18 October 1997 (hot and cold!! mileage = 40.4; Inyo City Hot Springs) --
X - I slept pretty well in our nice desert site. I got up 1st and was
«-packed by the time the Kiwis were packing. I had some quick food and we
were off, trying to catch the light before the heat. We got close to the
ruins of a mill and we had to stop to check my bike. For no good reason,
the rack mount on the frame broke right then -- on good pavement. I showed
the Kiwis the magic of wire ties. We checked out the ruins -- yawn.
Actually, concrete work in ??? in Death Valley is slightly impressive. We
rode on and finally started climbing. When we got to the pass, we made the
mistake of resting in the shade there too long. This pass was just a step
to the next much-higher one. I broke away from the Kiwis and lost sight of
them. About halfway up, I thought -- shit, it's hot and there's no shade.
If I'm going to wait for them, I'm going to need shade. At the next highway
sign, I stopped and rigged the tarp on the sign. The Kiwis finally joined
me in the shade -- which was quite pleasant. Toni wasn't looking real good.
Apparently, the heat and climbing were getting to her. I could have done it
all day with enough sun block. We decided to siesta till cool time. We ate
lunch and snacks. We chatted and played with each other's stuff. At one
point, a van with Germans we had briefly talked to last night stopped. It
was about 6 guys who were big-time bike touring who had gone together on a
rental car for an inland desert excursion. They gave us H2O and one had
toured in the Kiwi's village. These guys were pretty serious. Later, I
walked (with sunnesschirm) up to the top of a small hill. It was quite a
chore. Really, I found N.P.S. survey markers. I was able to pinpoint our
location and predict our climbing. Once the sun was on the way down, we
packed up and headed up. Once at the top of the real pass, it was dark and
we had a super descent. We had gradual coasting for miles and miles. We
coasted right into Shoshane. This micro town has a mobile home/RV park, gas
station and convenience store. We bought some stuff for dinner and then
went outside to the awesome patio area to make/eat dinner. I cooked Knorr
pesto sauce with real milk. They cooked noodles. They cooked yummy rice
pudding. I cooked Jiffy Pop. We had a great meal. I did a quick voice mail
and we took off. We quickly came to an area where lots of RVs were parked.
It seemed free. We pressed on to the (slightly out-of-the-way) Hot Springs.
What a zoo we found there! We set up camp after exploring and took turns
taking showers. AHHH. There was a bunch of gay guys in the hot pool.
Nothing was very private. Oh boy! Toni came back shocked at the size of
some of the women in there. Welcome to America. The Kiwis are great. Really
gritty. They break all records (and shame Swiss and Germans) with their
thrift. They eat rice pudding (a lot!). They eat super cheap. They had
condiments-on-white-bread sandwiches. They had cold oatmeal and milk powder
and H2O mixed for breakfast (not instant, EXPENSIVE oatmeal!). They hardly
every camp in a campground and even more rarely pay for one. On their
Alaska travels, I asked if they worried about bears bush camping. Yup and
they saw plenty, too. They threw rocks at a grizzly dragging away their
tent! They're not civilized like the Swiss. All of their classy tricks are
forged in the field, out of necessity. Their equipment sucked and they knew
it. They knew that Germans have it good. Toni got the same Ortlieb I do.
Ditching Blackburns. They really liked my kickstand and stabilizer bar. I
gave them our pot lifter. They deserve it!
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