Day 20-Muy Caliente!

Dammeron Valley, UT to Caliente, NV
Distance: 94.84 miles
Time: 5:55:01
Max Speed: 41.7 mph
Average Speed: 16 mph

Whoever named the town of Caliente hit the nail on the head. It is "muy caliente," as Oleg has been saying all day with a sultry Latin accent. Originally, we were supposed to be camping outside a church, but we got lucky and are staying inside the church with very cold air conditioning, which is a nice treat. We were also treated to a wonderful gospel performance, courtesy of Jordan and Co. Slowly, the entire team is going mad, or perhaps the heat and being together 24 hours a day for 20 days has something to do with it.

The day was indeed a hot one. Though, this dry heat is a million times better than the humidity of Austin. I do miss El Paso for the dry heat. You can be sweating buckets, but if you spray water on yourself or go swimming, you are instantly cooled when the dry air hits you. It feels so good. Reaching the Nevada border was our least climactic border yet. I think everyone knows of the long, hot days that await us in Nevada. A century through the desert does not sound like my type of fun. But California awaits us on the other side, so we are focused on the destination, not the journey for now.
There is not much to be said about today's ride. It was hot, somewhat long, and fairly boring. The most exciting happening of the ride was towards the end as we were about 5 miles outside Caliente. Elyor got a flat tire in what we dubbed the Valley of the Cows. We were in somewhat of a valley between two mountains, and there were cow pastures at the base of the mountains. But, due to the acoustics of the surrounding mountains, whenever the cows mood, it echoed throughout the valley very eerily. Had it been dark, it would have been a very creepy experience.

For the most part, we have settled into a daily routine, so there is not too much exciting news to report today. We wake up, ride, hang out at rest stops, usually take a nap towards the end of a long ride in the heat of the day, and then set up camp and eat wherever we are staying the night. Tomorrow we continue to Rachel, NV where we will be staying at the "Little A'Le'Inn." Sounds strangely interesting.

Peace and Love,
Moo Miggy