Many towns in the mountains in Sichuan are huge construction sites. Everything, but everything is being built new. The heavy trucks driving around results in all the roads being a quagmire. I have seen it over and over. China is rebuilding itself. A big leap forward.
In my search for dumplings for breakfast, I saw Litang in all its muddy glory. The main road was nearly impossible to traverse – even just pushing the bike. But, once I left the town, the road was pristine.
Today was always a bit uncertain. It was 40km to a town, then 80km of nothing, climbing 1000m to the high plains. The 40km town was not far enough, so I proceeded up, planning to camp somewhere. It was lovely and sunny, and the road smooth. Progress was slow due to the sizable headwind, and I called it a day at a little service area where they offered me an empty room.