Day off in Ely, NV

Here is the third journal that I have written for the group journal page.

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My day off in Ely, Nevada began with me waking up at 7:30am, which had been the earliest I had ever gotten up on a day off. The fact that I accidentally fell asleep at 6pm the previous night may have contributed to my “early” wake up time (still late by our 4:30am standards). As usual, there were already a few people awake by that time, so we wandered around in the dark finding out if people were interested in getting breakfast. By the time we left, about half the group had waken up, so we all headed out to the Silver State Restaurant, which was recommended by our host.

The directions we were given by the host including cutting through a cemetery, but when we reached it, we discovered that sprinklers were on in the morning and thus drenching the walkway with water. We had a dilemma: should we run through the sprinklers or walk an extra half a block to go around the cemetery?

We hesitated for about 30 seconds. Suddenly, the cemetery was filled with a dozen yelping Bike & Builders running awkwardly downhill in their flip flops while trying to dodge the sprinklers (and failing miserably). By the time we reached the bottom, everyone was in hysterical giggling fits and more awake than they would have been had they had three cups of coffee.

However, that is not to say that we still can’t have three cups of coffee anyway. Or seven. To say that we enjoyed the free refills of coffee at the café would be an understatement. We also thoroughly enjoyed our real breakfasts that had lovely things like eggs and pancakes! Ah, the simple luxuries that one enjoys after living on a food budget of $4 a day for two months.

After breakfast, the girls in the group split off to go visit some of the local thrift stores. Our mission: to find completely ridiculous (and fantastic) outfits for roller derby day. We had decided near the beginning of the trip that the girls would dress up in roller derby costumes for one day and give each other roller derby nicknames, such as “The Hammer” (Jane), “Sonic” (Anna Baeth), or “Hurricane Nina” (real name unknown). Today we decided to finally put this plan into action and debut our outfits the next ride day. Some of the better outfits included a green halter top with hood (it IS as odd as it sounds), two identical leopard print dresses with matching cardigans, and a bright yellow belt covered in frayed, blue denim patches. Thrift stores are great – I got my camouflage overall skirt with matching camouflage shoes for a grand total of $1.75 . . . roller derby was clearly a big budget day.

Afterwards, people split off into little groups that went to the library, got ice cream, or just explored. I ended up walking back to the host with Becca and Rachel Bainbridge, and we once again cut through the cemetery, although this time the sprinklers were no longer on. We did, however, get stopped by a passing pickup truck. A somewhat elder looking man leans out his driver side window and beckons us closer. As we approach, he asks, “What side of a chicken has the most feathers?” We stare at him blankly for a few seconds before I realize that I know the answer and blurt out, “The outside!” “You got it!” he says, while pointing his finger at me and slowly driving off. Becca, Rachel, and I look at each other and just burst out laughing. I think it’s safe to say that we all just had a once-in-a-lifetime experience, since I’m pretty sure that I won’t be stopped in the middle of a cemetery to be asked a riddle anytime in the near future.

Later that night, we watched “He’s Just Not That Into You” while eating dinner, since someone had rented it from the video store. It was certainly interesting (we made fun of the bad advice the movie kept giving), but we haven’t watched movies in so long that it was still something to do. Then another night of sleeping on a gym floor before roller derby day the next morning!