I knew there would be a significant climb from Lake-You-Know-What but I sure wasn't expecting Highway 1 to be a constant run of hill after hill after hill for 60 miles.  Some of them were pretty big ones too.  (By the way, I've been using the term "mountains" over the last couple of days, and these Sawtooth Mountains do technically qualify as mountains because they meet the definition of having more than 1,000 feet of vertical relief.  They aren't Rocky Mountain type mountains, or even Appalachian Mountain type mountains, but they're mountains nonetheless.)

As I said, the road through the mountains was hilly and challenging.  I LIKE a good challenge and the ride could have been kind of fun if not for the nasty headwi . . . let me rephrase that in a way that is more in keeping with the positive spirit of this journal . . . I LIKE a good challenge and the ride was awesome because the refreshing headwind kept me safe by preventing me from going too fast.  I was so pleased--as I was getting blasted in the face for about the fifth consecutive hour--that I thought up this short love song:

Oh headwinds, I could never thank you enough,
For the roar in my ears and for making things tough.
And when you surprise me with a 25 m.p.h. gust,
And I fight,
To stay upright,
I know you're not spiteful--you're just.

Heart

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Early in my day I saw a county sheriff's vehicle on the side of the road and the officer was looking at something in the ditch.  I stopped to have a look and saw a huge mound of brown fur.  It was a moose and it had been hit by what must have been a very large truck.  Thinking it could be the only moose I would see on this trip, I took a picture.  I decided not to post it here though.  It was just too gruesome and sad.  And now I feel disrespectful for taking that picture, especially considering I accidentally hit a deer with my car just two weeks ago.  (Also sad.)

I regained some cheer later on when I saw a fox.  I also saw a bald eagle and a deer.  And there were a few beautiful blue lakes and rivers, about a billion green trees, and almost no development aside from the road and a couple of tiny towns.

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When I got to Ely, my first stop was a convenience store to get something to eat and drink.  There had been no services for the last 50 miles, so I was thirsty and exhausted.  A woman came up to me.

"Hey!  Was that you we saw biking up that big hill a couple miles back?"  she asked.

"Yeah, that was probably me," I replied, trying to think of WHICH hill she was referring to.

"You really kept a straight line.  We've seen other bike riders going up those hills and they're wobbling all over the place."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you must be a really strong rider."

"I don't know.  Maybe.  But I do ride my bike a lot."  What I should have said was, "I ride straight because I value my life a lot."  I didn't say that though--I just let her think I was SuperBiker.