Day 7-Middlegate to Austin (Djina)

Still in the desert. Still hot but not as hot as Davis from my latest report. We must be getting stonger because we only did 50 miles today and it seemed so short. We left Middlegate early to avoid some of the heat. As we get on our trusty steads in the morning I have taken to belting out a rousing chorus (much to my children's chagrin) of "Back on the Road Again"...and then happily noting that I get to go on a bike ride today!!! (to which Yonah replies "yeah, just like yesterday...and the day before...and for the last 6 days...and for the next 60 days...!) The wide open spaces of the desert (The Great Basin...I just learned that today)have even inspired my usually demure Yonah to find his loud voice. This morning he joined me by belting out "Here we are in the great Nevada Desert!!!! Where there is no living thing as far as the eye can see that is greater than 3 ft. tall, and everything is a sickly shade of Olive." He's just kidding of course, he LOVES the desert. What 13 yr. old boy wouldn't love riding his bike day after day through the desert? We avoided 100 bottles of beer on the wall again today by plugging Solomon right in to Harry Potter. They are both riding so well, stonger everyday. I am getting less worried about them catabolizing themselves. They are eating ALL the time and seem to be perky and alert. At one point Yonah was playing a game with Solomon called "Rapid Fire Math" and Solomon was coming up with the answers far sooner than I was. Maybe I should be eating more ice cream.
There are many funny things in Nevada that we see as we bike through but one of my favorites is the multitude of Historic Monuments, which seem to consist of an old, metal sign next to an old, metal trash can, and an amazing vista...but no greater than the amazing vistas that we are seeing for the preceeding and subsequent miles...it reminds me of that scene in Blazing Saddles where the toll booth is set up in the middle of the desert......
When we were in the Sierras, on the last day before Nevada, Mark, Sharon, Ari, and Eli passed us in their Van and handed out ice cream bars and cold drinks as they drove slowely past. Solomon keeps waiting for that to happen again.
I have adopted a whole new riding outfit and will never go back to Lycra. My legs were getting roasted by the sun so I pulled my skirt on over my bike shorts and it is so much cooler. I also ditched my short sleeved lycra bike shirt for a long sleeved, UV blocking, ultra cool, Exoficio shirt...it is so light and the ventil. is great. So Pam, when you and Chenoa do this, remember that. Actually, I'm taking lots of field notes for anyone who wants to do this.
It's nice having Solly on the tandem because he is able to look around more and is usually the one to spot the cool birds...today he spotted an Eagle (we aren't sure if it was a Bald one or a Golden one) and a nest of Raven's with 3 little Ravenettes poking their heads out of the nest.
I have a ton of photos but no way to post them...I'll have to wait until we get to a town that has more than a dusty computer in the corner of the library.
Ok, we are off to find the campground.
Next stop Eureka, Nevada and then on to Ely!
Love as always,
Djina