Monday, August 6, 2007

The worst night ever....

Last night we slept in Lion City Park in Battle Mountain, Nevada. I was skeptical at the beginning of the day when the cue sheet said 'the park is located across the street from the casinos.' When we arrived in Battle Mountain, a small gold mining town, we rode past the park and visited with the local picnic people to find out the location of the local coffee/ice cream shop. Bakkers Brew had excellent drinks and we spent a bit of the afternoon there. As the day wore on we showered at the city pool after a quick dip, and then I stopped by the quilt show to see some excellent quilts. Then back to the park to cook chili for dinner on our camp stove. All a routine day you say....well it was until after dark.

We had noticed that the train tracks running parallel to the park were heavily used, at least a train an hour, sometimes 2. Of course accompanied by loud blasts of the horn as the tracks cross a major intersection at the end of the park. After talking to the locals we found out that the trains will run all night. DRAT. Come around 2 am or so I hear one of the trains, not too bad and I fall back asleep. This is when the real fun begins, ~4:30 am I wake up to water falling on my face, my first thought is 'CRAP its raining' that's when I hear the unmistakable hiss of sprinklers. I hastily jump out of my sleeping bag as does everyone else as we realize what's happening with screams of dismay. I use my thermarest as a shield and make it mostly dry to the cement pad in the center of the park. But at this point I realize all of my stuff and everyone else's is getting soaked by the still running sprinklers. After a few shuttle runs everything or at least mostly everything is rescued and pretty dry. Now slightly wet, very cold I climb back into my damp sleeping bag to fruitlessly attempt to stay warm and get a few more hours of sleep. Needless to say we slept in later than normal, were very cold and wet this morning and are glad to have a roof over our heads in Winnemucca tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and maybe a little more scenic as the view of the high mountainous desert from I-80 is getting a little old.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Nathan,

I'm enjoying experiencing the cross country trip along with you--it is much more exciting than another humid, hot Chicago summer.

I'm looking forward to returning to Denver before the year ends. It would be great seeing you when you're visiting CO.

Keep pedalling and pounding,
Susan Samuel

Anonymous said...

Nathan,
Hang in there...in less than 2 weeks you will be able to sleep in a bed! And shortly after that possibly be buying one. Tahoe is only 3 days away-great place for a day off. Stay safe, stay alert - less than 400 miles to go! WOW
Love you,
Mom

Anonymous said...

Nathan:
I can feel for you with the trains running every hour and then the sprinklers. Hope the next night will be more restful. Still hot and humid here and no rain in sight. Take care.
Love ya, MeMe

Anonymous said...

Experience is a great teacher and everyone learned quite a lesson this night. Bet you will never sleep in a City Park again without first checking on when the sprinkler system is to come on.

Once a week I do a ride starting at 5 AM and the sprinklers in our parks are almost always going. Anyhow, it was quite an inconvience but it was not a disaster.

You must be getting pretty excited to be getting near Tahoe.

Don Henke