Had a great breakfast at middlegate station – met a west-bound cyclist who started in salt lake city
We took a detour off US-50 and it was amazing! A long steady climb though canyons with creeks and wildflowers, and in the 50+ miles we were on it, I bet we saw fewer than 2 dozen cars. Definitely one of the best roads I’ve ridden
We had a tough climb at the end of the day to make it into Austin… The whole town is built along a steep hill. But we had a great dinner at Grandma’s, and we came on the right night because they were having guitar karaoke. I embarrassed myself belting out a few shaky numbers
Slept in the park. 9/10. Great log balance beams
Saturday
Rode back down the hill into town for breakfast only to find everything closed
Long, 70 mile day into Eureka, with a fair amount of climbing
Spent most of the day nimbly dodging rain storms, but they finally caught up to us
We tried to get a hotel in town – our last four days have been 72, 80, 64, and 71 miles, so we’re pretty beat – but all 4 hotels in town were fully booked, so it was back to the park for a rainy night (augmented by sprinklers)
Now we’re getting some tasty breakfast and opting to take 2 short days vs riding the full 77 miles (and 4200 feet of climbing) into the next town