Made it to Fallon and got a room

pretty morning here with the Desatoya Range in the distance

This morning was probably the prettiest morning of the entire trip.  Really nice views out the front of the shelter across the dry lake valley and into the Desatoya Range.  I could see the road clearly now entering a small notch in the range.

across the basin HWY 722 enters an awesome little canyon

It was warm last night in camp.  I slept all night half in my bag with no snow hat on.  It was still warm this morning.  I rode my bike back down the dirt road to the highway and continued on west.  Once I reached the foot of the range I entered the small canyon I could see this morning from across the valley.  Hidden right at the base of the canyon was quite an old looking ranch.  I could see now that there was water draining this canyon too.

dry lake out in the distance

black and white version of camp

The road started to climb right away after entering the canyon.  The vegetation changed from night to day here too, from sage in the valley to suddenly pinyon/ juniper forest.  Neat rock formations too.  I found a nice little pull out where I had access to the creek.  I couldn't believe it, but even in this little hop across creek there was some trout!  If only I had time to fish for them!  I instead used my time to clean my glasses and take a quick sponge bath.  The water was ice cold!

Duomid and Desatoya Panoramic

Back out on the highway I continued up the last bit of the climb through this range.  There where really nice stands of aspens flying their fall colors in here.  The top of the pass was quite scenic.  I could see my road winding down out of the mountains and into the flats below.  I pedaled hard off the top of the pass to get a nice head of steam going.  Again the game ensued with me trying to make it all the way down without breaking.  This road had too many tight corners though!  That and there was a little bit of loose gravel, so I used my disc breaks to control my speed.  I was most of the way down off the steepest part of the descent before I noticed my AAA maps had blown out from under my GPS on top of my handlebar bag!  Dang, but I can assure you I wasn't about to turn around and climb back to look for it.  The only downside now though would be that I wouldn't know my exact mileage for the rest of today and tomorrow home to Reno.  I didn't really need the map to navigate as it was onto HWY 50 from here.  Once I made it to Carson City I would know the rest of the route home no problem.

downhill all the way off the pass to the canyon mouth which is in the photo below

The road continued dropping all the way out through another canyon.  The canyon was quite scenic and at the canyon mouth was a picturesque ranch.  Ends up long before the ranch was here the local Indians used the spot as a permanent camp.

cool ranch at the mouth of the canyon

Still more downhill yet the rest of the way out to HWY 50!  I couldn't believe it, but I had almost a 20 mile downhill off the pass all the way out to HWY 50!  One of the longest downhills of the entire route.  Out on HWY 50 I again pointed my bike west.

end of HWY 722 and onto HWY 50

I quickly came to Middlegate which was a little bar/ rv restaurant off the highway.  Looked like a good place to water up for the day and maybe purchase some more snacks.  I wasn't sure at this point minus my maps if I would make it to Fallon or not before nightfall.  Pretty rough crew in the bar, nice enough and all, but reminded me of the toothless wonders you see around Reno if you know what I mean.  There was a kitten hanging around my feet who was really begging hard.  He finally jumped up on the table once I opened my can of tuna salad up and I had to shoo him away.  Again I was quite the focus of attention sitting out front of the bar.  Folks where pulling up in there little four wheeler deals and asking me where I had rode from.  People where impressed, but I was surprised as hiking is much harder than bike touring.

Middlegate Station is where HWY 361 heads south off of HWY 50

I finally got back out on HWY 50 and headed west again.  I made it to a long dry lake valley and noticed a giant dune off near the foothills of the mountains.  It was obviously a magnet for the motor sport folks.  At this time I started to run into vehicles coming right at me in my lane who where passing slow vehicles.  Two times on the way into Fallon I was run off the road by monster trucks.  Funny thing is the driver would look right at me and just keep flooring it like their concern was the car they where passing not some cyclist they might hit.  I had to do a fast exit across the rumble strip which was definitely pissing me off.  No sooner did I settle down after the first of these incidents than another monster truck was coming at me.  It is always a shocker to me as I am more in tune with what is approaching from behind.  I am not always looking ahead to see if a car is passing and threatening to run me off the road.  Usually not too much of a problem, but the rumble strips here didn't make it fun.

Sand Mountian was a giant sand dune that had a lot of motor vehicle yahoos surrounding it

I stopped at a rest area and ended up visiting with some guys who where interested in my adventure.  Told them a little about the clothes and gear I was using.  They where definitely amped on what I was up to.  I downed a bar as I was getting hungry.  I was fixating on getting into Fallon, NV now and getting a room and ordering pizza to be delivered.

pedaling along a salt marsh in here

I pedaled the last bit into Fallon and the motorists where behaving poorly.  Some kids tried to throw a pen or something out the window at me as they passed by.  I had long since wrote off the idiots though.  If they weren't threatening a collision I didn't care.  Doesn't surprise me one bit that folks where behaving poorly as Fallon is a grim town.  At one point my Grandma followed my Grandpa here when he was stationed in Fallon.  I am sure it was even that much less appetizing then back in the 40's.  I stopped at one chain hotel and the price was ok, but since it didn't have laundry on site I decided to see what my other options where.  I located a small motel that was much cheaper.  No laundry, but I could suck that up for the price.  I unloaded the bike in the room and fished out all my dirty gear.

ah, Fallon... what a garden spot

Pedaled the bike to the laundromat and got my laundry in.  While my laundry was washing I pedaled out to see what my dining options would be.  Pizza Hut it is!  Ended up getting some cheese sticks and rode back to the laundromat to eat those.  When laundry was done I pedaled back over to my room and called in my pizza order.  While pizza was on the way I walked over and got me a tall boy of yuppy bear at the liquor store.  Shortly after I started sipping my beer my pizza arrived.  Man!  Pizza, beer and Jersey Shore!