Day 8, Monday, June 13, 2005
Battle Mountain, NV to Elko, NV - (2,230 ft of climbing today)
73.6 miles, 13.4 mph, 5h 28m 15s
Up at 5:45, 6:30 load luggage, 7:00 breakfast at Owl Casino Restaurant, 7:45 on the road.
The weather today was 42F at wake up and 50F at start of ride. Again, a calm sunny morning and it went up to 70's with a slight wind, sometimes a tailwind and sometimes a headwind. The scenery continued to be fantastic. I got a flat tire 11 miles out and Michelle fortunately came along and helped me change it. She was riding the route today for rider support. She had an ABB pump and that was good as my bike pump is getting tired. I probably should get a new one.
At 22 miles we got on RT 80 again and we rode it all the way to Elko (51 more miles). At SAG 1, I got a Cold Cut Combo at a Subway. After leaving the SAG we rode through Carlin Canyon, it was small and short but just beautiful (see pics). Then we got back on RT 80 for the rest of the ride.
We are staying at High Desert Inn. Guess what, there is a Casino here! What a surprise! Casinos are everywhere. Slots are even in Convenience stores. There was a telephone on the wall in our bathroom last night and there was a phone on the wall beside the Subway booth where I ate my lunch. Humm . . . . It's quite different out here in many small ways,
We have a room in the executive side of the hotel, ABB staff does not. Our room has free access to the hotel wireless connection. The 'other side' does not. This is great for me, as I can can get all caught up with sending journals and pics to Ed. I'm averaging about 35 pics a day. Another cyclist, Bill Berendsen, helped me set up the wireless connection. Thanks Bill! It is necessary to use a wireless or DSL high speed connection to send the high number of pics back to Ed. He then updates my website ASAP. Many hotels to not have the wireless or DSL high speed stuff so my website can't always be updated on a daily basis. I'm doing the best I can under the conditions.
We had dinner here at the hotel, a nice buffet: salad, rolls, 3 pasta dishes, ice tea, soda and ice cream. It was very nice.
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