We had a great dinner . . .

. . . and returned to our hotel after dinner with full tummies.

 

Gina had hung around the motel and had yogurt!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: We usually ask for separate checks when we eat meals out and depending on the mix at the table the waitstaff can be confused as to whether there are two couples, four individuals or whatever combination  may come to mind. Margie clears it up by saying  . . . “we are all married, just to other people!” Fun to watch the reactions.

Big day today and the winds ere ‘gently’ blowing as we loaded for the morning.

 

I needed to load my stomach too . . . and went across the street for a little ‘nourishment’.

We headed out of town to Blythe. Lot’s of agriculture in the area, mostly vegetables. Here was an interesting company . . . no explanation needed!

Two stops along the way . . . both would be disappointing.

We passed a University of San Diego science outpost that had been abandoned and made into a ‘kiddie’ ride,

This is the bane of all cross country riders . . the delaminated steel belt radial tire. Usually means ‘lots of small ‘ wires along the road. One of us would find that out today . . . again!

Our first sighting of oranges groves . . . thought I saw Anita Bryant driving a tractor down one of the rows!

None of us had studied the maps well enough to know we were coming upon some dunes to ride through. This was a hint . . .

. . . as well as the band of sand we could see on the horizon.

Our first stop was Glamis, 30 miles out which was supposed to have a store. OPENED. But not to be today . . . the store was closed. As the UPS driver said who stopped by to make deliveries’, “they are usually open every day!” Not today . . . so no second breakfast/early lunch for me. Margie did give me some turkey.

One the road again and almost to the dunes.

We stopped at the monument for a little break. Margie had a little hummus, Dan and I had power bars and Gina finished the “dooby” she had bought at the hemp shop in San Diego. Going to be a VERY mellow day for her!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: As we ate our snacks, Gina looked at me and said, “ . . . you are a big guy, you must have to eat A LOT!”

Here is what supplies part of the irrigation for all the produce grown in the region. We all felt like jumping in for  little swim!

We were in the dunes now and the wind had REALLY clicked into high gear!!!

We should have had scarves over our faces as we were ‘sandblasted’ as we road on. Here, Margie, probably our least weight challenged rider, leans into the wind trying to not get blown over!!!

Gina makes of claim on the dunes, naming the area for our cross country ride.

. . . .ah, not much chance for this today . . .

. . . but we were entering a bombing range with ‘live’ duds. Hopefully no flat tires in this area.

We stopped quite often to rest the old rear ends as we battle the wind. The wind was from the north and we had over 50 more miles of a headwind. We were averaging about 6mph. At one point we stopped for a little break and Margie saw a white ‘smoke’ puff come out of Tom’s back tire. Ended up it was some of his Dr Stan’s tube sealant. Flipping the bike over it was apparent there was a little ‘wire’ issue imbedded in the tire. It seemed to still hold air  . . . so we ventured on toward Blythe.

We were now out of the dunes and into the Chocolate Mountains. Another Naval Gunnery area. Several times during the ride we saw low flying jets. FAST!!!

Lot’s of young cactus along the way. They were so evenly spaced I wonder if the area had been seeded.

This was an interesting area. The locals all say this was the start of an ancient pyramid built by either aliens or local Indians that was never finished. It is now a ‘top secret’ military base. Sort of another Area 54 zone. No stopping here!

 

The going was REALLY slow and we stared to wonder if we would make it to Blythe by sunset. Dan usually rode up ahead, I was in the back and Tom, Gina and Margie were in the middle. The three of them decided to ride a paceline to help deal with the strong headwinds. I couldn’t keep up and ‘slowed’ to take  more photos.

This was an interesting monument,  pre-Columbian Indian walked trail between the Colorado River  and areas to thee west. The trail marking posts, obviously a twentieth century addition. I remember on the Trans Am as we got into the west we saw remnants of the old Oregon Trail, in many areas, ruts still still etched into the earth.

Some of the desert plants were in bloom . . .

A couple of miles down the road we came to this Border Patrol checkpoint. No puppies out when I went through.

We were now into about 15 miles of ‘rollers’ still riding dead on into the headwind. It was REALLY getting old.

Eventually I came upon the gang. Tom’s tube had failed and it was time for a change. They had everything they needed, and since I am the slowest rider, I continued on towards Blythe. It was quite a final 20 miles. Palo Verde and Ripley ended up being just about ghost town’s with no services at all.

As I neared Blythe the sun was setting. here were some great looking fields. Maybe ready for the next crop of broccoli?

As I rode straight north, the moon was rising on the east side of the road and the sun was setting on the west side. Really a golden moment of the day. Wish I was in better shape to have enjoyed it more.

The sun set and as I drove into the parking lot of the motel most of the cars had there lights on. Good time to be off the road. Linda had unloaded the truck and went back to sag the rest into the hotel. It was dark!

After showers, everyone was up for some MEAT so we head next door to the Sizzler. Interesting business model. An hour later we were back in our hotel rooms, with full tummies. Linda our server had brought me a BIG dessert with all the fixin’s. Can’t do this everyday but today was a big day and tomorrow is a rest day!! We were all sleeping by 9:00pm. 89 miles + Strong Headwinds + 8 hours of rolling time = No Problem Sleeping!