Day 9 Caliente bound
Day 9 , Caliente bound, Tuesday Aug 22
I woke quite early for me, around 5:15. I hate to let the cat out of the bag, but I didn’t realize the sun actually went down, because it has always been up when I got up.
I had a bout a 40 miler to get to my next water in Caliente.
Wow, were the legs ever stiff. I kept looking down thinking that maybe the chain had come off, or a knee cap had fell off………but nothing. I was climbing Pahroc Summit and would have that for breakfast, along with a qt of warm water.
Next up was the climb to get my carcass over Oak Springs Summit, this one also was in excess of 13.5 miles on my odometer, and with the last 6 miles coming in at 6-7%. This was a leg burning exercise for sure. About half way up I stopped and drank a bottle of Endurox. It helped a little, and my spirits rose as I began to see just how beautiful the south eastern corner of Nevada really is! I took a brief respite in the Delamar Valley, and I ate another of those cotton pickin bagels while I watched the Airforce train pilots over where I sat and dined.
This is a wonderful valley, but I still had miles to go. I climbed one more pass and dropped into a new feature for me this trip, an ever deepening rim rock canyon that ran on for many miles. I finally came around a corner to the sight of an old trestle bridge and green trees. Primordial man always knows these truisms, where there is a bridge there is a creek and where there is greenery there is water, and where there is water……..there is SKINNY DIPPING, wahoo mama, I am havin me a bath.
I was coming into the tiny hamlet of Caliente, it is a real gem hidden in the canyons of south eastern Nevada, one that I will go back to some time with my family. But I had urgent business, and made the right hand turn to the direction of that bridge I had spotted. I was scouting about after having seen the small river that ran under the bridge, when I came upon a new young friend by the name of Quincy. This young fella was 13, and rather mature for his age at least in thoughts and mannerisms, so we set to talking. I asked Qincy the PULSE questions, and in his own words “shoot nothing wrong with education it just lasts too long is all!!”. And as far as that there War, I don’t think those boys are tryin is all, shoot we could whip’em easy if we wanted too”. I left my young friend and headed for the creek, had a good swim, and washed out my clothes once again. I was ready to ride into town and take a look around.
The town is real green set amongst the tall rim rock as a backdrop, so it feels real homey quick like. I rode the whole town and took it all in, stopped and took pic’s of many things of interest, and talked to some other folks as I done so. I finally had to give up on Cingular, and use a pay phone to call home. I managed to talk to Mom, and kids, that was great, to let them know that I was alive and doing well. I heade to the local Café and sat and ate a small burger and fries while I looked over a great mural done by Nevada artist Larry Bute.
Finished up dinner, and mounted my Velo to make the ride north to Panaca. The plan was to stay at Cathedral Gorge State Park, but that was foiled by all the grale roads that get me there. So I bought 2 qts of Gatorade in the local Bi-Rite and made the long……..very long trudge up the grade out of Panaca headed for the Utah State line. I made it to the line, some 18 miles out from Panaca and it was 8;45 when I pulled over right under the State sign. The ground was so hard and rocky, that I couldn’t drive a tent peg, so like all cowboys I choose this as a perfect time to teach my “Survival tent” a lesson, and I just slept on top of it. I was reading my Bible this night with a “torch” as a Brit would say, and to my dismay the bag was covered in ants……..discusting little blighters. SO I stood uop, and give my bag a good shake, threw it down and headed to my bike bag and extracted a small slice of Jerky. With this, I proceeded to rub the jerky in the dirt forming a box around my bag leaving the jerky as a prise some 10 feet away from my head. Cowboy logic says if a man can smell coffee in the morning all the way down at the barn, then surely an ant can smell the jerky trail I had set for him. I closed my eyes telling the Lord I was too tired to contend with ants tonight, after all I said, you made em you do something with’m. It did not take long to be asleep, funny thing you know those dreams we have, I was having one and woke up just knowing that I was covered in ants I felt like I was about to suffocate. I grabbed up my flashlight and shone it on the bag to see not one single ANT, any place. SO I went back to sleep for a very peaceful sleep. When I awoke in the morning, I rolled over to see a solid road of red ants marching down my jerky path, they didn’t even know that a larger meal slept in there midst, so I waved and they just wiggled there little antennae.
A little info for my friend Par from Sweden and Rob in South Africa, some folks have asked for more info on my bike. It is a Merlin, full Titanium frame, with some modifications to get it to the right length for me. The shifters are Shimano, Ultergra 9spd rear cassette and a triple front running 46-34-24. I went with Shimano since it offers up a lot more groupings than does Campagnolo. The seat is a new design one, that I will not say the name of since they may be offended by my doing so, but it developes serious teeth at about the 60 mile mark
Good Night and God Bless
