Day 8, Sunday, June 12, 2005
Winnemucca, NV to Battle Mountain, NV - 54 miles, 16.5 mph, 3h 16m 6s
Up at 5:45, 6:30 breakfast at Casino restaurant, 7:30 load luggage, 8:00 on the road.
Unfortunately the meals we have at the Casino restaurants are also frequently visited by smokers - not a pleasant eating environment for a non smoker. The food is good, but not the stale smoky air.
The weather this morning at 5:45 was 42F with a wind chill of 36F and the forecast was for the temperature to rise to 70F, and it did. It was the most beautiful day yet!
At about 2 miles out I stopped to take a scenic pic and was standing behind my bike ready to snap the pic and I noticed something moving 3 feet in front of me. It was a very large snake and I found out later that it was a hognose snake. I laid my bike down with the intention of placing my water bottle beside the snake so it would give the picture some perspective of the snake's size. The snake began to slither down toward the bushes. I ran down the slope and kicked some dirt toward the snake and it stopped, raised its head (like a cobra) and hissed at me. I backed off, decided that the water bottle idea was not a good one and then took the pic. I then walked up to the bike and the snake went on its way.
At 18 miles we had a 3.8 mile climb to Golconda Summit (5,159 ft) and then a 5.6 mile downhill. The scenery today was awesome! It is very difficult to find the words that describe the continuous beauty out here. Again I took many photos. I would come around a curve in the road and take a pic of a beautiful view, ride down the road 1 mile and the same view now had a more beautiful perspective and I would take the pic again. One mile down the road the perspective became nicer and I took another pic - this scenario would continue. The hills and mountains were so big and tall, we would continue to see them for miles, and it just got better! Click to enlarge my pics to full screen and you'll see what I mean.
I got to the hotel at 1 PM, checked in and then went next door to Mama's Pizza for lunch. I had a chicken sandwich. I cleaned my bike and had a short nap. Route rap was at 5:45 and at 6:30 we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. The rest of my evening was spent calling my wife Donna and writing my journal.
This hotel has a wireless connection but I don't have the card I need to connect. I'll send Ed the journal via my dial-up account and hopefully send yesterday's and today's pics tomorrow. We will be in Elko at the High Desert Inn.
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