Phase I, Day 4. Fallon-Austin, NV

119 miles. Went like this: climb to a pass then down the other side, across a broad valley then up and down again and again.



Rolled out of Fallon at 6am. 37F. Got some good advice to get out of town before 6:30 to avoid the "Air base shift change traffic" at 6:45. Hit the highway and soon came across the awesome Sand Mountain. Sand dunes hundreds of feet high made from Sierra granite dust.



Pressed on to my lunch spot at Middlegate. Middlegate is not a town but a ramshackle outpost that, as it turns out, makes a great burger. Electricity at Middlegate is provided by a diesel generator that was having some trouble when I arrived. "This happens all the time" bar guy James tells me. I enjoyed the warm sun while I waited and in 30 minutes James had the generator back online and 2 awesome burgers ready for me. One for now and one for much later.

"Middlegate"

Like most of you I have only seen this part of Nevada from the window of a jet 7 miles up. I agree, it doesn't look like much. But from ground level it's very spectacular, perhaps because it's so remote. I passed a directional road sign marking the turn to "Berlin State Park. 51 miles"....on a dirt road. After my lunch stop I took an alternate route, the "old" US 50. Spent 4 hours on this road and counted 3 cars. The first summit at 7500' was beautiful and could have been anywhere in the Rockies. Thick aspen groves and all.



It was really cool to come over the crest of one hill and be able to see very clearly to the next hill 20-30 miles away. I can see where I will be in a couple of hours. Never experienced that before. I now regret not bringing a proper camera. I was concerned with weight and bulk. Cell phone camera is fine for most things but not for pictures of these epic views.

The boys from Fallon Naval Air Base entertained me a lot today with the low level training and the sonic boom was fun.

Staying in Austin tonight. Today's Austin is what's left of a long ago silver mining boom town and sits at the 6500' level on the side of a mountain. Austin is very basic. I have more pics for the blog but not able to upload. I keep expecting to hear "you city slickers and your wifi".

Did you know in the glory days during the silver boom Austin had 10,000 residents? Only 230 are left now.

So far only one snag on the ride: my tire pump failed. I have to resort to gas station air and a cheapo pump I found at Walmart in Fallon which only gives me 80psi. I would like 110psi. I have 1 co2 cartridge for emergency use only. Couldn't find any more of the right cartridges in Fallon so I will have to make do.

Tomorrow more Basin and Range riding to Eureka, NV.