After starting out slowly, Dan found his strength and pace and headed out in front of me and Nicole. At times he was just a while spot on the distance.

We got to our scheduled stop in Fallon in early afternoon and had ridden only about 65 miles. Dottie had gone ahead and gotten us motel rooms so we stopped and decided what to do. We went ahead and rode another 20 miles to make it 85 for the day.

Butt fatigue has sent in bad for Dan and Nicole. They are both wishing I had brought along Butt Balm like I threatened to. My butt is pretty sore too, but I'm not needing the balm – yet.

Tomorrow we hit some real mountains.

Wildlife of the day: Butterflies. They were bouncing off us and fluttering everywhere.
Roadkill of the day: Caterpillars, millions of them made green spots on Rt. 50. It took a while for us to figure out what they were. Then around 5 p.m., hundreds were crossing the road, all heading west toward the sun. Now we know.

Dan Puntillo, Nicole Milligan, and Loren Fisher pose in front of a sign indicating the old Pony Express route outside Carson City.

Nicole, Dan and Dottie take a break