day 24

today was the first day in a while where i did not have any specific sites to see on my route. i just had a final destination, a campground outside ely, nv. luckily the route from bishop, ca to ely was a site in itself. it was u.s. route 6 the whole way. if i continued east to the end of route 6, i would end up in provincetown, ma. there was a sign outside of bishop, ca which gave the distance of over 3200 miles.

starting out of bishop, it was already in the 90's by the time i left. i grabbed some ice from the hotel ice machine and put several cubes in some of the pockets of my coat and pants. it's a trick alex saw someone do when we took a tour in arizona a few years ago. by the end of the first hour, the ice had melted and everything was dry. it did help quite a bit, though.

i was basically riding through huge valleys or basins the whole way, with mountains on either side. once in a while the road would wind up the mountains and over a pass but then right back down to the valley floor. i had no idea that nevada was the most mountainous state in the country.


u.s. 6 north of bishop, ca - 09/04/2006

the landscape on either side was always impressive. It needed to be as there wasn't much else to see. Even though u.s. route 6 isn't "the loneliest road", it was still quite desolate. at one point, there was a sign saying "next gas 90 miles". after the gas station at the 90 mile mark was another sign saying "next gas 67 miles". luckily i was getting about 50 miles per gallon and didn't run out again.


rear view landscape, u.s. 6, nevada - 09/04/2006

but it was often the weather that was more interesting. most of the valleys were very warm, approaching 100 degrees, but the mountains were much cooler. as the clouds developed during the day, they would stretch across both the mountains and the valleys, but it would only be raining above the mountains. i could even see the rain as it came out of the clouds from many miles way. often i could even smell it. it reminded me of a passage i had just read in ted simon's jupiters travels. he was describing the rain clouds in south africa, with the rain coming out of the clouds like octopus tentacles.


rain clouds, u.s. 6, nevada - 09/04/2006


rain clouds, u.s. 6, nevada - 09/04/2006


u.s. 6, nevada - 09/04/2006

when it was sunny, there were some great views.


u.s. 6, nevada - 09/04/2006


u.s. 6, nevada - 09/04/2006

once i made it to the campground i thought i was safe, but just as i was setting up my tent, it started to rain. i got the rainfly on and everything inside before anything go too wet. a few hours later, this double rainbow appeared. you can just barely make out the second rainbow above the brighter one.


ely, nv - 09/04/2006