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2015-10-23 tl;dr: I biked along the old Oregon Trail, ate a crunchy Chinese lunch and set up camp in a steel pipe with mice. As I biked the highway today, it roughly followed the historical Oregon Trail, the California Trail, the Mormon Pioneer Trail and the Pony Express. The highway seems easier.Near a place called Martins Cove the Mormons have restored a fort and placed memorials to early travelers. It turns out this area can get cold right about now. I'm complaining about biking in long sleeves, but 150 years ago a bunch of folks died just about this time of year because they got stuck in the cold and snow. I crossed the Continental Divide. Twice. In Rawlings I found a Chinese Buffet! It turns out it was a lunch buffet. And I arrived well after lunch. And they hadn't cleaned up yet. And I grabbed a plate before they could tell me otherwise. Everything was dried and crunchy, including the rice. I choked down two small plates before they cleaned up the buffet on me. I only ended up being charged half price. I headed south on Highway 71 which eventually turns to dirt. I knew it was supposed to get pretty cold, and I was already up to 7000 feet, and there was no rain forecasted, so I decided to set up my tent in a drainage pipe. It was a mostly good plan. As soon as lights were out the scuttling started. Mice! Lots and lots of mice! I leaned out of my tent and watched with my flashlight as mice explored and chewed on all my gear. I pulled everything they might want to eat into the tent, but still they kept making noise. It is downright ridiculous how much noise mice can make in a steel pipe. Eventually I just threw them a handfull of trail mix. That actually kept them quite for a few hours. |
 good morning Independence Rock  Devils Gate  Fort Seminoe  The Oregon Trail!   Muddy Gap  tilted rocks  some mountain  Continental Divide and snow fences  The Anna Lope Cafe isn't actually open    7174 feet  sun is setting   I shall sleep in this pipe |