We woke up at 6, but weren't on the road until 9:30, thereby wasting the best part of the day. Bob wanted to head back out to the interstate the way we came in, while Leo suggested that we ride through town and merge with the interstate down the road. There was some friendly debate as to who exactly was the "control freak", after which Bob headed out the way we came in. Leo and I left about 10 minutes later, riding through town and chuckling about the interstate going up and down as it circled Elko. We caught up with Bob before the tunnel through the mountain. Our plan was to follow Carlin Creek around the mountain to avoid the tunnel and traffic, but it turned out the tunnel was under construction, and all traffic was being routed through the narrow road through Carlin Creek. Leo noticed that there was no oncoming traffic, so we rode in the left lane, and made the most out of a potential disaster. We even stopped for a break at a historic marker.
After dodging a live rattlesnake on the shoulder of the road, we entered a "Prison Area" (Hitchhiking Prohibited), and I got a flat tire. Leo and Bob rode ahead, while I changed the tube before any deviants could approach to offer help. I caught up with the others as they rested during the middle of long climb. Bob was running low on water, so he called for John in the support van, while Leo and I crested the hill and began a very long descent. Leo's front tire was getting squishy, so we took it easy. The leak was slow, but after stopping a few times to add air, Leo finally figured he should replace the tube. It wouldn't be a day on the bike trip without dodging angry swallows under a highway underpass (there's no other shade), but the second tire repair of the day went fairly smoothly. Here are the angry swallows:
By this time Bob was in the support van. We knew the late start would prevent us from reaching Winnemucca at a reasonable time, so we decided to stop in Battle Mountain. It turns out Bob had been here before, so he booked us rooms where he stayed during his business trip in the 80s.
After checking in we picked up essentials at Discount Liqour & Deli, owned and operated by a woman from New Delhi.
The fillin' station wasn't hirin'
and after we saw the alternative to the Big Chief we thanked Bob for landing us rooms at the best place in town.
We strolled down main street
and decided to eat dinner at El Aguila Real
which turned out to be very good indeed. Also, we got special treatment because the waitress thought Leo was Mexican.
