Day 9,
July 31.
Monster Hill
In the
morning wind finally calmed down and I had two hours of undisturbed sleep.
After having
a little breakfast with carrots and burritos, checking e-mail in the local library,
I continued further north on Hwy. 395.
Northern part
of Bishop was very picturesque with the sun lightening the meadows.
I stopped to
take a picture of three beautiful horses, but by the time I got the camera
ready, the horse that was playfully lying on its back got up on its feet again
and started eating grass motionlessly, same way two other horses were doing.
In several
miles past Bishop, a very steep hill begins -11 miles continuous climb, where
the elevation gains up to 3000 feet.
This section
of the road people were mentioning already for several days.
Along the
way, there were signs recommending turning the air conditioning off for the
next 10 miles. On some parts of the hill, there were supposedly places with
radiator water, which were actually bone dry.
At the
beginning of the hill, I changed the pants for more comfortable shorts, applied
plenty of sun screen, ate few chocolate bars and
started climbing in the lowest – 12th gear.
This way I go
for about two minutes until breathing becomes too frequent, and start walking.
When looking
back at the valley, the view reminds one from the airplane.
Hour goes
after hour, with walking average speed of 3.5 mph. From time to time I get back on the bike and
pedal another few minutes. Water goes like in the sand.
Close to the
top of the hill, in about 3 hours, a minivan stopped in front of me. A young girl
and a boy walked out and headed in my direction saying hi.
They asked me
where I was going and looked at the bike. Girl, Laura, was also a cyclist,
planning to go down to
I want to
mention one interesting detail. With the gain in elevation, vegetation changed
dramatically. From desert plants, it changed to small and then tall, big pine
trees. This should be reflected in today’s pictures.
Around
Being pretty
tired and almost out of water, I stop to rest and eat. Cold milk with cereals
were nice, and after spending about an hour and a half just sitting at the
table resting, looking at maps, I got an opportunity to closely observe the
tourists.
Coming out of
big RV’s and SUV’s being on vacation, dressed in clean clothes – they would all
head to the restaurant, being really tired from sitting still for several hours
patiently looking out of the window and waiting for a rest stop. Finally, now they
can walk, stretch the muscles and eat a nice dinner (there were other kinds, of
course). A lot of food is left on the tables; hope they at least feed it to
dogs, or something.
Next town is
I start
refreshed down the hill, but soon realize that I don’t have as much energy as I
thought and there is a head wind.
Soon the downhill
ended and I had to pedal in the lower gears even on the flat road. This
continued for about two hours. With the sun still shining, the views were
beautiful and peaceful.
Last three
miles were really hard and after arriving into town, I had to find the shower
and wasn’t up to hanging out with those kids.
In the
evening, after exploring the town and dinner in one of the fast foods, I rode
half a mile into the forest and set up the tent.
This time the
night was quite and peaceful. Nothing disturbed me except for a dog running
around in the evening. Being somewhat inexperienced in forest camping, every
little noise would make me alert. So, this time I heard something in the bushes
and when pointed a flash light there, saw a reflection of dog’s eyes. Luckily,
it wasn’t interested in me. J
Today’s mileage – 43, total – 350.
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Pictures Continue to Day
10