Today's Mileage: 66
Total Mileage: 725
Our morning began in Middlegate with a delicious breakfast and some more mingling with the local yokels.
We knew we wouldn't have water or any other services for 64 miles, so we spent a good while preparing water bottles, including some ice cold bottles to be insulated in towels and left alone until the afternoon.
Our route took us along the Pony Express trail. When we passed by Cold Springs we happened to see some signs of life, and were invited to refill our water bottles from a hose.
We were so happy to have cold water to drink at the top of a couple mountain passes. Dave used a rest break as an opportunity to hold his empty water bottle out in to the road and the first car to pass by stopped to offer us raspberry flavored water.
Later, we stopped at a small river with big fish so we could dip our feet in. Yogi Dave suckered another passerby into giving us three Cokes and some more water. This was only 7 miles from the day's final destination, but we still didn't know just what we were in for.
We climbed almost 2000 feet in the last four miles into Austin. It was so painful and awful, especially after a long day of riding. Wesley gave me a pep talk and rode in with me the last 500 feet (he had already been in Austin for a while and saw my haggard body cranking up the hill)... only to to find out that we were camping even FURTHER up the mountain. (Wesley's half-mile was more than a mile).
I practically collapsed when I got there, but managed to set up my tent and take a shower. We walked to the closest possible place to eat. Walking back up the hill was exhausting, and I crawled into bed by 9 p.m.
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