Thursday October 28, 2004

Ely, Nevada (Base Camp)

We're back in Ely. It's the only town around, so we've made it our base for a while. The same thing will happen next week when we get to Tonopah, the last big stop before California.

Boy, did we get hit with snow Wednesday. I crossed two mountain passes and the snow was just caking on me. My feet were soaked, but I had on a t-shirt, flannel shirt, sweat jacket, winter coat and a rain poncho over all of that, so I was warm.

My biggest concern was that Travis wouldn't be able to make it out to pick me up. But so many people stopped to offer help that I knew I wouldn't be stranded.

Tomorrow, we're headed out to the hinterlands in a rented van. I'll walk by day and we'll stay in the van at night. We've lots of food and it's a pretty nice van. A lot nicer than the car. Travis is happy. Apparently there's a small store-gas station about 80 miles down the road, so we should be fine. But there won't be any updates until Sunday - at the earliest.

I'm hoping to reach Long Beach Dec. 1, but everything has to work out perfectly for that. It's not too late to sign up for the walk across Death Valley in four weeks.