People Are Funny

Today we rode our bikes on Interstate 80. Yup, that's right, I-80, the freaking freeway! I have a new appreciation for freeways now after crawl from mile marker to mile marker at a blistering 10 miles per hour while semi-trucks barrel on by at 70. I had to laugh at one point because there are some times that it feels like a car will brush by a little close so I would tense up. I know it is an instinctual reaction but it would do as much good as crawling under a school desk in the event of a nuclear attack.

One thing that I have found interesting is the quirky little decorations and tchotchkes that people put on display. The picture I have posted above is some one's homemade mailbox. This was all welded together so it had to have taken some time to build. When I showed my folks the picture my dad asked, "what the hell kinda mail is he getting that he needs that big of a mailbox?" I had to agree, but when you live 45 minutes away from civilization I guess you have a crap load of free time. I think it takes special people to spend a bunch of time on this unique lawn junk, though. Maybe it's just me, but when I have some down time I don't carve a life size bear out of wood, make a smiley face mailbox, or cut my bushes into a Native American setting, complete with horses and a tipi (we passed it on a downhill and I didn't get a picture).

The man-made spectacles have been entertaining, but the natural backdrops have been just incredible. As I ride through miles of pine trees stretching to the sky I can look to the side and see nothing but unfettered, unadulterated forests. As we crest the peak of each mountain the trees thin out and give way to spectacular aerial views of the lakes or canyons below.

We climbed quite a bit today and every turn has it's own surprise. Today as I was pedaling up the Donner Pass I saw a cyclist up ahead in the distance that was not from our group. I eventually caught up with him and struck up the ol' cycling conversation. The usual, "hey were ya riding to? Where you coming from?" chit chat. This bloke had seen too many days in the sun, however, and was what I like to refer to as "baked". As I pulled up I gave a friendly, "hey there" and asked him where was headed. He replied snappily with a, "why the f@#* do you want to know?" My first reaction was to laugh, and I did, to which he gave me a glare and asked, "what's funny?" I realized that he was agitated by my reaction so I tried to change the subject, you know the old Jedi mind trick, if I don't acknowledge his craziness, then maybe he will forget he's crazy, so I came back with, "we're riding across America. Are there bears here?" I have found that making a disjointed statement/question usually buys a little time because said crazy needs a minute to process what just happened, it's like the verbal switcharoo. Anyway, he ended up telling me his story about how he rode to Texas once and he was on his way to Lake Tahoe. It was a truly awkward scenario, but it ended fine. He turned out to be a nice guy, I must have interrupted the voices in his head. Next time I'll be more polite.

Tomorrow we ride into the land of debauchery; Nevada. We will be staying not too far from the casinos and as my buddy Norbert put it, "someones gotta win at the casinos, might as well be me."