This morning, I left the town of Austin at 6:00am because I had 2 major mountain passes to climb and I wanted to get over them before it got too hot. I did them faster than I thought. I was over the both of them by 7:30am. I had biked both of these summits 3 years ago, when I rode from Alaska to Mexico. So I knew just how steep these passes were. Later in the day, I stepped on new chip seal and oil from the 20 miles of road construction on my route, my shoes were covered with sticky tar, which made a mess of things. After a long day in the saddle, I reach the town of Eureka, NV. A very nice woman in the only food market in town, told me about a free place to camp for the night, the town park and that there is a indoor swimming pool I could use for only one dollar. I don't know what news was better, the free camping or the swimming pool. I did both as I thanked the nice lady for making my day. That night, as I was cooking dinner, a man named "Paul" came into the park and talked with me for hours. He himself was on a motorcycle tour through the backroads of America. I was talking so much that it got dark before I had set up my tent. The park had beautiful green grass, but to have green grass in a desert, you must also have lots of rain. Well, it doesn't rain to much here I thought, as I read the sign posted "water sprinklers 4am to 8am" Tuesdays and Fridays. I looked at my watched and sure enough it was Friday. I was forced to set up my tent under the pavilion, which had a concrete floor, but no problem with my sleeping pad I use anyway. Like clockwork at 4am, I woke to the sound of water sprinklers and it made me happy to have seen the sign last night.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Day 9 Austin, NV to Eureka, NV
This morning, I left the town of Austin at 6:00am because I had 2 major mountain passes to climb and I wanted to get over them before it got too hot. I did them faster than I thought. I was over the both of them by 7:30am. I had biked both of these summits 3 years ago, when I rode from Alaska to Mexico. So I knew just how steep these passes were. Later in the day, I stepped on new chip seal and oil from the 20 miles of road construction on my route, my shoes were covered with sticky tar, which made a mess of things. After a long day in the saddle, I reach the town of Eureka, NV. A very nice woman in the only food market in town, told me about a free place to camp for the night, the town park and that there is a indoor swimming pool I could use for only one dollar. I don't know what news was better, the free camping or the swimming pool. I did both as I thanked the nice lady for making my day. That night, as I was cooking dinner, a man named "Paul" came into the park and talked with me for hours. He himself was on a motorcycle tour through the backroads of America. I was talking so much that it got dark before I had set up my tent. The park had beautiful green grass, but to have green grass in a desert, you must also have lots of rain. Well, it doesn't rain to much here I thought, as I read the sign posted "water sprinklers 4am to 8am" Tuesdays and Fridays. I looked at my watched and sure enough it was Friday. I was forced to set up my tent under the pavilion, which had a concrete floor, but no problem with my sleeping pad I use anyway. Like clockwork at 4am, I woke to the sound of water sprinklers and it made me happy to have seen the sign last night.
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