Carson City Nevada

Salt Flat muddy footprints
The pink crystallized patches
Colleen scratching Daniela's back
Hemi, the American Bull Terrier that slept with us




So we still have stories to tell for the last two states of our voyage (Nevada and California). We left off in Nevada, describing nocturnal desert riding. After sleeping under the tree with hundreds of shoes dangling by their laces, we found the "town" of Middlegate. It consists of one motel and that's it! We got coffee and made our yummy oatmeal (this morning was particularly gourmet with bits of trailmix, apples, left-over chocolate...

We continued riding and came across the most bizarre landscape. There were vast salt flats with sand dunes behind and mountains behind the dunes. But dappled throughout the salt flats were pockets of pink crystallized ponds. It was as if pink water was just beginning to freeze over. We collected a sample and I will run it under the mass spec and H-NMR (chemistry machines) when we get back to school to find out what it is. Strange.

So finally we start seeing trees. And they're WAY in the distance. That must be the town of Fallon. A few hours later we arrive at these trees. But Fallon is nowhere to be seen. Finally we get to Fallon and locate the public pool for showers. The pool boys take one look at us and tell us we can go on in free of charge. But they don't have soap, so we have to go traipsing around town looking for a place to buy soap. And it's HOT. We are lower in elevation at this point. After showers with soap, we look for food (we operate by instinct: showers, food, lodging). So we end up eating at this weird place that's half Mexican and half Italian cuisine. We get burritos that nearly make us implode. Then it's time to start finding a place to sleep. After cruising around unsuccessfully, we go to the jail. A very nice police lady tells us there are no places to sleep legally and safely in town, and that we should go to the campsite out of town. We smile and nod and go to the side of the road out of town to camp. We find a beautiful secluded spot though. We read some Harry Potter to each other (it's really a comfort item- whenever we feel slightly unsafe we crack out the HP... who cares about mace or knives anymore when we can just pretend we are in some magical land far away).


So we fall asleep under a sky brimming with stars. there are lizard prints all over the sand outside our tent. It seems that we parked right in the middle of the Sierra lizard nightly convention. We made oatmeal again for breakfast and hopped on the bikes.

We rode for several hours to Carson City. There we showered at the pool and found Comma Coffee, a great little shop. After spending hours reading, sipping joe, and charging out phones, we stepped outside to meet a group of kids. they were hula hoopers. and really good. They taught us how to hula-walk and do all kinds of tricks. Then the wind started to blow like crazy and they disappeared. As if the wind whisked them right away. Just like that.


So, with nothing better to do, we did the ol' cruise around. We found this guy playing guitar behind a bar in an alley/parking lot. We started talking and it turns out this bar was a hub where really cool locals went. Colleen came out to ask about our bikes and the squirrel pelts on our handlebars. She was a very tough lady. She was a bar tender, and once picked a guy up by the neck and through him out of the bar. Colleen found us a place to stay at some friend's house a block away. We sat on the couches and she showed us all her animal calls. she can make all sorts of sounds: donkey, pigeon, ducks, rooster, orangutan, wombat, ANYTHING- you name it, she's got it and it's good. Colleen also taught us how to look real tough. She showed us how to stare at someone and intimidate anyone giving you trouble. She showed us some defense moves that worked great on each other when we practiced. we wrestled and laughed and made funny sounds until late. Then we set up our tent outside and got to take Hemi, the American Bull Terrier i had fallen in love with to our tent. Hemi was huge. His head was twice as wide as mine and his body so massive and solid. He didn't fit in our tent very well, so he ended up curling up right outside the open door on the fly.

We slept well with our protector dog at our feet.