day 18: you guys live like this?

Hey, Spokes fans!!! We have made it to Ethan’s house in Midway, Utah, after a ride of 75 miles !! It has been so lovely meeting all of his family - his younger brother came to ride with us (shoutout Garrett!), his dad dropped off some of the best BBQ chicken pizza I’ve ever had for our lunch, and his mom made us some incredible burgers for dinner. Thank you so much, Scotts, for being amazing humans!! 

yum

People have been asking us how living together is going (hence the title of this post), and honestly, our living situation has been pretty great! Spending practically all-day every-day with five other people was definitely extremely daunting at first, but we’ve all been adjusting well and getting used to each other’s presence.

It’s also been so amazing getting to know the other members of the Spokes team! We are all so different from one another, and our strengths complement each other very well. The other day, I looked back at our bios (linked here) and I feel like I’ve learned enough about everyone to make some more accurate biographies of everyone. We even have a running joke that we operate like a family! 

The two upperclassmen are our parents: 

FATHER: Hunter “Wait - where are you going?” Liu

Strengths: Route-planning, bike fixing, Costco
Weaknesses: Gluten, boats, gas-inefficient driving

Hunter is the backbone and father figure of our team. We literally wouldn’t be anywhere without him - from his Costco runs serving us with snappea snacks, to his day-to-day route navigation to ensure that we don’t ride on any unsafe roads, he ensures that us kids are ready to bike!! 

He is such an expert navigator that he doesn’t even need Google Maps to get from place to place - driving or biking. He can instantly tell when one of us is using the gas in the van inefficiently, and when someone is going the wrong way (Eva). What would we do without this man??

(He actually just helped me fix my bike. Thank you, Hunter, my bike is very grateful.)

MOTHER: Kawther “Dry soil” Said

Strengths: Fruits and veggies, sleeping in van, earth systems

Weaknesses: River water

Our vegan mother Kawther is the queen of ensuring we are getting all of our nutrients in! From carrots and broccoli to apples and oranges to yogurt and granola, she is the #1 advocate of making sure we are eating vitamins, complex carbs, and protein. She is also a strong advocate for Rosarita refried beans. Yum!

Kawther, an earth systems major, has shared her expertise of the environment with us. As a land systems and agriculture specialist, she is keen on soil identification! When we were biking through Nevada, I would ask her what each type of soil was, and her response was the same every time: “dry soil”. My understanding now is that every soil is dry soil. Thank you Mother Kawther!!

For someone who has never camped before, I am very proud of Kawther for embracing the outdoors (and sleeping in the van every night we camp!!!) Although she has been extremely accommodating in camping with us, the concept of consuming river water is still a little too much for our precious mother (see Day 16 blog). Bless her heart! 

The rest of the team consists of freshmen, comprising the children of our family. These are the children in birth order.

CHILD 1: Ethan “Howdy folks” Scott

Strengths: Talking while riding bike, ChatGPT, Nevada Historical landmarks

Weaknesses: Cleat covers, Hawaiian haystack

Whenever I bike next to Ethan, he always has an interesting anecdote or fact to share - he is one of the most, if not the most curious person I have ever met. I have been so impressed with Ethan’s intellectual vitality over the past few weeks - in Nevada, every time there was a historical marker, he’d stop and read it to all of us in his narrator's voice. 

Ethan is also the biggest voice-type user I’ve ever met. He is always talking while riding his bike, and I can never tell whether he’s writing a text, catching up with a family member, calling our next hosts on WarmShowers, or asking ChatGPT for bike advice. Personally, I don’t know how he does it - I’m always out of breath while biking and can hold maybe three-sentence conversations.

