To All My Friends,

Today was actually the longest mileage on our agenda--120 miles. I didn't know how I could cope with a number like that so I broke it into 12 bars of 10 miles each so every time I finished 10 miles it was a bar and just kept track of the bars.  It worked well and helped me from getting too overwhelmed.

The terrain has turned to desert by now and the road stretches so far ahead you can't ever see the end.  The first 30 miles were into a headwind and Gabriel usually catches me after noon sometime but today I sent him an SOS by phone and luckily got him--so many times there is no [cell] service whatever. 

There were some really black clouds coming, I was riding by myself and afraid that if it really did storm the Sag vehicle would come back and pick me up--it's the long mileage thing again, that they have to try to keep their chickens grouped a little better in case there is a real problem.  But, Gabriel just quit computering; threw everything in the van and got to me in about 45 minutes. 

The rain did go around so we lucked out but it's a scary feeling to be out there all alone --to me the desert is a hostile environment--I feel completely different when it's green and farming community.

The second section between 30 and 50 miles was a welcome relief because there was a tailwind--then the rest of the day was all mixed with a lot of cross winds that make it almost impossible to hold the bike on the road when the big gusts come. 

I wished I weighed 50 pounds more and had some big man muscles--I feel like a little twig being banged around when the wind blows.  One Wyoming man said they like the wind because it makes a lot of people move away--total pop. here is about 450,000. 

When we came into town, the gusts were so bad it blew me into the gutter and my bike went over--I was so glad I had Susie's clipless shoes on so I jumped off the bike.  I got back on and the same thing happened the second time. Finally made it to the motel and EVERYONE was talking about the wind--even the big guys so it wasn't just me!  The 120 miles was almost ho-hum--everyone was talking about the wind instead.

Gabriel got into a little excitement--we only had a couple of places all day where there were people.  One little town had  a pop. sign that said "10" but only had TWO people and a little store and when Gabriel went in to buy something, the man was in the midst of having a heart attack in the backroom and his wife had just called 911.  The picture you see of the copter and the pilot pointing at Gabriel was him asking Gabriel to watch that no one got close to the copter as they wanted to keep it going for a quick get-away. If this guy doesn't make it, the town will be down to ONE!

 

I left just about two minutes before this happened so met the ground ambulance but didn't know what was going on.  So, I rode and rode and after 10 or 12 miles I was getting worried something had happened to Gabriel because he said he would be right along.  I tried to call and of course no service so I was really glad to see him when he caught up 1/2 an hour later.

We're staying at a Holiday Inn that is just gorgeous--they call it a Holidome and the entire area of pool, restaurants etc. is all covered just like a mall. The inside is all landscaped with tropical plants so we feel like we're back in CA. Our room opens right out into this area so it is really beautiful.  Looking forward to the day off tomorrow--we have ridden 9 days in a row.

Love, Patricia