October 18
60mi/97km
+3200ft/975m
It was chilly this morning, but once we were in the sunlight it warmed up fast. Not that there was any doubt before, but we are back in the desert! It’s so dry that as soon as you have a drink you’re thirsty again. There’s no shade to hide under. We can see for miles. It’s a bit reminiscent of being in the Arctic. The temperature is about the same as it was too. Water is the difference: everywhere in the Arctic and nowhere down here.
We rode 20mi/32km to Middlegate, which is a crossroads with a bar and gas station. The bar has been there since the 1860s as a roadhouse and stop on the Pony Express. We rolled up to the bar and a lady on the porch said “You made it!” She had seen us on the road from Fallon yesterday. She welcomed us in, cooked us breakfast and invited us to fill up our water bottles. We talked to all the employees and a couple guests, and everyone was super friendly.
We turned south toward the small town of Gabbs, that we knew had a bar that opened at 3pm. Gabbs was a little bit bigger than Middlegate, with houses and a community center, but was still quite small. We stopped into the bar for some sodas and talked with the locals. We had some really nice conversation and asked if we could fill our water bottles. We were told the water is bad, and we should use bottled water, and they gave us the water and sodas free of charge! It was such a nice gesture and we left feeling good.
We left Gabbs to join the Pole Line Road to Tonopah, a mostly unpaved but fairly direct route heading southeast. We did a small climb out of town and set up camp on BLM land. It is dead silent out here.