(The next children’s birth order is hotly debated - but I believe that the following is the consensus)

CHILD 2: Eva “TÓMALO” Matentsian

Strengths: Sunscreen, TASKS, laughter, digital camera

Weaknesses: Lumpy tire, “tomorrow”

Eva is our sunscreen queen! We’ve been experimenting now with different roles in expediting our morning routine (we take an average of 3.5 hours to get ready), and Eva has taken the role of taking out the sunscreen and snacks every morning. She takes immense joy and pride in ensuring that all of us do not get burnt. Her role as sunscreen lady makes sense because her laughter is as bright as the sun! She never fails to cheer me up with her warm smile and hearty laugh. However, it doesn’t make sense because she is actually the only one on our team to get sunburnt so far. Maybe she’ll have to become the sunscreen and aloe lady soon.

Yesterday, Eva’s tire exploded briefly due to LUMPS. When we were looking in the morning, we saw minor lumps in her front tire that we perceived as benign. 17 miles later, we stopped for a quick water break, and BAM! The tire was toast. Luckily, Kawther came to save us, and this served as a lesson to be more attentive to lumps in our tires! Thank you Eva for teaching us this valuable lesson!

(I would be here as the third child)

CHILD 4: Jonathan “I’m from San Antonio, Texas” Tubb

Strengths: From San Antonio, Texas

Weaknesses: From San Antonio, Texas

If you’re wondering where Tubb is from, you haven’t met him yet. Tubb announces his homeland to almost everyone we have met on our journey, always sharing stories about his family and friends back home. He is so genuinely eager to connect with every single person that we meet, asking them for a piece of life advice along the way. I am so impressed that Tubb finds some way to relate to each and every one of these people. Are they a mountain-biker? His sister’s best friend is actually a mountain biker. Caricature artist? His aunt’s, uncle’s best friend’s daughter’s boyfriend is currently the most famous caricature artist in Kent County, Maryland. Track star? His best friend’s dog’s sister’s boyfriend’s cousin’s father’s old friend from elementary school actually holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest 300 meters!! Impressive!! 

Tubb earns the youngest child placement with his joyful nature and love of milk (do not get him skim though!!!) He has something to say about everything, which is a blessing given his extensive outdoorsy experience and a curse given that he’s from San Antonio, Texas.

Oh, and if you didn’t know, he’s from San Antonio, Texas. 

(Full disclaimer I actually do want to visit San Antonio one day. No hate at all)

Off to teach at Midway Elementary School students tomorrow! Super super excited to work with all the kids (this will be our biggest group yet - around 150 kids!!)

• Will and Britanny (my bike)

Day 17: Celebrating America by visiting its best state

Dust on the Trail by E. David Scott

Adapted from Rain on the Range by S. Omar Barker

When your cleats are gunked and muddy and your helmet starts to melt, 

And the dust and sun are pelting you and smelting you 

And Delta, Utah’s firework show is still 60 miles away,

that’s when you get to thinking of them interns by the Bay. 

Now they’re maybe moppin’ laser floors, or wrestling Excel, 

But they’ve got a cushy seat, a bathroom, and A/C as well.

They do their little doin’s, be their wages low or none, 

But let the heat rise till Lake Lag’s a field, they’ve got shade from the sun.

Their beds are maybe toppered, or at worst they sleep on springs, 

While your ol’ 4-foot sleeping pad is full of bugs that sting.

They’ve got no cleats to fret about that yank ‘em to the ground,

They don’t have to resist flinching at big rig loud horn sounds. 

There’s dining halls and Coupa and a fridge that keeps food cold

Whereas you gnaw costco protein bars that someone’s foot has balled.

When you’re ridin’ through the desert and you’re caked with dust by lunch,

Your mouth is even drier than the sandwich that you munch; 

The hornets are so frequent you don’t mind em’ anymore, 

When they rest awhile upon your leg you wish you too could snore, 

When you see mirages on the road and think of Stanford’s pool, 

You think about them SLAC interns, and call yourself a fool 

For ever clippin’ in and starting off toward D.C.,

Instead of moppin’ laser floors and takin’ of your ease.

You sure do get to ponderin’ about them interns by the Bay,

Where SLAC kids are not gettin’ caked with dust ‘most every day.

It’s misery in the machinery, and you sure do aim to quit,

And take most any internship you figure you can get.

But when you’ve got your mind all set to quit and turn around, 

The road pulls into Hinckley, and a gas station you’ve found!

