I can’t believe I haven’t thought of this song before today. It could have been my theme song for the summer. I am certainly in the west now.

This section of the country is characterized by mountain ridges with wide, flat valleys between them. Ridge, valley, ridge, valley . . . The valleys take as much as two hours for me to cross on my bicycle. Even cars take a long time to cross them. The highway going up the other side of the next ridge is visible from just about the moment I crest the ridge before the valley. being able to see the highway from so far away can make it feel like I’m not making any progress. I have a feeling I will be seeing a lot of this until I get to the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

I made it past three ridges today, which was my goal. I didn’t quite make it as far as I wanted, but in one of the valleys I noticed an old rested out building about a half mile off the road. It looked like a metal silo, though it may have been used to store water. Whatever it was, it was empty when I reached it. Even though it was in the valley and visible from the highway, it was far enough away I doubt anyone could see me once the sun set.

There are a lot of holes in the ground in the valleys ranging in size from about an inch to several inches. I’m not sure what makes them, possibly snakes, or ground squirrels, or some other rodent. I was a little concerned about camping in the valley because of the holes, but I didn’t see any critters while cooking dinner or setting up camp. I figured I would be okay.

I ate dinner tonight watching the last rays of sunlight disappear and the stars come out one by one. I decided to sleep without my fly so I could look at the stars.