In the Middle of Nowhere
Rick has been doing a great job of reporting our daily journeys. On behalf of Dick and myself, thanks Rick!
Well, here we are at Middlegate Station Nevada with nothing between us and Fallon 50 miles to the west or Austin 65 miles to the east. Yet we have internet access! Go figure. Today just happens to be the annual BBQ at Middlegate Station and the place is packed. We got the last room in their 6-room motel.
Yesterday we awoke in Woodfords and I looked out the window and reported fog. I guess the coffee had not kicked in yet - what I actually saw was snow! I think abour 3 inches fell but as soon as the snow stopped falling we got on our bikes and started riding. 95 miles later we landed in Fallon in what turned out to be our easiest riding day so far. Conditions were perfect in that the wind was always at our back no matter which way we turned and grew stronger as the day progressed. All day we saw storm clouds around us but very little snow or rain fell on us. We coasted into Fallon at 20-25 mph with virtually no effort. Nobody talked about it, but I think we all knew there would be payback later in our journey (there was!).
Today was even easier with just 50 miles of riding and less than 2000 feet of climbing with a tail wind the whole way. We met a rider Ted Phelps who will be joining us for a few days and four other riders traveling west rolled into Middlegate Station shortly after we arrived. Our plan had been to spend the night at Dayton State Park half way between Woodfords and Fallon (we figured we needed some easy days after 21,000 ft of climbing the first 4 days) but the strong tailwinds just blew us by that place. Good thing it did – Ted had stayed at Dayton the previous night and reported the place overrun by mosquitos. It was all he could do to set up tent and quickly get inside to escape the buggers.
Speaking of insects, we got to see tens of thousands of Morman Crickets on the road today. The inside of my fenders are now lined with some of them.
Highway 50 not as lonely as we would have liked but maybe after the holiday things will return to normal. The roads in Nevada have been exceptionally smooth.
I have a voice recorder and I’m taking lots of notes so I’ll fill in details when I get home.
Having a blast and looking forward to more.
–jerry