Day 36: The Great Basin

Day 36 - 6/21/08
Start - Rawlins, WY
End - Arapahoe Creek in Great Basin
Mileage - 77 miles
Into the Great Basin we ride. It is quite the archaeological feat- all the water draining into here doesn't flow into the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, but rather evaporates. Sounds nice, but when you're in it, it tends to limit the water sources. We've got like 60-70 miles in between water sources, but we'll probably be clearing the Great Basin within two days or so. Yesterday was a spectacular day of personal hygiene in Rawlins. Shower, laundry, fingernail clipping, hair combing- amazing stuff. Everything doesn't reek now quite as much, and I kinda enjoy that. The Great Basin has rather pretty landscape. Not incredibly arid and brown, but rather scattered with sage brush everywhere. And there are WAY more antelope and cows than people in this part of the world. The antelope are pretty cool and I like how they prance around. There's not really anything I like about the cows, they just like to get in the middle of the road and stare at you. But such is life. Wyoming is nice thus far, but I'm looking forward to getting into the mountains again. Desert landscape is cool to me due to how Martian it looks. Such a different place. It also is amazing the way in which certain animals have evolved to live in the desert. Gotta love it. Tonight we did a dusk time ride from about 8pm to 9:30pm. Amazing sunset and great temperature. Tomorrow we'll try to kick it out early in the morning to avoid a little bit of the heat, but who knows if it'll work. That's the word on the street. To all a good night!