Well the story is that there is nothing between Brawley and Palo Verde and that's 70 miles or so. In actuality there is a store in Glamis which is open now, since this is the high season for the "duners". This is about 21 miles from Brawley. This is an area of sand dunes, and huge RV's pulling big trailers with dune racers in them were continually passing me. This is the night of a blue moon and new year's eve, and it looked to me like a huge party was afoot. After Glamis, traffic died down and I ran into a 20 to 30 mph headwind. I was only able to make about 6 to 9 mph for about an hour. This was while going thru the chocolate mountains. The wind let up a bit and my speed went up to about 12, and I was tired! Got to Palo Verde, and didn't much like it, the only restaurant there was a bar, so I decided to go another 20 miles to Blythe. That put me reaching Blythe at about 5:15 or 5:30, which is just after dark. I'm pleased to have working lights on the bike so the late arrival was not a problem - in fact, as I neared Blythe The sun was going down in a beautiful sunset, and on the other horizon a huge full moon was coming up. Not the sort of thing you get to see often. The pancake flat fields (full of diverse crops) made viewing easy. Blythe is a nice looking town, and I rewarded myself with a cheap motel, a steak, ice on my knees, and reruns of the twilight zone. I woke up 3 hours later and went to bed for real.
Hey Dave, We are enjoying your blog. And it sounds like a good ride so far. Those headwinds must be tough. How often do you have to ice your knees? Burt and Althea
ReplyDeleteHey Burt! I have only had a bad wind for those two hours near the chocolate mountains, all the others have been mild by comparision.
ReplyDeleteNormally, I can't ice my knees because I'm not someplace with ice, and I guess I don't make it a priority to get it, but since this was the longest day so far, I thought it would be wise to take preventive action.
I hope the blog is not looking as badly formatted as it seems. I compose the entries on my ipod touch, and email them in, so there is not a lot of control over that. Right now I am in Phoenix at a relative's house, and there's no wifi, so I cannot connect with the ipod to send in updates! Tomorrow or the next day I will resume the trip. Weather has been excellent, with highs in the 60-70s, and lows about freezing, sunny days!
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteJim & I have been following your ride too ... sounds exciting and I know Jim wishes he were doing it with you. Be careful!
Betty