hour. Today minimum wage proponents argue for $15 an hour.

What’s on your bucket list?

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A fun activity toward the end of each trip is the receipt party, where we figure out who owes who for the trip. It’s an exercise in elementary arithmetic, and three grown men with college degrees barely could figure it out.