Day 19

Day 19,

August 10, 2003.

As I already mentioned yesterday, the morning started with fixing the rear flat tire. This took about 30 minutes without hurrying.

I got back on the road and continued north on 95. The road was flat so I was able to keep at a decent speed. At 1 pm, I stopped at the next town, called Orovado. From the road there was seen only a gas station, and the town must be somewhere further.

I fixed up a lunch from food carried from Winnemucca (canned fruit salad) and ate it outside in the shade. This is when I noticed that the rear tire was flat again. Another 20 minutes of repair – just regular hole on the tread section of the tire. I am really getting tired of this. Every time after the repair, I have to wash the hand from the black chain oil.

The next town was 30 miles away – Mc Dermitt. Very easy pedaling here, flat surface and no wind.

In about two hours I arrived to town and went to check out the grocery store – “Ideal Market”. J The market was indeed pretty good and I got some boiled eggs (never saw them sold like this before), and some grapes oranges and plums. I ate all this behind the building, at a storage of old trucks and buses, finding a nice shady spot.

Then I went further in town and near gas station, talked to a man from Los Angeles that came here on his Harley as a few days ride. He retired from air-conditioning technician job and now has more time to enjoy his hobby – motorcycling. His bike looked extremely nice – all clean and shiny. But the man said that it was already old – from ’94 and he wanted the latest model.

Then I rode a block to local school and found a neat place between the buildings that would protect the tent from the wind. Here I will come back later tonight.

I stopped on the playground and went to the bar to hang a bit and stretch the spinal cord. Not far from the bar, a Mexican or a Native American boy was playing in the sand. He looked at me hostilely and said – What are you doing here? I hesitated for a second and said – same thing you do.

Well, after that a boy replied – get out of here. J I was pretty shocked, especially because his mother watched all this and didn’t say a word. This was possibly something like approving his behavior. So, I indeed just got out of there as there was nothing else for me to do at the playground, but thought that with this kind of attitude, this boy could encounter some difficulties with people in the future.

Next hour I spent in a very interesting conversation with an older man that was walking his cat in the evening. Black cat, by the way. Him, and his wife are retired and originally from Iowa or some state in that area. For the last couple of years, they work independently for themselves. They deliver new trailers to the dealers all over US and Canada. The guy made initial investment in a new Dodge Ram dual rear wheel diesel pick up truck. What was amazing is that the truck has already been driven over 600 000 miles. He told me in details what repairs the truck needed and it was even more surprising – not all that many. This man has also been on almost all highways in the States and Canada and I asked him about the route I was planning to take. He predicted a lot more hills all the way to Canada, until I cross the Rockies and descend to the plains in Saskatchewan.

After this I went across the street to “Say When Casino” and for an hour and a half talked to two old men, Jim and Mike. They were the local farmers that are retired. For some reason the trip impressed them so much that they wanted to help me somehow. After Mike found out that part of the diet is a peanut butter, he went straight to the restaurant (disgusted) and bought me a fried chicken dinner. I promised to send them a post card when I get somewhat far from there and hurried to get out of that place before they spend more money on me... Very embarrassing, but they are sincere and very fun people to talk to. :-)

I went to the school around 10 and set up the tent. Nice and quite. By the way, the Oregon state line was only a block from the school.

Today – approximately 60 miles.

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