Across the Central Highlands

2/14/09
Pleiku to Eadrang
Day: 103.28 km
Cume: 2235.3 km
Avg: 16.2 kph
Max: 51.0 kph
Time: 6h20m
Highs: Completed 80kms before noon with a TON of downhill! More pepper on the roadside (green and black), rubber plantations for miles, more coffee, more sweet coffee fragrance, periods of quiet when I could actually hear birds, lighter traffic, lunch stop with HAMMOCKS!
Lows: Traffic resumed high levels after morning, more up and down, up and down afternoon heat in uphills cooked my brain, run around to find a place to sleep in Eadrang (but I found one!)


At least the scenary was a little more engaging today with the introduction of large rubber tree plantations to the landscape, which provided a little shade at times, too. This was not a particularly memorable day of cycling. There was still a lot of up and down in and out of towns with 8-12% grades leaving towns and following the undulating landscape. I'm beginning to think that Highway 14 is not the best cycling route. It's really as busy if not busier than Highway 1A, more narrow and very very hot (and boring).

I will say that my lunch was an endearing memory. Just when I thought my head was going to explode from the heat in an uphill around lunch time, there on the roadside, like one of those cartoon oasises Bugs Bunny sees in the middle of the desert, is a roadside stall/restaurant filled with tables and HAMMOCKS! I ordered lunch and then laid out in the hammock. After eating, I slept for an hour and then read a while to allow the high noon heat to pass. What a GREAT idea! I discovered after I got back on the bike, that this stall was not the only one. This is a popular truck stop, apparently, with large downhills on both sides and long dusty, busy roads.

This day did, somehow, pull a few poems out of me (like the dentist pulling teeth):


three toddlers
exploring by the road side
of Highway 14



[really, I couldn't believe it. there were alone, unsupervised, and just a few feet from raging trucks and buses]
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hellos on my left
hellos on my right
ahhhh, celebrity!