Day 52

Start: Austin, NV
End: Fallon, NV
Distance today: 114.7
Total: 3435.0

It's 110 miles from Austin to the next town on the Loneliest Road... On a good day, we average 10 miles an hour, including stops. That means that at best, it should take 11 hours, an with approximately 12 hours of daylight, we woke up crazy early so we could be on the road by sunrise... Of course, starting on the western slope of a mountain meant we didn't actually see the sun for some time, and
meanwhile we were FREEZING as we flew downhill. But we did get a pretty beautiful scene of a desert sunrise in a mist-filled valley...

It was actually really easy going due to the lack of wind (we have been fighting a headwind for most of the past few days) and it wasn't even noon by the time we reached the Show Tree at about 60 miles (more than halfway).

Now, I had heard rumors about the Shoe Tree... Supposedly it had a lot of shoes... But damn! It has A LOT of shoes! Hundreds and hundreds of shoes hung from every branch of this tree, with hundreds more scattered at it's base, either having fallen from the tree, or perhaps left there by those who couldn't quite get their shoes high enough. Naturally, we scavenged among the fallen shoes to find a few pairs to try for ourselves (I got two pairs in... Michele got really really close, but couldn't seal the deal)

A few miles down the road from the Shoe Tree, we stopped for lunch at Middlegate, a gas station and cafe that was once a station along the Pony Express, and has existed as some form of cafe or tavern since at least 1860...

After lunch, we got not just one, but TWO reminders that no matter how awesome and hardcore you think you are for riding your bike across the country, there is always someone more badass than you out there.

The first came in the form of Aaron Lisco, a fellow cyclist who started riding this June in Alaska! When I asked him what his final destination was, he responded "well, Argentina to start." Alaska to Argentina as a START??! Turns out he is planning a 60 country tour around the whole world which should take him on the order of 5 years! (www.beyondthegreatdivide.org)

The second reminder was The Human Express, a guy who decided to RUN the old Pony Express Trail, from Sacremento to somewhere is Missouri. He's trying to average 50 miles a day... That's right RUNNING 50 miles EVERY DAY!

Anyways, after lunch we cruised on by the Sand Mountain (a 200 foot high sand dune randomly in the middle of Nevada mountains, and through a dry lake bed in which hundreds of people have written names and/or messages with black rocks. Some examples:

- Marbaugh 'heart' Liston (ok, seriously, who uses their last names with a 'heart'? Especially when those last names are 'marbaugh' and 'liston'
- Casey
- Kacey
- Kaci
- KC
(I looked for 'sunshine band', but no luck)
And... The ever-popular: 'Poop' I actually saw this twice. Whether it was the same artist twice, one guy copied the other, or (in classic Newton-Liebniz style) they both independently arrived at the same idea, the world may never know...

Finally, we cruised into Fallon, had a thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, and we didn't get up until the next morning when we had to get back on our bikes and ride to Carson City.

ps - longest ride of the trip! 114 miles! Woohoo!!