The day begins by riding east, into the rising sun, on Utah Highway 24.

From Torrey, it’s just a few miles to the west entrance to Capitol Reef National Park. Entrance may not be the right word.

Because State Highway 24 is the main east-west road through the park, there’s no toll to ride through much of Capitol Reef – unless you’re traveling on Scenic Drive south of the Fruita Campground. I’m just passing through.

Capitol Reef National Park was established in 1971. It has 241,904 acres of colorful canyons, ridges, cliffs, towers, arches, buttes and monoliths.  The area is named for a line of white domes and cliffs of Navajo Sandstone, each of which looks a bit like the U.S. Capitol building. The local word “reef” refers to any rocky barrier to travel.

Soon, I roll through Fruita, the best-known settlement in Capitol Reef. Fruita was named for its productive fruit orchards.

The town had been long abandoned in 1955, when the National Park Service purchased Fruita to be included in Capitol Reef National Park. Today, few buildings remain, except for a restored one-room schoolhouse.

The orchards are still here, now under the ownership of the National Park Service, and have about 3,100 trees – including cherry, apricot, peach, pear, apple, plum, mulberry, almond and walnut. The trees were originally planted in the 1880s when Mormons settled the area. Visitors to the park are welcome to stroll in any unlocked orchard and consume ripe fruit. The orchards have an honor system; you pick fruit in season, then settle up at self-pay stations.

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Past Fruita, I continue on UT-24 for another 38 miles, following the Fremont River as it winds from Torrey toward Hanksville, which calls itself “An Oasis in the Desert.”

In 1985, the town was named after Ebenezer Hanks, leader of a group of Mormon pioneers who established a small settlement here. It may be best known as a supply post for Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, who would hide out at Robbers Roost in the desert southeast of town.

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There are few choices to be made in Hanksville: What to have for breakfast. Which bib overalls to wear for the day. And whether to turn south on Highway 95 toward Hite, a ghost town at the north end of Lake Powell along the Colorado River – or turn left and continue north on Highway 24.

I turn left and continue on Highway 24, with barely a curve in the road, until after 45 minutes, it meets up with I-70. Then, I jump on the Interstate for what seems like an eternity — 123 miles.

Soon, I roll past the Green River, as well as its namesake city, Green River. The Green River is a tributary of the Colorado River.

The next turnoff of any consequence is Crescent Junction, where most people turn right on US Highway 191 for the short drive to Moab, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park.

Today, my destination is Colorado, not Utah. So I continue east, eventually seeing the “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” signs.

It’s feeling like home.

Colorado has a reputation for being a state of active and athletic people, reportedly with the lowest obesity rate in the nation. People here are both healthy and happy: Colorado was one of the first states to legalize both the medicinal (2000) and recreational (2014) use of marijuana.

I roll past by Fruita, home of the Western Colorado Dinosaur Museum, then past Grand Junction. Ten miles east of Grand Junction, I take the turnoff for Palisade – which grows the best peaches humanly possible.

Palisade is also Colorado’s wine nivrana, with both vineyards and wineries. The small town has more than two dozen wineries.

The Grand Valley’s microclimate of sunny days, dry air and cool nights work together to produce plump grapes for the area wineries.

Palisade, today’s destination, was named for its nearby cliffs. Yes, but why stop in Palisade?

First, did I mention peaches and wineries? Second, my friends Kathryn and Eldon McBride live here, in the middle of a peach orchard, in an 1800s-era farmhouse a short walk away from the Colorado River.

It’s a great place to call it a day before the final push tomorrow, when I’ll roll on to our new home in Carbondale.

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Day Eighteen Summary: Fruit orchards in Utah and Colorado, a hideout for Butch Cassidy, and a warm welcome home to Colorado.

Click here to see today’s complete route from Torrey to Palisade.

Home at last. Almost.

Vroom, vroom.

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Today in Bucket List History:

Bucket List Goal: “Take a Deeply Principled Stand, No Matter the Consequences.”

Goal Achieved: On August 14, 1846, philosopher Henry David Thoreau is jailed for tax resistance, the result of an act of civil disobedience. Thoreau spends one night in jail for not paying his poll tax. For Thoreau, it is an act of protest against slavery. His philosophy of civil disobedience later influences the political thoughts and actions of notable figures including Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection on simple living in natural surroundings.

What’s on your bucket list?

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And, as a postscript, here’s an update on Scott and Dave’s ride home to Southern California: both arrived home in Orange County this afternoon. Of the six of us who were riding the Black Hills in South Dakota together recently (Dave, Gail, Scott, Jackie and Randy), that makes me the only one still on the road.