It was very tempting, you would not believe how much, to name this post some run on series of expletives followed by "Wind". But I really think I've already made my point many times over how much I can't stand the wind, while it keeps making its point that it's not going to cut it out. As a now all too familiar scenario, the first half of my 90 mile day went quickly, easily, and enjoyably...and then the afternoon wind picked up, blowing all the flags high as a kite, and it was slow and tedious from there. I really hate headwinds and I can't remember what a tailwind feels like anymore. That's what I get for heading west in the westerlies wind belt...
But no, today's post is named for my theme song of the day, which I was often singing aloud to carry me through endless empty stretches of highway (with high wind...). Considering I went by/through Craters of the Moon National Park it seemed especially appropriate. Now, from what I could see of Craters of the Moon from the highway (which admittedly was a small portion of it)...it really looked nothing like the craters of the Moon, not the way Yellowstone had places that really looked like Mars. That said, it was still an impressive looking lava plain with some volcanic rock you don't get to see all the time. Despite being a desert, it was actually cold as hell, and it even saw just a little rain while I was going through (basically from a lone cloud). All in all, it was good scenery and I enjoyed it (probably helped that the damn wind hadn't picked up yet...).
After biking through a whole lot of nothing and a heck of a lot of wind after that (did I say something about not complaining anymore about the wind?), and giving my poor knees a fair pounding, I finally touched down at home for the night here in Fairfield. I was a little confused when I called 4 miles out and asked for an address only to be told to call again from the gas station in town. I did, and my host shortly showed up by car, told me to follow him, and then drove off down main street as I biked hastily behind (thankfully north, not into the wind). When we got here it made a bit more sense as he unlocked the door and explained that this is just a guest house they have and not their actual home. I'm certainly not complaining. I love having a place to myself. And this one is pretty sizeable and fairly posh.
Sadly though, it's no Water's Man Cave when it comes to available food (the refrigerator is entirely empty save a can of whipped cream). I've been burning out my fuse alone out here, and I was really hungry when I got here. But I also really needed to shower and do laundry, and having no clean clothes left to change in to save a pair of boxers (I knew there was a reason I had one more pair of underwear than everything else), I found myself waiting around in those for my clothes to dry before I could go out.
Thankfully, while it felt like a long, long time, I finally had clean, dry clothes and was able to come to this pizza joint and get a veggie calzone (goodness I appreciate when small town food places have any kind of vegetarian options), and am now chowing down and using free WiFi to post this.
Hopefully, the forecast is accurate and the wind won't blow like crazy tomorrow (but it's definitely a science I don't understand) and the road to Mountain Home will be an easy one. But whatever happens, I'll handle it. After all, after more than 1000 miles of doing this, I'm not the man they think I am at home. I'm a crazy bicycling man.
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