May 7th, 2019 / (100km/67miles, 1200hm)
Woke up at 5:15am this morning, got myself ready, packed and left Ely for one of the medium-length legs of the tour: 100km to Baker, NV, the last stop before entering Utah.
It’s pretty cold today when I leave – around 1°C – and for most of the day sweating is not one of the problems I have. I’m rather feeling cold all the time as the sun is also making itself a bit sparse. Shortly before my arrival in Baker, it even starts to rain. The scenery left and right and along the street — pretty much like the two days before. More green perhaps, and more grey up in the sky. I’m slowly getting tired of the loneliness and vast landscape in Nevada. Looking forward to Utah – I have hope for some change at least.
On my way I meet Marcel and his dog Chester again who are courageously fighting their way up the hill.
I’m staying in “The Whispering Elms Motel” – which is very basic but ok. The Stargazer Inn, which got great reviews online, was unfortunately booked out already. But they have a fantastic restaurant called “Kerouac’s”, named after the “Beat Generation” author Jack Kerouac. The place looks so completely misplaced in this otherwise tiny village with it’s whole interior design, the creative menu, the way food is prepared and served. A little surprise out here in the Great Basin, actually – or I just got so used to some mediocre Burger places over the last days that my expectations are simply too low in the meantime to find a great restaurant.
To my big surprise there’s also a little Coffee Shop on Baker’s main street, called “The Baker’s Bean”, hosted in a little trailer and equipped with a nice Italian coffee machine. The menu makes Starbucks go pale. So I get myself the first decent Cappuccino since days, sitting on a sofa right in front of the shop.
Tomorrow I will enter Utah. It’s the longest leg of the whole trip till Denver. 133km.