Both Riley and I agree, today was a good day, perhaps the best yet. That assessment is not based on the scenery; Nevada does have its appeal, and we saw some beautiful scenery today. It was a good day because we hit the road and logged in some actual mileage. Now before you go on saying, "Hey, 63 miles isn't really all that much." let me say that I agree with you, but I must also add that our daily mileages while riding through Nevada (and Utah) will be largely determined by the availability of facilities, and really more basic than that, the availability of water. So, we looked at the map and Fallon was the obvious destination for the day.
Knowing that we had just about 60 miles to ride for the day took my urgency out of getting an early start, so as usual, we hit the road at about the crack of 10:30. I can't wait until we actually start out truly early, so that I can use the term butt-crack.
The road was basically level, with some hills as you go from one creek drainage to another. The hills may be a couple of miles long, either up or down, with a fairly gradual grade either way. What I noticed today was that I could breathe while I was climbing! Oh sure, I was breathing during that first 4 1/2 miles yesterday (that last bit going up the Carson Pass), but it wasn't doing me as much good at 8000' as it was today at 4000'. So today, we hit the road and made some progress.
Hey, did I mention that this is 2 days in a row without a flat tire? That in itself is worth hooting and hollering about in my book!
Riley did get pretty worn out by about the 50 mile mark, but he managed to keep up a pretty good pace and make it to Fallon before quitting time. Riley had said that he was famished so as soon as we rolled into town we set out looking for some wholesome viddles. We agreed that Round Table Pizza sounded like a dieticians dream come true. We went into the strip mall that corresponded to the sign, but alas, no Round Table was to be found. Fortunately for us, there was a Pizza Barn just across the street. We ordered our pie, took a seat outside, and then proceeded to enjoy the highlight of our day! We met a man named Alan Smith, who asked where we had come from. His immediate response after being told the Bay Area, was to say, "Well, you got over that little rock in the road!" This gave us all a very good laugh. When Riley asked him if he was aware of any good camping spots in the vicinity, he said, "My backyard."
I told Alan how pleased my wife would be for taking care of her son, and how pleased my mom would be for taking care of her son! I got a picture of Alan and his permission to post it, but I will have to do that a little later, because right now, I've got to get over to his place and set up my tent!
Alan Smith, YOU ROCK!
Oh good, this is the part I've been waiting for. Where you start meeting people and interacting. Can't wait to read more. You'll probably have a good breakfast.
ReplyDeleteI take it there is no place to shoot craps in Fallon, Nevada?
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