Having retired early, we managed an early start. This was a bonus, as the road to Nevada was marred early by two punctures (one each). This trip we've found bike complications come in threes; so we were almost relieved when later in the afternoon Matt busted a spoke.
Following Matts' roadside mechanic wizardry, we hit the road out of Milton. As we left, a curious local stopped us to ask about our travels. He had returned to Baker from California for the long weekend, to celebrate his 54th highschool reunion; Die Hard with Avengence! Our route took a lonely highway surrounded by shrubby desert, which a signpost declared 'Your Utah Public Land'. Ahead we had rugged mountain views; as scenic as they were disconcertingly unavoidable. So we cycled onwards and upwards for quite a few hours in the heat (our plan to beat the heat had failed along with my inner tube.)
After a few unremarkable miles, free of any kind of traffic, we were pleased to greet an oncoming cyclist. Daniel was a friendly San Francisco native who takes to the road for 'no more than 14 days' every now and then, to keep fit. He seemed happy to have some company, so the three of us pulled up by the roadside for a while. Daniel gave us all kinds of tips for our remaining journey towards 'Frisco, with the instant-friend status we have found amongst touring cyclists this trip. As such, he left us with his contact details and an invitation to stay in his San-Fran home; 'I'll stay at my girlfriends place and you guys can have my cottage for the night!' Ordinarily such an offer might seem forbodingly generous coming from a 'stranger'; but such is the commeraderie of the touring cyclist that we took it in our stride/pedal. We wished eachother happy travels and parted ways, happy for the encounter amidst an unchanging landscape (over, as fate would have it, the aptly titled San Francisco mountains!)
Sadly, the landscape did change; it went 'up.' After descending from the San Francisco mountains into the Wah Wah valley, we started the long climb up to the Wah Wah summit (with Jimmy Hendrix ringing in my ears.) Very few cars passed so we could snake our way up and up... Until our second puncture of the day and resulting lunch break. With bagels in our tums and air in our tyres, the uphill continued.
A further hour of climbing later, we reached the Wah-Wah summit and enjoyed some downhill. Sadly this meant losing all our elevation to start over again, this time bound for the intriguingly titled 'Mormons Gap'. Thankfully the arid mountain scenery and our pumping playlists helped us power up the third pass of the day.
Three mountains down, we finally enjoyed a long gradual downhill followed by a flat stretch. Cross-winds prevented us from having it too easy, but at 75 miles we were rewarded with the border into our 8th State; Nevada. From the state line it was a nice rise up to the town of Baker; incidentally the first sign of civillisation since leaving Milford in the morning.
Having located 'the' store and campsite, Matt put our recently purchased seminal work, 'The Outdoor Cooking Bible' to admirable use. It's truly amazing what you can do with a roll of tin foil, some rocks, a lighter and newspaper... Jamie Oliver eat your fancy-cooked heart out
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