You’re chattin’ with the mayor; they’ve got neutrino machines,

Organic barley, caverns deep, and new green energy,

You pull right into Delta, with a patriotic show, 

There are fireworks ablaze and grapes and Dole Whip where you go. 

That’s how it is with Spokesters when the dust and sun are hit:

They just hang on till it’s over–then there ain’t no need to quit!

Day 16: You’ve heard of green eggs and ham, get ready for green rice and spam

Hello spokes enthusiasts,

Long time, no see. We’ve been really busy the past few days so our blog schedule got messed up. Rest assured, we should be back to a normal schedule soon.

Things have been hectic since we were in Ely, Nevada the past few days. The experience was both exciting and surprising. It was our first time staying in an actual hotel this whole trip, which was nice because we’ve been doing a lot of camping lately.

In fact, we’ve been camping so much that my standards are rapidly lowering. Going into this trip I was adamant about always having access to flush toilets and running water in general. These days, I’m just happy not to have to shit in the woods—running water optional. That said, I still don’t trust spigot water. I’m personally a big fan of filtered water (if anyone wants to donate reverse osmosis water to the team let me know). Though, they might wear me out on this one if we keep camping (this is a cry for help).*

Us camping. Not seen: me in distress.

My camping woes aside, Ely was pretty cool. We had both a rest day and a teaching day here, totaling three (3!) nights in the same place!! Do you know how psychologically healing it was to return to the same place every day for three nights in a row after sleeping somewhere new every day for so long? The answer is a lot.

And that wasn’t even the best part. The kids we taught were amazing!! By far, this has been my favorite teaching site. The kids were so responsive and respectful.

This was also my first time teaching my sustainability workshop on rice. I was really worried about how it would turn out because I left too much til the last minute. Just a few nights ago, I was scrambling to air out my dyed rice for my rice mosaic activity. This, of course, prompted many jokes about how certain hungry teammates might eat my green rice for dinner. Between the amount of spam we (metaphorical we; I don’t eat spam) have eaten and my green rice, Dr. Seuss might have some competition.

And while the rice activity was fun, it wasn’t as fun as it was to watch everyone teach things they’re passionate about. I’m so excited to continue teaching across the country and watch as we all become better educators. It's one of the things I’m most excited about.

Teaching aside, Ely was an interesting place. The people we spoke to were hospitable and kind, but then we would see the n-word graffitied around town. We saw a total of three in our three days there, not counting the guy who yelled the n-word at Ethan. Having just stayed in a sundown town, I’ve gotta say I keep getting whiplash from the extreme kindness of people and the overt racism.

Also, on the topic of Ely, I feel the need to shout out Taproot Cafe. I had a very good blueberry açaí smoothie and met a cute dog there, so if you’re ever in town, make sure to stop by.

The dog in question.

That’s to say, all in all, Nevada has been an experience. And we survived it.

~ Kawther

*Since writing this, they’ve started drinking RIVER WATER.

Days 14 + 15: Rest, Teaching, and Awesome Ely, Nevada

Howdy y’all…Tubb is back on the blog! As Eva alluded to in the previous post, the spokesters spent days 14 and 15 in Ely, NV. Even though we haven’t been on the bikes, we’ve still been super busy.

I was very excited to be in Ely!

On Monday, we did our best to focus on resting. Unfortunately, despite setting 9:30 alarms, our cycling-adjusted circadian rhythms (with some help from the sun) woke us up at 6:45. Ugh. Thankfully, we had two free breakfasts at Denny’s courtesy of our hotel. After grubbing a little, we split off. Ethan and Hunter found some last-minute teaching supplies, Kawther and Eva discovered a cute cafe, I took my bike to the shop, and Will had a “pretty princess morning” (fell back asleep). Eventually, we convened for a delicious lunch at one of two Chinese places in Ely. We later discovered a rivalry exists between fans of the two establishments. While we ate, we chatted with the waitress about the pros and cons of living in remote Eastern Nevada. Stomachs full, we then headed a few blocks down the street to White Pine County Library, where we’d be teaching the next day. We met the super helpful, super kind librarians, did some final planning for the jam-packed morning of teaching, and looked over our budget and macro-route-plan for the next couple weeks. Finally, we finished the day cooking pasta, spam, and corn in a nearby park under tall trees and a beautiful sunset.

