Dark Skies likes it when we’re inside the US borders, and rewarded us with a precise window, telling us when the rain would stop, and how long we had to pack everything before it started again. We followed its lead, pilled and fed the dogs, and packed up whilst the current bout petered out. Then went out, and started dismantling the tent, and removing its guts so that we could transplant them into panniers and bags.

Today’s mission: make miles. We have 2 days to cover around 550 miles to home - do-able, but those are surprisingly long days on the Ural - particularly if we want to stop anywhere.

Not being able to get the window closed last night led to a surprisingly chilly night. Kay and I hunkered down in the bed, under the blanket and comforter, under the down sleeping bag, and under a pile of dog. It’s a testament to the cold that the dogs stayed piled on the bed with us. My dog, Ben, generally won’t sleep on the bed at night; he’ll hang out when the lights are on, but once they go out, he moves to the floor - usually right next to the bed so he can still be close to us. But it was…