Winnemucca, Nv. - Day 7

Hello from Winnemucca which means “one moccasin”!! We had quite an interesting day beginning with breakfast family style at the Cowpoke Café and I am so enjoying eating eggs, pancakes, bacon, some sort of potato, fruit, and pastry every morning!! The first picture is the same café, but that is outside where we ate last night!!

It was raining when we loaded our luggage at 6:15 and still raining after breakfast at 6:30 – so, rain gear and long fingered gloves because it was 52 degrees and drizzling. We rode mostly on flat roads today with only 1520 feet of climb over 75 miles.

About 7 of us were riding together and went through a very short tunnel under I-80 which had bats at the end, so I screamed the whole way through so they didn’t attack me. The rain became steadier and steadier and we got wetter and wetter until our first SAG at 24.5 - we all drank hot chocolate, tried to get used to our wet clothes again and headed out. The mountains were one big cloud on either side of us and not much brightness to be found.
Yes, up to I-80 we headed again with all of the big trucks and spray showering us – however we did learn today that the truckers do warn each other that we are on the road and almost all give us wide berth. After roughly 20 miles, we exited and ate lunch at a Subway. I was revived after lunch and really took off very strong for 10 miles exiting again for another 20 miles into the hotel. The rain did ease up and we had a wonderful tail wind pushing us into town.
As I entered town, the mountains on the left (see picture with white “W”) had a peak of sunshine at the top. Things brightened up and became quite nice – lot of us spent afternoon cleaning our bikes, making Walmart run, and having repairs made to the bikes.

I need to mention that we have ridden over many “cattle crossings” with the grates just like we used to have on the farm only instead of round horizontal pipes they are rectangular. I often walk them because they rattle my brain too much!!! Only road kill we saw today was a dead snake, but we saw horses and a few steers. I have to mention the sign that says “Free ranging cattle” – not sure what that means, but I’m still looking for them!!
Dinner was at the “Flying Pig” and oh my what food!! I had a wonderful pulled pork sandwich and several guys at my table got the “Smokehouse” which was a sampling of ribs, bratwurst, pulled pork, baked beans, cole slaw and not sure what else. It is so much fun eating all of these calories!!!! I am saving every bite of every carb I eat.
Tomorrow is a short day of 55 miles with a little more climb than today and should provide some rest time for a couple of up coming long…..days in the saddle!! Today is the first time I have ever ridden 7 consecutive days and I feel really well. We have lots of interesting dinner conversation about the best remedy for our ailing “bums”. Tonight I even heard it suggested that we try rubbing alcohol?!?!?
I need to make a correction on an earlier post and tell you that we do have 3 riders from Pa. John is from Reading and this is his fourth time to travel across. He has also walked across the USA in 110 days – very strong and fun cyclist!!

Today's hurrah goes to my parents who instilled in me the faith, strength, and stubborness to pursue this endeavor! Also to nephew Bryce who celebrated his birthday today and high school graduation last week - great pictures!!

Thank God for the safety, health, and energy!