Day Sixty-Five - Independance Day.

I woke up at 5:45 today, keen to get on the road as early as possible. I knew today would be long, but I wasn't sure how long, so by setting out early I could make the best of it.

I left my room at about 7:30, and went in search of food. The person who I asked at the restaurant last night told me everything would be shut, but I found a petrol station that wasn't. I opted for the only thing I could find - preheated breakfast muffins in a heater. They weren't great, and were expensive for what they were, but it had to do. I left at around 8am, but not before my bike decided to spontaneously fall over (it does that a lot because of the uneven weight spread over it), crushing all of the Doritos I'd planned for lunch. Great.

So I set off, passing a diner and a nice hotel on my way out. I was a bit annoyed, but there was no way to know it was there before, and I wasn't going to stop again. As I said yesterday, the route was over three passed, with two valleys and a long drawn out downhill to the 84 mile finish line. The first pass wasn't too bad, partly because it wasn't too high or too hot, and partly because I was feeling relatively fresh. I can't remember exactly how far it was, but it didn't take too long to reach the top, and I went over and down into a massive valley. It was deceptive how big it was, but put it this way, from the top of one side, you could probably see the road about 15-20 miles further up on the other mountains the far side. If you spotted the tiny spec of a car coming down, you could easily wait 10 minutes before it overtook you. Massive.

Luckily, I could freewheel about two-thirds of the way accross, because the far side was steep. This took me quite a lot longer to conquer, especially as it was hotting up by this point. I reached the top, and freewheeled down the far side, to a view that was fairly similar to what I had just come accross. The downhill wasn't as long this time though, and had to pedal a lot of the valley. There was a tree by the side of the road though, that I thought would be a good place for a break. Unfortunately though, many many ants and other bugs called that shade home, and I quickly got back into the sun to escape being eaten alive.

So I started up the third hill, which wasn't as bad as the second but harder than the first. I remember the exact mileage was 52 miles at the third summit, leaving a long, gradual downhill to my end point. This wasn't as easy as i'd thought it'd be. I was getting tired by this point, but then I knew I would because I always do when I miss out on a proper lunch. A headwind was brewing like usual, and a thunderstorm with occasional lightning bolts were on the horizon.

Progress slowed, but I arrived at about 3pm local time having crossed the state line into Nevada, marking my transition into Pacific time. I stopped for a drink in the first place I saw, which happened to be a coffee shop, restaurant, campsite and motel. I didn't know all this until I arrived, and the guy who served me told me that I could camp for free if I ate there. Sounded good to me, so I accepted and here I am eating. At $17 for a Thai curry, it's a little pricy, but I prefer to think of it as camping with a $2 meal.

I think I'm heading to a place called Ely tomorrow, said 'ellie' rather than 'ee-lie'. I can't remember how far it is, it's either 63 or 78. I'm hoping for the former.