Hello everyone, I'm in the small town of Yumechen, on the south eastern edge of the Gobi, about a 2 day ride ahead of me to Jayaguan, the unofficial end of the desert. This has been quite an effort, ranging from not too bad to "oh my god". I thought I had it whipped when all it was throwing at me was the heat, hell I live in the central valley! Then the cross and head winds kicked in. Coming from a different direction everyday, guessing in the 40-50mph range with gusts that would send me right off the road. Ran out of energy and water a couple of days, aimed to relax a day in a very small place, Anxi, but the wind changed again and they were going my way! I jumped on and was blown east for about 80k's.

 

Been camping out alot since there are long distances between towns and even the gas stations are scarce out there. Many times obtained water from truckers or road crews. Here in Yumenchen, it looks like a good connection so I'm putting up a few pics. Viewed the August 1 eclipse in Hami, I think the first time I'd seen almost a complete moon cover, for about a minute the stars came out, and the eeiry twilight just before and after was also quite a sight.

 

Met a cool young American English teacher from Tennesee, Justin Scott and his buddy Lian Wan in Hami and we hung out for a day, went out to Lian's folks place and had a great lunch. Watched the eclipse together and later I gave a "lecture" to their group of teen Chinese English students. Hami had a KFC, say what you want, it was tasting good to me. The food here is still an issue for me but hey I've lost 33lbs. so far so I can't complain.  Thanks all, talk to you later.  Brian