"Stop Right There!"

July 20, 2013

Day 27: Baker, Nevada to Ely, Nevada

Last night I was the last cyclist to go to bed (which is typical), and I was able to go to sleep quickly (not typical). But around 1:00 in the morning a family arrived in the campground and made a ridiculous amount of noise setting up. I can't imagine why they were arriving so late, especially with the small children who yelled incessantly. Finally I turned my iPod to Zero 7's "Simple Things", and was able to blank out the noise of the family and go to sleep.

A few hours later I woke up again. A small dog was yapping. Periodically a man would exclaim in a weirdly muffled shout, "Shut Up!" This went on for at least an hour. I thought about adding my own mocking "Shut Up!" each time the mystery man made his exclamation, but I didn't want the other cyclists to get mad at me (I could give a shit what the other, noisy, campers in the campground thought.) Instead I turned on the iPod again and was able to go back to sleep.

I woke up at 6:00 to find that Andy and Claudia had already left, presumably in the middle of the night, as is their style. As I packed up I talked with Samuel, who was riding from San Francisco to Virginia, then to Montreal. He intended to do an extremely long day today - over 140 miles - but he seemed to be taking his time getting started. Well, he looked incredibly fit, so he could probably do it. I couldn't.

This was another day my map warned of "No Services" until the next town (in this case, Ely, 63 miles away). But it was going to be about twenty miles shorter than yesterday, so I wasn't too worried about it.

Perhaps I should have been worried, since it was an immediate stiff climb out of Baker, and it was already hot at 6:00. I felt sluggish as I slowly made my way up to Sacramento Pass, enjoyed the all-too-brief fast, fun descent, then started climbing again to Connors Pass. I've noticed in the last few days how things (trees, signs, towns) are clearly visible from many miles away. I've never ridden anywhere else where this phenomenon is so pronounced. So today, for example, as I approached Majors Junction, a "spot in the road" which might or might not actually have something to break up the monotony of the desert scenery, I could see it seemingly hours before I arrived.

Despite the map's warning of "No Services", Majors Junction had a bar (and that was all), and it was open at 10:30. I went inside where I was the only customer, and the taciturn guy working there seemed slightly annoyed that I was interrupting him while he simultaneously watched two different television programs. I was desperate for something cold to drink, so I submitted to the worst soda pop price gouging I've ever encountered: $2 for a can of pop. I had two cans (so, so delicious after riding in the hot desert), and a pretty good burrito and used the rest room ("Customers Only" of course, and there was also a sign that informed me that each flush used a lot of water, and that water was expensive. When did Americans develop such a love for these passive-aggressive handmade signs? I see them everywhere on this tour.)

Back on the road, I continued up to the pass. About a half mile before the top, a car pulled off in front of me, the driver got out and handed me two ice cold bottles of water from his cooler, and he was on his way again. I chugged one immediately, but kept one in reserve in case I caught up with Claudia and/or Andy in a few miles. They have never received cold drinks from motorists, while this is happened to me several times.

Unfortunately my front fire flatted on the way down from Connors Pass, and I drank the other bottle of cold water as I fixed it.

I skirted the edge of a storm after fixing the flat, but otherwise it was an easy descent to Ely (pop. 4255). I first stopped at a Chinese Buffet when I saw several loaded touring bikes outside the place. It was Andy and Claudia and Hannah and Ning. Unfortunately I had arrived too late to give the lunch buffet my full attention, so I rode through Ely looking at all the cheap motels. I ended up at the very reasonably priced and clean "Four Sevens", which had a free laundry that I badly needed.

Later I walked down the street to a pizza place and encountered Brandon, who was crossing the country extremely quickly, credit card style (no camping equipment.) He was using as his guide one of Mike Noonan's journals on this site. Brandon didn't seem to be a fan of climbing, and when I looked at his bike I could see why: It was a double chainring - road bike gearing. Brandon must be a tough guy to ride over mountains with that thing, even lightly loaded.

Finally, late in the evening I walked to a nearby convenience store to buy snacks for tomorrow. A small boy and I were the only customers in the place. I noticed the female clerk watching the boy. I didn't see anything suspicious, but as I walked up to the counter to pay for my snacks, the little boy started to walk out the door, and the clerk called out "Stop right there!"

She took him by the arm and led him to the back of the store while I awkwardly waited at the counter. As she led him away I saw him take a candy bar out of his back pocket and drop it on the floor. Thirty seconds later the clerk came back with the boy, noticed the candy bar on the floor, and said "There it is! If you were hungry, all you had to do was ask." She took out a package of Mrs. Fields cookies from a box on the floor behind the counter and handed it to the boy, who left. Does the store keep a box of donated or possibly past-their-expiration-date cookies to give to hungry children caught shoplifting? Is this common practice? I wanted to know what this was all about, but for some reason it seemed wrong to ask the clerk about this sad incident just to satisfy my curiosity.

After this slightly sobering incident I walked back to my room and quickly went to sleep.

This guy stopped and gave me two ice cold bottles of water.

I drank one immediately and had the other one a few miles later when I fixed a flat.

Today's ride: 63 miles (101 km)
Total: 2,195 miles (3,533 km)

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