Aug. 9: Erin learns not to eat undercooked eggs
Saturday August 9, 2008, 17 miles (28 km) - Total so far: 188 miles (303 km)
Entering Taldyqorghan
We rode into the night trying to reach Taldyqorghan, a metropolis of 110,000 souls that had grown in my mind as a luxurious oasis, complete with internet, telephone and a German brew pub. Sadly, it got too dark for us to continue, so we pitched our tent right by the highway, which meant little sleep with the headlights flashing over us all night - any further into the field, however, was too swampy and it was too late to find a drier place. We settled into the tent and ate the remainder of the second lunch our friends had provided us: tomatoes, cucumbers, four boiled (albeit soft-boiled) eggs with pinches from the matchbox full of salt they had given us and hard candy.
Our worst camp yet, right by the road. Noisy and bright.
I hold the eggs responsible for my subsequent food poisoning, which continued through the night, particularly unfortunate since I was so thirsty from a day of hot weather riding, and attempting to rehydrate only meant that I had more in my stomach to get rid of. Eating the eggs was not smart and entirely my own fault.
We got up at 6 and I struggled onto my bike for the final 17 miles into Taldyqorghan. It took us over two hours, with me stopping a couple more times to let the stomach do its business. It was close to 95F when we reached our hotel, the Hotel Sulu Tor, at 9:15am.