Day 43 - Ely to Eureka, NV

Hotel Nevada in Ely, NV was a lot of fun for a small town casino. I ended up staying two nights and funding most of the bill with their sports book. I had a great time at the bar becoming one of the locals and getting them to root on my bets with me. When it was time to leave little Ely I knew the ride to the next town would be another long haul. 78 miles of no services with four mountain passes of varying elevations. After 7 and a half hours pedaling I was eight miles up the toughest pass of the day as it was getting dark. I began throwing my left arm and thumb out while riding when a car was coming up behind me. It took only three vehicles for one to come to a stop, but upon seeing it was just a small sedan with three guys in it already my hope of hitching a ride drifted away. That is until one of them offered to come back with a truck and scoop me up! They tossed me a beer and I sat roadside for just 25 minutes before sure enough they were back in a dualie. Just like the rest of the folks I’d come to meet in Eureka these were some incredibly nice people. They dropped me off at the city park and told me the backdoor across the street was to a bar that would be serving hot food for another thirty minutes. I grabbed a good meal prior to going and setting up the tent. The small park, which was free to camp in, had bathrooms as well as the first patch of green grass I’d seen in over a thousand miles. I should have known what this meant. Because of the makeshift icebox  I made with a gallon ziplock bag in a pannier some clothing was slightly dampened at the end of the day. I left them out on a picnic table to dry, but at 2:30am I heard the sprinklers come on. They directly hit my tent. Around 5am the tent floor was starting to soak through as I feel wetness at the feet of the sleeping bag. It still sounded like it was raining, but I had to get out and drag the tent to a safe zone. Everything I had left on the table was well within the blast radius, 100% soaked. I found a laundromat in town and am standing around now waiting for them to dry out. Another long stretch into Austin today, and there’s another city park there to camp at. This time I’ll be hunting for sprinkler heads assuming a before-dark arrival.