Day 196

I slept great and woke up feeling wonderful. I had a dream about a girl from a very long time ago and thought it was strange but the dream was a good one so I just went with it. I opened my tent to pure beauty. Windmills standing still and the sun moving over the mountains. 
It was cold but I had everything I needed to stay warm. I packed up rather quickly and got on the road early. I had quite a day planned. I was facing the highest peak on hwy 50 in Nevada. There are at least 11 mountains that I have to cross in the next few weeks but this is the highest. My goal was to at least reach the summit. It wasn’t going to be easy, but I knew it was doable. 
I got rolling and there was a small steep hill and then about 6 miles of downhill. I walked 8 miles without stopping. I took a break at the bottom of the incline up to Connors Pass. It was steeper than the one that I crossed yesterday. The weather was great and I was in a good mood so I pushed on. 
Traffic was a bit of an issue today. For the loneliest hwy in America, there sure are a lot of cars. Just saying. I didn’t let it bother me though. Most of them were nice. 
I saw a building with signs all over. There was a bar/RV park/motel/convenience store.  That what it claimed to be anyways. Major’s Place is what is was called. I walked in and almost walked right back out. The place was unique and interesting, but the woman behind the bar was looking at me like, “why are you here?”
I sat down anyways and asked if they had food. She had no. I saw a huge sign that said “pizza” and kind of pointed to it. She told me that she could do that. So she made a pizza. Some frozen brand like tombstone or something. I also got a gatorade. Since she didn’t seem to be in the talking mood, and I was the only person in there, I decided to walk around and look at the decorations. 
There were dollar bills all over the walls that had people’s names or something funny written on them. I read a few as I walked around. One said John Depp and one said LESBO. Those are the only two that stood out. Most were like Smith family road trip 9-6-15 or something like that. There were some slot machines, pool tables, chandeliers made from antlers, and the occasional gym like a pair of shorts hanging from the ceiling with signed dollar bills hanging out of the pockets. 
Weird place. I sat back down to order my pizza and while I was eating, I finally decided to try to talk to this lady. I let her know I was walking and she gave me just a little better treatment after that but still wasn’t impressed. 
She did help me out though. She let me know what was up ahead and topped off all of my water bottles. I threw my trash away that I’d been carrying and charged my cell phone. Then asked how much the pizza and gatorade were. 13 freaking dollars! I was going to put a dollar bill on the wall but not after that. They had enough of my dollars already. Plus, I want nothing to ever do with that place again. It was a fun experience though. Glad I went in. I’ll just never go back. 
After Major’s Place it was all straight uphill for about 5 or 6 miles. They were pretty rough but I just kept going. Slowly but aurely. When I finally reached the top it was all worth it. There’s something about walking up a mountain that makes you happy. Maybe because you know the hard part is over. I don’t know. I looked back and thanked the land that I crossed yesterday and looked back to the west and said hello to the other side. 
There was a sign that said 6% grade for 4 miles. I looked at the sun and knew that I could definitely make it those 4 miles downhill. So I did. Every step was bonus today as my goal had been reached already. I made it to where it flattened out a little and the sun was getting low. There is a state prison out here and decided that it would be fun to say I camped next to a prison. So I did. 
I found a spot across the street and with a good view and set up. Watched the sunset as I was doing it. I made some dinner, ate, and then checked the Falcons score against the Aints. We were up by two touchdowns at halftime. Perfect. 
Another good day in the books. I only have an easy 17 miles tomorrow to Ely, and I get to stay in a hotel that a friend arranged for me to stay in. Now back to checking my Falcons score…