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Westward Distraction: Day Ten

By Thom | January 16, 2008

Crescent City, CA to Winnemucca, NV
This was a heck of a day, I just got on the bike and hit two parks as I put on some serious miles Not much to see as I was getting away from the Pacific, but I did finally find myself some elk! They were just hanging out in some person’s front yard. I went through Reno just after rush hour (perfect timing!). My plan was to get across much of the desert before the heat really got to me and the bike, so I ended up traveling quite a distance in the dark. Amazing how dark it is out in the middle of the desert at night. At one point, before I tailed the semi truck, there were no lights that I could see at all, but the stars were crazy bright. I chose to follow behind a semi truck because he would alert me to any problems up ahead on the road and he was going at a comfortable pace. I only had one scary (nearly crapped my pants) moment when a tumbleweed chose to cross my path. I ended up going to at least 6 different hotels in Winnemucca looking for a room until I ended up finding a place that was only 35 bucks (awesome!) around 11:30. I have no idea why it was so packed for it being a Wednesday, but Winnemucca is the only place to stop for quite a ways.

Totals
Miles: 607
Alt: 4247
Avg: 52.8
Trip Time: 11:27:49

Crazy three-person bicycle- they laughed as I took there picture (what? I’d never seen one before!)