Today’s distance / ???????: 41.1 miles / 66.2km
Average speed / ????: 7.3mph / 11.7km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 5h 59m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 5565mi plus 377mi (?) / 8957km plus 606km (?)
Ascent / ??: 795m
Descent / ??: 950m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N37° 35′ 36.00″, E100° 25′ 55.80″
After packing everything up in a hurry, I realised I had nothing to eat for breakfast. This lack of food plus tough road conditions and lack of sleep made for a gruelling start to the day.
Overall, I was going downhill, but it was not the continuous downhill that I had envisioned. The road continued on a rolling hilly plateau for most of the morning, and by lunchtime I had climbed almost as much as I had descended.
At 11am after 40km, I arrived at a small settlement where I could buy lunch. I ordered my Qinghai favourite. Thick, clear rice noodles in a hearty beef soup with mushrooms and vegetables. I have been enjoying this soupy goodness at least twice a day for the last few days. This great bowl of wonder rejuventaed me to no end.
Another big pass awaited past the settlement where I ate lunch. This one 3,870m. This one I had no excuse to walk up, so with plenty of breaks I skated the whole way up on the smooth pavement.
Thankfully, there were no more rolling hills for me the rest of the way to the coal mining town of Reshui. A light rain was falling as I sped into town. Black muck flicked up onto my clothes. By the time I arrived at the travel inn where I stayed the night, I was a glorious black mess.
I do still carry the splash guards that Longboard Larry supplied me along with the skateboard I am using, but so far I haven’t been bothered to put them on again…
Wow, that was some riveting reading. I just couldn't put the book down, figuratively speaking. Is the highway you are on now going to cross into other provinces?
Certainly a different type of country. All that green is very different from the barrenness of the Xining Province.