San Jose to Denver

This post is dedicated to my recently passed brother-in-law, Bill Cole. Bill was a true free-spirit who loved wandering Nevada and visiting the hot springs. I think the hot, dry weather appealed to him and eased the pain of his arthritis. He took me on one journey to the Black Rock Desert once, which I throughly enjoyed.

Bill would have wanted me to visit Spencer Hot Springs. Everyone who knew Nevada recommended it. I could not convince the others to join me, so Jerry helped me plan out a route to the springs, and off I went solo after a great pancake breakfast.

A dirt road veered off Highway 50 to the east. I went approximetely six miles on it, and was astounded to find wildlife living back in the sage. I got within 20 yards of a herd of prong horn sheep. Instead of prancing away like deer, they thundered through the desert to escape me. I also saw some wild burros.

I finally made it to the hot springs after 30 minutes of riding. I had difficulty locating it, but a car went by and I followed the dust trail.

I joined five others in the spring and enjoyed a view of the snow covered east slopes of the Toiyabe range. Bill would have loved this day. One of my fellow soakers offered me a beer. I declined, knowing I had a long day ahead. Bill would have never passed up the beer, but he would have loved this day. This soak’s for you Bill!

I soaked for about an hour and got back on the bike. I took another dirt road to the north and joined Highway 50 after four miles. Altogether I added eight miles onto my day. I had lots of ground to make up, and put in a race-worthy effort. I caught Jerry, Dick and Ted (he’s still with us!) just as they were about to eat lunch.

I pulled into Eureka about 4pm, and the others got in an hour later. I was exhausted from todays effort! We got some food at the Eureka Cafe, one of the worst meals all of us have ever had. That is so disappointing after a long ride.

We camped at the Silver Sky RV park on some nice, new grass. I think everyone slept well! I rode 82 miles today; Jerry and Dick did 72.

-Rick

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Rick's Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.