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We got a nice early start, hoping to get to our destination in Middlegate before it got too hot. We were making great time with mostly flat terrain and only a couple mild summits to climb. The road shoulders were not great, but it wasn’t a big deal since we could see cars and cars/trucks could see us from miles away.

We reached Middlegate around 11:30 (50 miles) and found that it was a bar/resteraunt/hotel/campground all rolled into one. The food was tasty and the people were friendly, but since we made such good time we decided to push on another 12 miles to Cold Springs Campsite the last place to stay for another 50 miles.

Just outside Middlegate we passed the infamous shoe tree. One of the few trees for miles and miles, it is completely draped with shoes.
When we reached Cold Springs Campsite it seemed a nice enough campsite, primarily an RV park but with nice grassy patches and a beautiful mountain range backdrop. As we prepared to pay our $7, the proprietor asked us where we were from. Upon hearing New York, he became concerned. He said “I’m going to ask you a question, if you answer it wrong you can’t stay… Who did you vote for for president?” It was clear what answer he wanted, and it was also clear was the true answer was. Sarah decided to give him the true answer instead of the answer he wanted, I would have done the same. He told us to leave. Sarah was very patient with him, and insisted he must be joking, or can’t we just agree to disagree. He wasn’t buying it, he said there were plenty of places for us to stay 48 miles down the road. Us being on bikes, running low on water, and it already being mid afternoon in the desert, this wasn’t a realistic option.

Luckily my sister and her family were nearby in their car, planning to meet up with us, and were able to give us a lift to a really nice campsite on Bob Scott peak just past Austin.

This was a very disappointing incident. We have had almost exclusively good experiences with everyone we have met which has been very uplifting. I guess it was a little dose of reality for us, there are plenty of people out there who will go out of their way to be jerks. At least now we won’t lose our jaded New Yorker edge. By the way the picture of the guy working on a deck is the jerk who sent us on our way. I will make sure to report this to adventure cycling and anybody else that will listen, so other cyclist don’t make the same mistake.