Hello all,
I am currently in Blythe, CA just at the CA/AZ stateline. I say goodbye to CA tomorrow morning. I started in Pine Valley, CA a small community just east of San Diego along I-8 on Thursday, Nov 19th. I will update this blog as often as I can, but there are lots of small towns along the way without libraries so no guarantees!
Day 1 was supposed to be a 50 mile day, but I got to my pre-determined desitination (Ocotillo) at 11:45 am! Booo. It was dry, hot and desolate, so I carried on to El Centro making Day 1 72 miles! I got to ride literally right along the 20 foot tall steel fence that separates CA from Mexico and lost count of the Border Patrol vehicles that sped past (they drive REALLY fast on NARROW roads). From there I descended 3500 ft in about 10 miles (no pedalling required). In Ocotillo, I met two guys coming from Florida. It was their second to last day of their tour and they were getting really excited to go home. They gave me some good advice on what to expect in the next few days. From Ocotillo to El Centro, I experienced quite possibly the worst paved road in the USA. It had huge bike-swallowing potholes, butt brusing lumps and cracks and huge rocks everywhere. Lame. I did see two roadrunners running across the road which was really really cool (they are fast!).
Day 2 was fairly mellow with only about 40 miles of riding. The area between El Centro and near the place I camped was all agricultural and really flat so it got a bit monotonous after awhile. I did ride past a cow feeding operation (the ones where the cows are all crowded together and sniffing around in the dirt eating corn that is sprayed out of trucks). There was a factory looking thing behind it with lots of pipes and ramps and tanks. It looked a little sinister, a slaugher house maybe? Who knows. Anyway, about 10 miles from where I stopped for the night, I entered Algodones dune area, which was basically just a dune desert that stretched from the farms up to some dry brown mountains called the Chocolate Mountains. It was hot and dry! I had been planning on stealth camping on Cahuilla ranger station compound, but unlike most stations I am used to, this one was surround with chain-link and razor wire and there were no trees or grass! Booo. I hung out with the EMTs there for most of the day and they gave me water and shade which was nice. The area is one of the best dune rec areas in the country and there were about 100,000 people in the area yesterday, with 250,000 expected next weekend, their busiest of the season! Not pristine. Anywho, the law enforcement folks were worried about me so they located a camp host and drove me and my bike down the road so I could camp with them. The camp hosts were awesome! They were grandparents and had a bunch of grandparent friends. They gave me some dinner (unfortunately I had already eaten my salame sandwich dinner so I wasn't very hungry), made me tea, fed my cookies and gave me beer! They even let me hang out at the campfire with all their friends. One of the grandpas gave me a ride in his homemade dune bugee with corvette engine. It was scary! The tops of the dunes look nice and rounded, but some drop off really sharply (the EMTs were telling me earlier that they have around 20-25 accidents a day most involving spine injuries, even one fatality last week!) The grandpa was a slow driver though and he's been coming to the dunes for 30 years so he knows his stuff apparently. One of the grandmas was worried about me sleeping on the sand so she let me sleep in her bugee trailer. They were really really nice people!
This morning I started riding about 6:30. Another 72 mile day! The morning went pretty slow, I was a little stiff and I had a 25 mile uphill grade that made me tired. I rode through the Chocolate and then Palo Verde mountains to Palo Verde for lunch. From there I rode through farmland to Blythe where I am now. Not a whole lot happened today. I saw a guy hit a kestrel with his truck which was sad. I also had a guy give me his "card", offering me a place to stay in a town I'll come to in a few days. He was totally creepy and his email was dragonslayer something and he collects rocks from the hills and sells them from his house for a living. I "accidently" dropped his card in the gas station garbage can as I headed out. In Blythe I went to a bike shop cause when I tried to use my lowest gear, the chain was rubbing on my front derailleur. We think the fron derailleur got knocked loose and shifted on that bad road on day 1 (I haven't needed that gear until today so that's why I probably didn't notice it before). Also a spring in my rear derailleur is giving out and the derailleur teeth are grindind against the cog teeth when I use that gear! Bad news! Hopefully they can replace that spring and not the whole thing. They didn't have the part at the shop here so maybe I can check in Phoenix if I have time. Until then I just can't use my lowest gear so I might have to walk up a hill sometimes. Anywho, all is good and I am having fun. My quads are a little tired, but mostly my shoulders and neck hurt, but it turns out 4 ibuprophen make that go away!