The pretty Ely sunset through the trees

Tuesday morning was an early one…we started setting up workshops at the library at 8 o’clock sharp. For an hour, we frantically shuffled boxes, reorganized supplies, and laid out teaching materials for the first few workshops of the morning. Before we knew it, kids began rolling in. We quickly realized that we were teaching not only Ely-ans, but also kids from all over Eastern Nevada, including some whose parents had driven them almost an hour to join us on a weekday. A special shout-out to the four awesomely engaged girls from Lund, NV who let me test their slime recipe and jokingly pledged their support to my hypothetical 2040 presidential run (Will, you’re going down)!

The aforementioned crew from Lund — my most loyal future presidential supporters

All of the teaching went amazingly. Kawther’s sustainability workshop prompted engaging discussion about the effects of climate change and fierce (but friendly) competition for who could hull and sand the most grains of rice. 

Mid-rice-hulling competition…these kids are dialed in!

Ethan’s physics escape room got kids excited about Newton’s Laws…many “floated” around the room to hit home the uncontrollable spaceship conundrum they were supposedly in. 

Fixing fuel tank problems in Ethan’s escape room

Hunter’s elephant toothpaste demo taught kids about chemical reactions and created tons of fun foam to play with. I was amazed by how considerate and careful they were not to be too messy or stain any of the library’s gear. 

Super foamy elephant toothpaste!

Eva’s strawberry DNA extraction explored biology with fascinated kids. And with the help of the DNA song, everybody learned how to say deoxyribonucleic acid five times fast. 

Extracting DNA from strawberries is a precise endeavor

Meanwhile, Will taught a group about the process of slime-making and the exciting psychology of slime and mindfulness. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Will and Eva’s groups quickly became rivals about how much they’d learned. 

Slime is surprisingly psychological!

Finally, I finished the day with a colorful, safe, and explosive rocket science workshop. I’ve taught chalk rockets several times before…but the kids of Ely might have been the best rocket scientists I’ve ever seen. 100% of their rockets successfully launched. Unfortunately, the day’s success didn’t carry over to me: my combustion rocket finale caught fire and melted with no exciting launch. At least we were able to model good safety practices and demonstrate that a lot of science is learning from failures. 

Roland’s rocket is primed and ready to launch! It flew quite high.

Despite the unsatisfying end to the day, we’d all call it a massive success. Huge thanks to the library, its staff, and the kids and parents of Ely for letting us be part of your summer. We had so much fun!

Post-workshop flick!

We finished cleaning and packing up from our busy morning around one, giving us plenty of time to explore Ely and get stuff done. The four freshmen tried a corndog truck recommended by Ethan…my “epic dog” was quite tasty. Then, we explored some of the smaller stores along Ely’s main street. A delicious snow cone, outdoor game of connect four (Eva smoked me), visit to an old fashioned soda counter, and postcard finding expedition contributed to an impeccable summer vibe. As we were about to get back to work, we discovered that the whole town was celebrating the long life of a beloved resident with a free barbeque in the park open to “one and all” (which seems like Ely’s unofficial slogan). We weren’t sure whether to go, but ended up checking it out, trying some great food, listening to great live music, and meeting many awesome Ely residents (and a couple of musicians). I even met a fellow displaced Baltimore Ravens fan. The hour we spent there was a great reminder that no matter where we live, we all have something to learn from the amazing way small towns come together, celebrate their community members, and have a great time, even following something sad. Afterwards, we did some logistics-ing at the local cafe, watched some TV, and called it a night.

Somehow, I (white) failed to block Eva’s diagonal here.

Town BBQ…we met so many awesome Ely-ans!

Next up, a 64 mile bike to Great Basin National Park awaits us!

Off to Utah!

