May 9 - Uphill an dinto the wind...Serious Hill and Serious Wind!

This morning we left The Black Range Lodge and headed up the mountain.  You know it’s going to be an interesting day when the first sign you see is the one below.

We had a nine mile climb to the 8,828 feet and an amazing view of the valley.  We had total ascent of 4.395 feet (gross) and all of it was into the wind.

The top was a place called Emory Pass and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees.  It was an incredible view.  We took a few pictures and then headed down to finish our 50 mile ride.  We were up and down all day but finished by about noon.  The wind was strong all day and would gust and try to blow us off the road.  I did a few push-ups at the top just to keep the blood flowing.

So if you look closely at the picture below, in the middle you will see a road.  That is where we started the morning.  It is 9 miles and 4,000 vertical feet away.  In the distance there is a lake.  We rode by that lake the day before and is about 20ish miles from where I took the picture.  Crazy stuff!

There was one point on the initial descent where I came around a corner and there was a cow on the left side of the road.  This cow looked at me and then started across the road in front of me.  It hesitated, I hesitated and then it decided to stay put and I rode by.

We also rode by a large open pit mine and I found this one tree growing in the mine tailings all alone.  The thought that came to my mind was, “I created the mountain, you created this ugly pile of leftovers and I will once again create something beautiful here.  – God “

Below is the mine.

Other than the cow, not much happened.  Kyle and I headed to the laundry in town and finished two loads in their massive 50 lb machines in about an hour.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and recovering.  Tomorrow is a rest day and then we head for the AZ state line on Wednesday.  I can’t believe we are almost back to Phoenix already.  What happens when The Ride is over?  I have been wondering that a lot lately.  Honestly, it will be hard to transition back into sitting in my cube in front of a PC.  How could it not be?  I have been living outside seeing the country every day for the last four weeks.  Then I live in an RV at night.  A new place every day.  How exciting is that!  Change is great.  I wonder if Safeway will allow me to work remotely from around the country…..better yet around the world!  I can crunch numbers from anywhere right?  We can teleconference when necessary.