October 22
50mi/80km
+1500ft/450m
Well, we got fairly lucky with the weather overnight. It sprinkled a tiny bit, but nothing significant and we were dry this morning.
The weather was still pretty crazy though. At first, we were under blue skies, but could see a huge storm behind us. Then, we were heading straight into another storm in front of us. A driver stopped to warn us of lightning and hail, and offered suggestions on possible places to take cover. It was nice of him, but the storm was moving too fast.
We got an intense burst of hail, and there was indeed lightning on both sides of us. The wind was gusting strong and there was no shelter in sight. Eventually we moved into a shallow ditch to sit and wait it out. We didn’t have to wait very long, maybe five minutes and the storm passed.
We were back in the sun, but the wind continued. We rode through another storm, but the second one was much milder. The rest of the day we continued fighting the wind. Sometimes a cross wind, but mostly a headwind. It was stronger than yesterday. By 4pm we arrived in the tiny town of Rachel, home to little more than a gas station, motel, and mobile homes. We are near Area 51 and Nellis Air Force Range, so it is a bit of a tourist attraction. Air Force jets are flying overhead, and the town has a lot of alien memorabilia and geocaches.
We decided to camp at the motel camping area. It’s not much but there is a little shelter from the wind, and we are tired of fighting the wind today. Tomorrow will be much calmer weather, and we are ready for it. The past few days have been frustratingly slow given how flat the terrain is.