DAY 13: MORE Desert

Dear blog,

We made it to Ely, NV after 76.83 miles and 4,290ft of elevation! We will be staying in Hotel Nevada for the next 3 nights. (After the last 3 nights of camping and loading/unloading the van each night it will definitely feel nice to stay in one room for a few days.) The Nevada scenery has been beautiful!!

We appreciate the Toy Story like clouds.

The clear blue skies are unreal. The heat has been intense but luckily we have the van to keep our water bottles filled. I greatly appreciated the tailwind that propelled us forward on Highway 50. The best feeling after a slow steady incline is flying down a slope because of the wind that cools us off. (Biking to Govco next year is going to feel like nothing after this summer.) Today we also met another cross-country cyclist coming from New York!

Us at a water break.

Before our journey we had a tasty breakfast this morning at the Saloon across from our motel. (I had the best french toast for only $2.50!!) I drove the van for the first half so I finally had time to write in my journal and write a postcard for my family. Will and I also tried an electrode massager for the first time (8/10 experience).

Us bonding over breakfast.

Will freaking out over the acupuncture mode.

After lunch (sandwiches/tortillas with refried beans) I tapped in and rolled listening to our “BanGer” playlist. Music is a MUST. I discovered some of the strange looking mountains were actually mines. I also learned how to identify Rabbit Bush thanks to Ethan. And, for the first time in a long time I saw gas prices that start with 3!

“Pizza” for lunch!

ALSOOO today the official Stanford instagram posted us on their story!! We were all super excited. Now we are watching cooking shows and my eyes are starting to close…

Mom I made it!

Goodnight!

Eva :)

Day 12: Shade (or the lack thereof), Stokes & Spokes, and Sundown Towns

    Hello! Ethan here. Today was a dry, hot, sunny day. The stats, for your enjoyment:

    Austin, NV—>Eureka, NV—63.02 miles—1,678 feet of elevation—at least a million Mormon Crickets seen.

    We started out today pretty early; we’d made a goal as a team to get up early so we could beat the desert heat. In case you didn’t know, Nevada is hot (Bandala, Kebede, Jonsson, et al., 2019). We’ve been trying very hard to avoid the crazy UV index and stay cool and hydrated along the way. I’ve decided that the only explanation for the mid-day sunniness is that shade must be illegal in Nevada. In the middle of the day, with the sun overhead, it’s difficult to escape the laser onslaught. 

Defying the laser onslaught.

     Before the laser was in full blast, we packed up, pumped up, and clipped in and started our lovely descent into the valleys ahead. Something interesting about Austin is the presence of Stokes Castle. This three-story Roman architecture granite facade juts out of the hills as you approach Austin, and upon visiting it we read that it is, you guessed it, a symbol of the boom-bust mining history of Nevada.

Spokes and Stokes.

All in all, today was a pretty flat and uneventful day. One point of interest: a bit after we left Austin, we passed ~50 miles due north of the top-secret Tonopah Test Range, also known as Area 52. I was hoping to see some top-secret MiGs flying overhead, but all I saw were gorgeous blue skies and shades of purple, white, and orange cascading over the brown and green hills and mountains.

What I expected to see: yes, I expected Clint Eastwood hurling through the air before my eyes.

What I saw instead: (not my picture)

     For the last few days, we’ve been in the midst of a large migration of Mormon Crickets. Today was no exception; as we pulled out of the campground, the highway was covered at times in entire swarms of the creatures. I was very proud of my agility; I’m pretty sure I only hit one on the descent this morning, whereas my teammates had hit multiple. Stanford, if you’re reading this, I think you may want to replace some of those Olympians; this kind of cricket-avoiding skill is needed on Team USA.

Also not my photo. None of us thought to take a photo of the crickets. Credit: Nevada Public Radio

     It’s been really interesting to follow this route from a historical perspective. I’m giddy about all the history we see, but I take a keen interest in the history of my ancestors, the Mormon pioneers. Back in California, we followed the Mormon Emigrant Trail, which curiously was built by the only people who wanted to get away from the gold rush of 1849, a group of Mormon settlers returning to Utah. 

