Fernely to Lovelock NV

Here is what it looked like

The ride from Fernley worked me pretty good today On interstate 80, the road way itself was excellent. Up at 5AM, I left the hotel I stayed in at 6 AM and enjoyed a peaceful desert freeway and the lands around it made cool by the huge thunderstorm I missed being indoors last nite….

I mean it was so ferocious that I saw puddles everywhere. And to give you an idea how serious the speed divots are that warn errant drivers should they cross the fog line, several inches of water still stood inside them for many miles as I pedaled away.

And I pedaled and I pedaled. And as always, the same 50-inch gear the whole way. Since there was little to distract me from my pedaling effort out here, at times when I didn’t focus my mental energy on other thoughts, turning the pedals at times became laborious. But usually not for long.

I found great humor in all the bungie cord wealth out here. If it wasn’t so hard to stop and then start my loaded bike, I’d probably have 50 or 60 of these load strapping devices to try to figure out what to do with. I did however stop for a stainless steel spoon. I’ve been using the plastic one I got from Marilyn and Sue back in Placerville. I also stopped for a pair of mini-channel locks! Just what I wanted, I added them to the 8” quality crescent wrench I found yesterday.

Nor is this desert as difficult as the one I rode through Eastern Oregon or Southern Idaho back in 1979. Or for that matter, through Southern California or Arizona on my second 1986 ride. The road itself is very nice to ride on. And there is a lot more life out here. I even heard birds chirping away before the cars took over.

As for the Truckee River, I don’t see it any more. The train line and telephone/telegraph poles I talked about yesterday disappeared from view until the last third of the day. They, as does I-80, follow the contour of the mountains that dominate the landscape of this, the most mountainous state in the union.  And in doing so, the wide sweeping turns they take send them through the valleys that ancient rivers carved through the mammoth hills that rise everywhere one looks.

Staying at the Lovelock Inn, in Lovelock, NV. Feeling blessed for WIFI as I recharge my batteries in the full knowing that I need a Bigger Power to keep all this going………

THX 4 all of U