A new companion and the wonderfully pricey town of Lee Vining

This morning we woke up around 5.30 or so but we were up on and off through out the night. Around midnight there was a siren that went off for about 10 mins. I'm assuming it was a rural fire volunteer wake up call because about 10 mins after that we heard a couple fire trucks go tearing by. Then around 4.20am this damn rooster started crowing and didn't stop, he was soon followed by a quartet of dogs and then some other animals that were unrecognizable. According to Joel the rooster was trying to stay on central time just like us. That was unfortunate for us, so much for a good nights sleep. Well we readied ourselves and headed out about 30mins before Joel. The mornings ride was absolutely brutal. We had a 7 mile climb that hit grades of 10% at times and that wasn't the worst of it. The head wind was almost unbearable and we had to push our bikes for much of the 7miles. Then there was a very long down hill and then right back up a long gradual grade. At the top Kelly and I stopped for a snack and saw Joel for the first time this morning. He was about 3miles behind us and we figured that he would catch up so we continued on. The next section was labeled the 5 mile dips. it was absolutely ridiculous. It was like a giant whoop section down a road. The hills were short and steep. As Joel later put it, what the f@#$, how lazy is California, why couldn't they just flatten that road. There are a million illegal Mexicans that will work for pennies. Just take a little damn sand out here and add a little there! Haha, it was hilarious because we felt the same way. Joel caught up to us at the top of the next hill as I was waiting for Kelly. He rode with us for the rest of the day. The most of the day was filled with climbing. We were told we would have about 10miles of climbing and then it would be down hill. I guess they can't judge distance very well or they just forgot about the summit of 8600 some feet. It was such a relief to see that summit sign. We had climbed about 3500 feet so far this morning and we were ready for some down hill. At the top of the summit sat an RV and they were setting up some sun shelters so we stopped by to see what they were doing since they had two nice road bikes on the back of the RV. When we got closer we saw the sign on the side. They were the Sag for a ride to help raise money for the Eastern Sierra Disabled Sports program. They were really nice and couldn't believe that we had ridden as far as we had with all our gear. They asked if we wanted to have a soda and we gladly excepted. Then they asked if we would stay for lunch so all their riders could meet us and we could meet this amazing man who was riding a hand bike and doing all the hills, unfortunately I can not remember his name, sorry. So we stayed around and enjoyed an amazing lunch. Joel almost ate them out of house and home. I thought I ate a lot. He's super skinny and eats like a horse! haha, but it was nice to meet all the people and we gave them our information. They guy on the hand bike was absolutely amazing and it was so motivating to see him climb that last hill and ride all the terrain that we struggled to. It was great to meet all of those great people and they were so supportive, they gave us some Cliff Bars and cheered us on as we road away. The rest of the ride was very scenic and extremely different to what we had gotten use to for the last couple of weeks. We dropped quickly into a densely forested area along Mono Lake, one of the oldest lakes in the US and it is a salt water lake that has a 25% higher salt content and is a 100% more alkaline than the ocean. The day was nice and cool but unfortunately we were not done climbing. We had one more shorter climb and then it was a gradual climb into Lee Vining. When we got to town we stopped at the Mobile Station just out side of town and ate at the Whoa Nellie Deli like we were instructed to by the other cyclists. The food wasn't super amazing or even that cheap but that's not what it was about. It was about the scene. It was a super cool laid back area were people from all walks of life stop to meet other interesting people. There were tons of tourists like everywhere but there were also longs of hikers and some mountain bikers and there was live music to enjoy while you ate. The manager of the deli loved what we were doing and gave us a free piece of pizza and a free beer. We ate our food and enjoyed the music and asked about camping opportunities and were directed towards the RV park since it was the only place were we could shower. So we headed over to Mono Lake Resort and RV Park, what a joke this place was. It cost us $23 dollars to set up our two tents on a plot of grass and then we had to pay $1 for every 5 minutes of hot water we wanted in the shower. They also advertised Wi-Fi so we were excited to use that but they failed to mention that it was $6 to connect. It was even worse then staying at a KOA. Fortunately there were some nice people that we camped by so that made it worth it. When we had set up our tent we went down to the local camp store to try and find Joel a new sleep mat since his blew out the back of a truck in NV when he was hitching a ride. When we got back to the camp site we sat around and chatted for a while enjoying the cool weather. Kelly was pretty tuckered out so she went to bed early. Joel and I met this guy doing a tour on his motorcycle and chatted with him for awhile and then made our way to bed as well. It was a biter sweet day. We had quite a struggle in the morning and then met some amazing and inspiring people and were blessed with a beautiful ride in the afternoon. Thanks again for all of your support. We are almost there!