Day 4: Woodfords to Carson City, Nevada

May 2, 2010

I was extremely tired after two consecutive days of massive climbing and two consecutive cold nights of free camping. Bil didn't seem quite as tired, but he agreed with my suggestion to make it a short day and get a motel in Carson City.

Bil took this picture of our free campsite in Woodfords. My tan and sage colored tent is more stealthy than his blue tent.

First, we packed up and rode 0.3 miles to have breakfast at the Woodfords Station restaurant and store.

Bil on Fredericksburg road. Yesterday we came down the canyon between the two snowy mountains.

6 miles later we crossed into Nevada while gently descending into the Carson river basin.

A big "Welcome to Nevada" sign isn't needed or wanted on a rural residential road.

It was kind of jarring to see all the residential development.

Everybody wants a house in sunny desert with a view of forested mountains...

We took a long stop to look around and have an early lunch in Genoa City. The town is fascinating, and a cowboy music and poetry festival was going on at the time. The temperature warmed up to 70F by noon. It felt good to finally feel warm for the first time on the tour.

The Genoa Bar claims to be Nevada's oldest thirst parlor.

Genoa City is the oldest town in Nevada, founded in 1851 by Mormon immigrants.

From Genoa we continued north on Foothills Parkway towards Carson City, with traffic steadily building.

Looking ahead to the north. Lake Tahoe is behind the hills.

Looking back at the big mountains to the south.

We got a room for $40 at the Nugget casino's motel in downtown Carson city. We arrived at 2:30, so had time to relax and look around town. Carson City has about 50,000 people. I won't see another city this big until the last day of this tour. We stopped and looked around the state capitol. The grounds are so dense with trees that it's hard to get a picture of the building.

I had fun walking around at dusk taking pictures. It's the magic hour.

Today was sunny with a high temperature of 75F. Perfect weather and a very easy day of cycling.

Distance: 34.6 mi. (55 km)

Climbing: 1027 ft. (310 m)

Average speed: 10.1 mph (16.2 km/h)

Maximum speed: 30 mph 48 km/h)

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 186 miles (299 km)

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