uh-oh

Well guys, We made it to the middle of fekkin' nowhere, Middlegate Station, Nevada, which isn't actually a town, it was a rest stop on the old pony express route 100 years ago, and now it's a rest stop on the Lincoln Highway between Fallon and Austin. It's basically a clapboard saloon/restaurant/motel
deal, and there's one house across the road from it, where I bought sweet corn from the folks who lived there when I was driving through 10 years ago. We're staying the night in the motel; amazingly they have wifi! Fred rode 100 miles yesterday, me considerably less, so we deserve soft beds to sleep on.

Middlegate is also the "gateway" to Berlin-Icthyosaur State Park, 51 miles down a gravel road. I love the name of the park! The Berlin part refers to a mining ghost town, and the Icthyosaur part refers to a handsome specimen of a fossil icthyosaur that was discovered there back in the day. It's still embedded in the rock face it was found in, but is now protected from the elements inside a building. Pretty neat if you can stand the drive.

Last night around 2 am, Fred and I were awakened by a horrible racket outside the motel, followed by bright lights. We peeked out the window and there was a helicopter landing in the parking lot. There was also an ambulance, lights a-flashing. We figured someone was being airlifted out, god knows what happened to them. It gave me flashbacks to my own accident last year. Haven't been able to get back to sleep since.

Which brings me to my own tribulation, and why I haven't written so far. I've been pretty bummed out since last Wednesday, when we rode into Placerville. Besides Fred's bike self-destructing (we eventually got him a new one), My achille's tendon began to hurt me. It may have to do with the new bike shoes I had to buy in Davis, or maybe some sequelae to my injury, but it kept getting worse, and my ankle swelled up disturbingly. It also began to "squeak," which I guess was from the inflamed tendon rubbing against the surrounding tissue. I consulted a doctor and he said I had tendonitis, and needed to R.I.C.E my achille's tendon or it might rupture. So I've been a total drag on this trip ever since Placerville (Fred's bike was a total drag on it before Placerville). The tendon's a little better, but not much. We discussed ending the trip, or at least the riding, so I can heal my heel, heh heh. The alternate plan would be to get a car go visit friends &
relations in New Mexico for a few weeks, riding our bikes as the mood suited us. On June 23 I have to be in Iowa City, Iowa, for a week long Rural Health Scholars Program (some of you know I sorta want to work in rural health care when I graduate), which is this annual symposium thingie for med students, dental students, and NP students. I have no idea why they're letting me in, but what the heck-- It's Iowa, baby!!! Immediately after that ends, Fred needs to attend a Bat Mitzvah in one of the suburbs of Denver. And I forgot, I'm supposed to visit my folks in Ohio, also. So it would still be a full-ish itinerary. Maybe fun, too. Anything to get me outta this funk. Oh yeah, not rupturing my tendon would probably be a good thing, too.

So there it is. My body is a broken down mess. I'll probably never get a chance to do something like this again. I've been wanting to do this since I was 18 years old. Better stop now, I'm getting depressed again.