I had found a little dirt road with a flat spot where I spent the night. The temperatures started getting higher and every step seemed one too many.

I didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary in the sun but I had to take a bit of time to process the photos and video footage I had recorded during the past few days.

I didn’t find any shade to rest in while my computer was doing it’s thing but I did find some fossils.

Parts of Nevada must have been under water a long time ago. It was impossible to take a chunk out of this slate stone face without finding some fossilized marine when breaking a sheet of rock apart.

As much as I wanted to stay and keep looking for maybe an even bigger find the heat made the decision to move on easy and as soon as my memory cars were free again I got back onto the road.

Despite smooth tarmac on the freeway every minute on the road took its toll on me and I was trying to find a balance between taking breaks and pushing on to get through the heat to get north as fast as possible.

In the shade the temperature had risen to 40 degrees before my thermometer broke.

I was driving on lonely roads with barely any other vehicles and signs of civilization only every 50 kilometers or so. I had almost run out of gas when I stopped at a grocery store in the middle of nowhere which also had a gas station. It was more a warehouse and it seemed a bit deserted and all quiet. All the few people I saw and who worked there were Native Americans. I regretted having taken the jerrycan I had bought for the trip off the bike before I started my trip because I was concerned about the weight of the bike. It wasn’t the first time I had almost run out of fuel.

I also got a box of ice cream -that was so creamy it wasn’t actually refreshing- and lots of water and I was back on the road after an hour in the shade.

It was so hot that the apparently a patch of dry grass next to the road had caught on fire.

Because my bike has an insatiable appetite I needed to top up the engine oil again which I did from the saddle because I couldn’t get myself to dismount the bike to carry out the task.

I still had a few hundred km to go until I would finally reach colder temperatures but luckily it was already afternoon and hopefully only a few more hours of sunlight ahead of me.

Finally in Idaho the sun was lower. Now it was only blinding me.

My day ended at the a nice mosquito infested riverbank which allowed me to set up my tent with running intervals. At one point I looked at my shoulder and saw seven mosquitoes there. While I was counting them five more simultaneously took a seat on the back of my hand. Finding this place I had been looking forward to cooking some dinner on my stove and enjoying the beautiful sunset over the river but suddenly I wasn’t that hungry anymore. The fact that I was on a straw field wasn’t encouraging anyway. I had spilled some of my gear including my food next to the bike but after estimating the cost of taking the time to pick everything up to between three and five more mosquito bites I decided to cut my losses and take care of everything tomorrow. I went to sleep with a growling stomach after removing three more mosquitoes inside my tent from this world.