Day 4: Brawley to Blythe, 93 miles

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.

Ocotillo to Brawley 45 miles

Got out at about 9:30 again. This is better than I usually do, but not as good as hoped. Again it seems to take me about two hours to do everything. The wind was fantastic for the first 10 miles, with a 21 mph average, then instantly became a mild headwind. Got to brawley at about 12:30. Ate at MCD, then decided to make it a short day and went to a park about 6 miles out of town. I didn't like the park too much because although it was pretty, there was no hot water, and it had a cow lot within smelling distance. The office was closed, and it never did open, so I camped free. The roads today often had that sort of raised crack surface, which can become kind of like mini speed bumps in the worst case. Mostly no traffic so you could ride on any part of the road you wanted. I don't like camping early!

Alpine to Ocotillo 65

Odo 2462.0

Had a pretty slow start because although starting at 9:37 it took me about an hour to get to the spot I had stopped at the previous night. It was only about 4 miles, but it was 4 miles of steady climbing. Then the route goes onto I8. There is more climbing until we get to the top. Then the route goes thru a valley. Then back onto US80, which goes very close to the border. How close is that? About 50 yards. I got to see that fence pretty close up. About every 30 minutes a border patrol SUV would go by. Finally we rejoin I8 for the descent out of the mountains. The sign said "6% grade next 7 miles"! No kidding, my average speed was about 30, with a max of 41 for a few moments. The trucks were going down only a little faster. The downside is that there are tricky winds that demand serious attention. On the good side I am nearly instantly done with the day's riding, when I feared being a bit late. Camped at an RV park which looked to be nearly out of business. The restroom/shower was nice though.

San Diego to alpine, 43.35, 10 mph

Odo 2397.0

We go to the beach park, also called dog beach, and I got my tires wet in the pacific, pictures taken, and I set off. Left about 12:30 PM. At about 4:30, I realize the sun is about to set, so by about 5:30, I end up in a small, kind of expensive (for what it is) motel. It appears that most private campgrounds close their offices about 5, or whenever it gets dark. Possibly because this is not a very busy time of year. Alpine is at about 2000 ft elevation, so the road has been climbing steadily, although not steeply.

Motel to San Diego zoo & back

OK, they call it the world famous San Diego zoo - what more to say? It
is An understatement! I think it would be hard to see it all in one
day. For one thing, I am not used to so much standing. I spent a fair
amount of time musing about how some institutions or organizations
build up the momentum or enthusiasm that allows them to progress so
far beyond the norm. It seems to combine the best qualities of a
theme park, botanical gardens, and zoo. Recommended!

El paso to San Diego

The drive seems to take longer during the flat desert sections , I
guess there is some kind of boredom factor that ensures this. At the
visitor's center in wilcox the lady assured me that there would be
plenty of cyclists doing the route - i'm not sure how she knew this.
We did see one heavily loaded tourist on I-10 headed east as we headed
west leaving el paso. He was carrying at least 50% more stuff than I
will be carrying. I am not sure what I think of that! I will probably
go see the zoo tomorrow with Sara and Joanna and leave the next day,
dec 28 th.

Headed west

Packed up and started the drive west with Sara and Joanna. Of course,
packing up is a euphamism for discovering you've forgotten to do about
a hundred important things. Finally, at about 12:30 I am ready. Then I
notice that my rear panniers are starting to tear on one of the seams.
After spendIng about an hour on a patch, I decide to just take the
repair stuff and try to fix it at night on the drive to San Diego.

We had Christmas dinner at a truck stop in fort stockton - all the
food came out cold except Joanna's burger and fries.

The prius is getting terrible milage with the bike on the back and
driving at 80mph, about 32mpg. After dark the speed limit slows to 65,
and the milage goes back up to 40 - but at that speed it would
normally be about 44-45 with the racing bike. All I can figure is that
the touring bike offers a lot more wind resistance than my racing
bike.

We are now spending the night at el paso, but it's too late to work on
the repair. Well, maybe tomorrow!