Day Sixty-Eight - The Final Countdown.

Today marks one week until I am hoping to arrive in San Francisco!

I woke up this morning at 5:45, to find it absolutely freezing cold. I knew it got cold overnight in the desert, but up until now I'd never experienced it. I had to try and find my hat and gloves at the bottom of my bag before getting ready, which in turn was made harder because my hands were so cold. I went down the road for an omlette, that was completely unsatisfying, leading me to order two slices of French toast. This came to $18 after tip, so perhaps I'll fill up on stuff from a petrol station next time. There was also a powercut for about half an hour, so all this was done in darkness.

I got on the road by 8:30, and started out with a downhill for about 10 miles. This was followed by a very straight road for about 30 miles. This was relatively painless, and I hit halfway in about two and a half hours. The wind began picking up though, which as usual spoilt plans. It probably was blowing harder than it has done ever before, making me hope that the windspeed doesn't increase exponecially the further west I go. I also passed a man wandering in the desert without anything. I didn't stop to ask him if he needed anything though, because I assumed that if he did then he would ask.

I reached 55 miles or so only encountering one hill, which was quite good going. The last 15 miles or so would prove to be awful though, and took probably as long as the first half (if not more) to do. It was a combination of the midday heat, an inquenchable thirst due to the dry air and my overall tiredness finished me off, and I had to prop my bike up to make a small amount of shade and rest for a bit.

The rest of the ride took close to two hours to do 10 miles, 3 of which were downhill. I guess that shows how often I had to stop. It's not so
much that the temperature isn't hot (because it is), it's more the strengh that the sun is shining down on you. It completely saps your energy, and there is no shade to escape to.

Enough complaining. I rolled down into Austin at around 3pm having lost all the time i'd made up earlier. I went for my now routine massive rehydradion from a petrol station, before thinking about somewhere to stay. I'm starting to find that because Nevada is so sparse, they tend to do motels rather than csmpsites because they are more popular, especially in the quiet in-between towns like this one. That, and the fact that I was feeling positively grim made the decision to stay in a motel a no-brainer. I went to the one called the Cozy Mountain Motel, because it had been recently refurbished and had the best sign. It was only $40 too. I let a guy go in front of me in the queue, who ended up getting the last queen bed in the place, but I'm fine with what I have.

Tomorrow I'm planning a lie-in of sorts, before heading out on the main route (as opposed to the Carroll Summit Alternate) to another tiny place called Middlegate. The Carroll Alternate takes you off Highway 50 'for a change', up and over a summit. I'd much rather stay on the main route and take the long downhill, with one smaller summit. After then, I'm not sure where because it's on my last map, which is exciting because it's becoming more real now.