    Just before Carson City, we biked right past Genoa, Nevada, which was the first permanent non-indigenous settlement in what is now Nevada and was founded by Mormon traders. However, at that time, it wasn't considered the first permanent settlement in Nevada because the area was known as Carson County, Utah, not Carson County, Nevada. Mormons settled across Nevada and Utah, so there have been heaps of history as we’ve gone along. 

     Now, of course, we’ve encountered the Mormon Crickets (which, contrary to their name, can practice any religion they feel inclined to). These katydids are called “mormon crickets” mostly because they famously almost starved the folks out in Salt Lake City in 1848. When they swarm, it can be terrifying–making roads difficult to drive on, destroying crops, and wreaking havoc. Interesting fact, though: had the Mormon pioneers in Salt Lake City abandoned the crops and just eaten the plentiful crickets, they may have been much better off: Mormon crickets have a heap of nutritional value. Alas, lessons learned–next time I move 70,000 people across an ocean and continent and terraform a desert into a metropolitan area, I will be sure to use this bit of wisdom. Eat the crickets. 

     One thing our team has done to pass the time, though a bit gauche, is to speculate on the ‘tragic deaths’ we will come to during the trip. Mine so far is a bit vague; apparently, I will become ‘dead in Nevada’. As we only have a few more days left in the state, presumably this will happen soon; otherwise, I suppose I get immunity for a good while. To give you a taste of some of the other deaths, I can tell you that Hunter will either follow a Garmin off a cliff or meet his end when taking a really aesthetic photo on the center of the road. Kawther will, unfortunately, be consumed by vegan bears. 

Guess who’s taking this aesthetic photo? A premonition of things to come…

     One last detail from today, on a more serious note. On getting into the historic and picturesque Eureka, we didn’t expect to encounter any issues, but we found out Eureka is (kind of) a Sundown Town, a town that sounds a siren every evening which has its roots in a form of violent racial intimidation. When I heard the siren going off, I was really frightened—it’s a loud, blaring noise which reminded me of an Air Raid siren. Purportedly, this siren is only still extant to remind kids to go home, not to continue the long tradition of violent exclusion of minorities from towns with sundown sirens, but it was a chilling reminder nonetheless of the fact that the Jim Crow era and other post-Reconstruction racial structures still have a bearing on our society today. There are thousands of communities around the nation that still have policies and structures rooted in sundown town laws or similar structures, and one map that can help you identify such towns in your state is here.

That’s all for now. Signing off.

Ethan

Day 11: Forest in the Desert

Hello again! It’s Hunter. On Day 11, through 71 miles and up 4100 feet of elevation gain, the Nevadan desert baked so many eye-opening experiences into us. We had a wonderful chat with Patsy, one of the waitresses who staffs Middlegate Station’s restaurant in the morning, about her prior biking travels, the shoe tree nearby, and precautions we should take on our route to Austin. With her advice in mind, we filled our water bottles at the station’s well and set off.

The team, setting off from Middlegate

Once we said goodbye to this wonderful town, the realities of the road set in. The sparing humidity present within the western reaches of the Great Basin faded into long, dry, and straight stretches of asphalt. Everything’s spread so far and wide—near the start and end of the day’s ride, there were two different signs directed towards the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, both times exactly 56 miles away. (Did we just go in a circle?) It was also incredibly difficult at times to tell whether we were going up, down, or neither.

Long, dry, and straight. Challenge: Is this an uphill, downhill, or neither?

Yet contrary to the road’s reputation as the Loneliest Road in America, the ride was rarely lonely or boring. We were almost constantly accompanied by swarms of Mormon crickets and became adept at dodging (most of) the crickets. The uphills were gentler than the Sierras but far longer, testing our endurance, while the downhills were at that sweet spot where we didn’t have to pedal or brake much. We were also stopped on the side of the road for thirty minutes due to a massive mining vehicle taking up both lanes of the highway. The vehicle was unfortunately not some secret Area 51 machine, but its size was impressive nonetheless.

