June 14th: Mary Kathleen to Cloncurry – 67.3 km
Day 244
More lovely hills, but now with a shoulder and a tail wind! All morning we battled a head wind and suddenly it shifted and our speed went from 10 to 15 kph. We were under no illusion that this was the tailwind that contributed to the increase of speed, and not a miraculous feat of will power or strength. A lot of cyclists have ridden a seasonal tailwind and do a lot of bragging about their distance without giving the tailwind it’s due credit. I suspect that this made the wind jealous and he’s been taking it out on us.
There is also a new hazard which we hadn’t encountered yet, grass with thorns. If it weren’t for the puncture protection we would each have 7 or 8 holes in each tire. After pulling off for a bathroom break, I noticed 15 to 20 seed pods with 3-5 mm thorns sticking out of our tires. We took the time to pull them out lest they get driven in deep enough to reach our tubes. With only this last concern the day was perfect.
We arrived in Cloncurry, grocery shopped and set up camp at Wal’s. There isn’t really a camp kitchen, just a barbecue, a wood stove and a covered picnic table.
We made ourselves at home and prepared for an early night when one our Caravan neighbor Martin invited us to the local fair. He promised whip cracking, a demolition derby and fireworks. We declined and he insisted, even promising to pay for our tickets. In the end we agreed to go and insisted that we would pay. When it came time to leave Martin had borrowed two of his neighbors wrist bands and taped on our wrists, so we wouldn’t have to pay.
It was worth it. It had all of the rides and carnival games I knew as a teen but of course now 5 times the cost. Everyone in town turned out, even the local hotels closed early because all the staff would be going to the carnival. Crowds of locals in cowboy hats, blue jeans and pointy boots came to town for the show. Cher and I had been to rural Texas and other than the way the men creased their hats and the style of the boots, everything else was the same.
We missed the whip cracking having a couple of cheap beers, but made sure to see the highlight of night, the demolition derby. Cher had never seen one before and asked, why do people like to watch other people smash cars? I didn’t have a good answer. It has to to be something in our primitive brain that people in the country and children aren’t expected to suppress. I saw my first demolition in rural Pennsylvania when I was 5, and it’s one of the few things I remember. I was 5 again and things went boom and crash. Cher enjoyed it but being Chinese she enjoyed the fireworks more. Not because of the explosions, but because of the pretty lights. Myself and the cowboys watching it are probably more romantic than most Eastern cultures give us credit for. There were some great chest thumping detonations but the timing, colours and gradual build up were artfully executed.
