We never left Hot Springs for the Michelson Trail yesterday as we'd planned.  We were camped about 5 miles east of here and almost never made it here because of the wind.  I was blown off the road a couple of times. We walked the bikes for a couple of miles it was so bad.  The wind would let up briefly during this trek so we'd hop on the bikes and pedal as long and as hard as we could until the wind picked up speed again and we were forced to walk. 
     We got a motel and spent the day working on bikes, patching up equipment, reorganizing our stuff, grocery shopping, watching TV and sightseeing.  There's some really cool old buildings here.  Most built before 1900.
   More of the same wind problems today so we're reluctantly taking today off as well.  Tomorrow it's supposed to let up a little so we're going to try and make it to the trail head.  Once there I think (wish?) we'll be OK.  It's only 12 miles.
    We met an English dude in Crawford Nebraska on his way to the east coast.  He'd left from San Francisco, rode through Death Valley (you'd think that name alone would discourage most people from attempting to ride there), pedaled through Las Vegas and went though Salt Lake City, which is not that bad.    Wow!  He realized that the Death Valley/Las Vegas thing was not that great an idea but he still thinks riding to New York City by way of Chicago is a realistic plan.  I told him I'd rather roller blade through Baghdad in a tutu at midnight than ride a bike through New York City anytime.  The traffic would be a nightmare.
     It's surprising to me how little downtime there is in the evening when you're doing a trip like this.  You spend all your time taking care of details. 
     We've really met a lot of interesting people while doing this.  When you're on a bike, like the ones we ride, almost everyone wants to talk to you.  Sometimes, if we're in a hurry, we consciously avoid making eye contact with other people in hopes of preventing being drug into a lengthy conversation.
     OK, gotta go.