Changing Gears: Rey's Ride Across America

June 20th — Fallon, NV to Austin, NV 118 miles — Today we departed Fallon on Route 50 across the Great Basin of Nevada, which I'll ride through for the next four days. This part of the trip is going to be mentally as well as physically challenging due to the long stretches across the desert landscape to the mountain ranges. Outside of Fallon, in Salt Wells, you can see miles of salt flats alongside Route 50 with interesting markings from people who made their mark with red colored-stones against the white salt backdrop. When you bike instead of drive you pick up little things like this very easily.

Further down the road an interesting sculpture of sand several stories high caught my eye so we had to take a few moments to see what it was. The name of this sand sculpture is "Sand Mountain," which draws many dune buggy and four-wheel enthusiasts to vacation there. This sight was used by the Pony Express riders as a landmark. A Pony Express station is said to have been just a mile or so from the site.

My next stop was something I have been waiting months to see. I have heard of this strange roadside landmark called "The Shoe Tree." The Shoe Tree is nothing more than a lone tree on the side of the road with thousands of shoes hanging from its branches. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a contribution to the tree. I don't know how this tradition of throwing shoes onto the tree started, but after four attempts, I succeeded in hanging my New Balance sneakers on the tree.

One basin from Austin, I was lucky enough to witness an air show from naval fighters who were honing their flying skills. At one point, the fighters were as low as a few hundred feet above my head, too quick to take a picture since you can't hear them until they are right on top of you. I noticed a sign that said "Pony Express Trail 1860 to 1861". As I got closer the sign was there to show the actual trail right alongside and only a few feet from Route 50. I ended up in Austin around early evening. Nine hours on the bike today.