Off we go on the Lonliest Road

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Day 6 (5/9/06) Carson City to Sand Mountain
Total Miles: 91 (372.6mi to date)

What a day of cruising we’ve had! We passed by a
casino riding out of Dayton and did a double take at
the sign reading “2 eggs, 2 pancakes and choice of
meat for 2.22” - these are the moments you live for
when you’re on the road. Needless to say we enjoyed a
fantastic breakfast and were on our way. The day
started with a horrible headwind that nearly broke
Arthur’s spirit. I found out that the Bob trailer is
good for something - headwinds and cruising- my
spirits were flying high. I was riding a lot faster
than Tris and Arthur (which doesn’t happen often) and
was startled as I cruised by a lone shell station on
Silver Springs Nevada (a desolate desert town) and saw
this old, rather large crazy man running after me and
yelling. Not sure whether to stop or not (a little
scared since I was on my own), I slowed down a little
to hear him ask if I would like a buddy to ride across
the country with. Thinking he was joking (we’re used
to people making fun of our adventure) I kind of blew
him off. He was super persistent and as I saw Arthur
and Tris finally coming over the hill I decided it
would be safe to stop. Pete introduced himself to me
and said he had a friend who wanted to ride across the
country on his bike; Pete was worried about him and
didn’t want him to do it alone (“there are cougars and
wolves and tornados and all sorts of dangerous things
out there,” he reminded us over and over again - he
even gave us these air horns that he carries in his
car to scare the mountain lions away - further more he
offered to pick us up and save us if we get stranded
anywhere, he was very concerned). And so we met our
new travel companion Daniel. Daniel started his bike
trip in San Francisco the same day as us. His
friend’s bike got stolen so she bailed and he decided
to venture off on his own. He hitch hiked across
Carson Pass to Silver Springs with Pete (motivation’s
tough when you’re on your own). It’s become the
fabulous four. It’s been nice having a fresh face
with new stories (we all know nothing about each other
and the days are long on the loneliest highway in
America).

We cruised with fantastic tailwinds and were able to
accomplish some serious mileage. Tonight’s bivy -
Sand Mountain (this mountain is crazy, it’s entirely
made of sand and slowly migrates, you can actually
hear it moving). From here on out it will be lonely
travels.

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