Where did it come from, and where is it going?

To round things off, I am constantly amazed by the kindness of people. As I was desperately pedaling up a 7% incline to reach the first bathroom in Austin (for those seeking ways to increase cycling speed, take note), a man cheered me on from the gas station. Many drivers waved, and nearly every honk we received was positive.

With that, I leave you with a picture of the sunset from our forested campground.

And there goes another day

Day 10: Desert, Desert, Desert, and a Very Cool Town

Howdy y’all! It’s Jonathan again, but my teammates have taken to calling me by my last name, so I’ll go by Tubb for the last sixty-something days of blogging. Day 10 is in the books! We biked 65.75 miles from Lahontan State Recreation Area (near Fallon, NV) to Middlegate, NV. We climbed 1,698 feet and averaged 14 mph and 83 watts — impressive stuff in the desert heat! The ride itself was pretty uneventful, so I’ll take this opportunity to write about where we’ve stayed the last two nights and the scenery in between.

Kawther, Will, and Hunter at the road down to yesterday’s campsite

Last night, we did our first night of real camping…no nearby bathrooms, no drinkable water on tap, no electricity, etc. As a relatively practiced camper, I loved it. I loved scouting the campsite for good tent spots, monkeying around in trees to string hammocks, hopping in the refreshing reservoir, “cooking” ramen in the chill evening breeze, marveling at the beautiful night sky, and sleeping with a splendid view of the moon’s reflection on the nearby river. It was certainly a fun night and a great chance to dip our toes in the camping water.

First camp cooking!

We got started on today’s ride a little late, so our first taste of the Nevada desert came with plenty of heat and direct sunlight from the get-go. After passing through Fallon (and its Taco Bell), we rode east over fifty miles of Highway Fifty. If you’re a fan of salt basins, arid shrubbery, tumbleweeds, cracked iron-filled mountains, or the complete absence of moisture, this is the part of the country for you. Having hiked, trail-run, and camped in South and West Texas, I thought I knew dry. This is a whole different league of dry. Personally, I found the desert’s uniqueness beautiful. At the top of the day’s longest hill, I remember Hunter and I simultaneously exhaling as we looked out over the thousands of acres of dry Central Nevada before us. Whether that was due to tiredness or awe, I’m not sure. I am sure, however, that I was constantly in appreciation of the continuity and homogeneity of many swaths of the desert. We’re used to living in cities where every business and home is doing its best to pop out, creating jarring differences between buildings and streets. In the uninhabited desert, a miles-wide salt basin slowly rises into a vast red plateau, which gives the cyclist time to appreciate the world around them before it gradually evolves. Also, I loved Ethan’s excitement to check out the handful of Nevada historical markers along our route — I know a little more about Nevada’s mining history as a result.

One of the more shrub-y stretches of desert we rode through

After a fun ride, we arrived in Middlegate, NV. Highway Fifty is sometimes called the loneliest road in America, which makes Middlegate the loneliest town on the loneliest road in America. The population is 17. We spent most of the evening in Middlegate Station, a combination restaurant-motel-showers-campsite. We ate our first real restaurant meal since day one…I enjoyed a scrumptious (and very affordable) buffalo-chicken-tater-tot creation. The food was great, but my favorite part of today was talking to the people I met in the station. DC, our awesome chef and waiter, told me about his time in the military, his advice about college, his fascination with the cosmos, his nieces’ and nephews’ one-hour school bus ride, and so much more. After, I spent time walking around the restaurant looking at all of the cool decor, stickers, and dollar bill notes previous travelers had left. We left one at the back-left of the restaurant…go find it if you’re ever in Middlegate.

Middlegate Station’s cool interior

Now, I’m writing from my sleeping bag atop the van and under a truly sublime night sky. The Milky Way’s purple-ish belt stretches from one horizon to the other and everywhere you look you see more and more stars. It’s a fantastic reminder of how fortunate we are to have this opportunity and how blessed we are to have this planet.

Twilight view

With that, good night! We’ve got an exciting ride to Austin, NV ahead of us tomorrow.