It was COLD last night, and I was woken up early be a group of asshole motorcyclists that parked their bikes next to our tents (literally) and then revved hell out of them to warm them up in the cold pre-dawn morning.... the phrase "loud and proud" should be replaced with "juvenile and socially retarded". At this point the roadhouse turned on its outdoor radio speakers, and began blasting classic Aussie country music - not really an ideal situation to fall back asleep, so I simply got up.I'm sitting in the roadhouse having a coffee (a real cup, not the traditional Aussie Nescafe instant!), and waiting for it to warm up outside... its a balmy 40 degrees f. Its a mere 42 miles to Ti Tree, so I can afford to sit around for a bit.
Its now 8pm and I'm sitting in my room at Ti Tree. I was grateful for the short ride today as we had strong side and headwinds. I spoke with a couple that had come from Alice Springs that morning at a rest area, and they had not seen Dave on the road...I rolled into Ti Tree about 3pm, and while talking to Andrew's empty tent (I thought he was there!), I was surprised to see about a dozen peacocks come wandering by!! Very surreal.
Andrew and I took advantage of the early day and did a bit of laundry, and then had supper around 5.30pm... still no sign of Dave. Feeling a bit apprehensive, I called the Aileron roadhouse and Darrell said that a "push-biker" had been through about 4.30pm.
I had a nice chat with an older gentleman named Peter who is stuck in Ti Tree waiting for parts to arrive for his caravan. Peter is a permanent nomad and simply travels around Australia. He supports himself selling a natural line of bee products, and I bought a tube of something to help him out... and because he hooked me with the phrase "...and works on saddle sore"; clever man.Its 8.30pm and no sign of Dave. Its pitch dark and I'm hoping he is camping somewhere behind us. We are planning to ride to Barrow Creek tomorrow and have a day off - if so we've just gained a day back on our schedule!
