Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Yesterday and Today

Hi all,

I'll make this brief - I would love to be long winded and incredibly funny, but the former has been done and the latter, well that is a roll of the dice!

Yesterday was a real dull ride as Kelly mentioned, but we did meet a couple of nice Mormon kids on mission. Tough gig where they were, but they were good guys and I hope they are happy in what they do.

One funny thing happened when my Trek Rep Norm called and I went on and on about how great the tires were holding up since I switched to Hardcase tires.. 10 minutes later... Marty's gets a flat (yes, Hardcase). Never Ever mention the F word while riding.

We actually did 84 miles and I am actually feeling 100%... less a few pounds.

Today we were up against a weather/lodging challenge. We really want to camp out more to get our ratio back up over 50% camping, but we are not going to PLAN to camp in the rain. And rain was on the way and it did not disappoint. Oddly, the rain came right after Marty remarked in Poplarville that we might avoid all the rain... NEVER EVER mention the R word while riding!

Anyway, using Adventurecycling.org, we would have to ride 150 mile to get to a hotel or camp in the rain. We bought a Mississippi map and set a course for Biloxi, where one can get a cheap room in a Casino for the same price as we paid in Fabens Texas.

104 mile later we are here and feeling great.

Tomorrow we will get to Gulfshores Alabama and camp, weather permitting. We will probably also take our last rest day there as well if it is nice.

Then it is back on the road. Posting a few pics today.

Jake

Monday, March 30, 2009

No internet

Spoke briefly with Jake.  They have no internet connection tonight.  I think he said they did about 75 miles today...  boring, bumpy roads.  They will face rain tomorrow but are glad it won't be cold AND rainy.  They should be rolling into St. Augustine possibly next Friday or Saturday.  If anyone would like to meet us at South Beach Grill when they arrive, you are all welcome!  As time gets closer, we'll have better details as to time and day.  Jake is feeling better, not 100% yet, but improving.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Ville Platte to Baton Rouge - 84 miles

We were feeling bad that once again we went a day in Louisiana without partaking of any of the legendary food. That is all my fault as you can imagine.

Anyway, Marty had the first taste when a woman at the convenience store gave us some Boudin - kind of a bratwurst sort of deal. I still had to pass. Tomorrow night is definitely the last one in Louisiana, so my chances for culinary nirvana are dwindling.

So, what is up with the roadkill in Louisiana? About every thirty yards, there was something. Didn't see that in Texas.... wait a minute... just what are THEY doing in Texas with the roadkill anyway? Hmmm... perhaps a clue!

Had a decent day of riding today with a few minor exceptions. There was the Morganza Spillway on Route 190 -- a narrow stretch of road that presented itself as a bridge over some bayou... well it is, but it goes on for 4 miles. Then there was the Huey P Long Bridge, that dumped onto the Ronald Reagan Highway -- two smooth guys should have smoother roadways as their legacy.

We ended up riding through a good part of Baton Rouge and even caught a glimpse of the fabled LSU Tiger Stadium! It is awe inspiring; you have to see that picture!

Tomorrow we ride again -- what a surprise!

Jake

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Getting rid er De Ridder

Thank you all for your concern over gastro-distress. Hopefully, I am on the way back.

Today we got a late start on purpose and took it easy heading East. It was a beautiful, yet cold day that began at 43 degrees and never hit 60. We also had a real nice tailwind. Perfect conditions for my situation.

So far, the countryside around here has been very much like inland Florida. Lots of pines, lots of water and not many hills at all.

We planned to do only 60 miles today, but when we got to the only accommodations in the town of Mamou, one could say we were motivated to continue on to Ville Platte. That is where we ended up after 76 pretty easy miles.

A note on the pictures - we think we have really been shorting the photo album, but the last few days have not been rife with photo ops. We will try to have a more creative eye, but you all have seen pine trees, right?

Jake

A big baby in LA

I mean really, who hasn't ridden a bike 80+ miles while throwing up, having the stomach issues mentioned and running a temp. It was only 4 days of not really eating. If I knew he was such a wimp, I wouldn't have come. Obviously I'm kidding. Jake is hanging tougher than anyone would expect.

I knew he was sick yesterday when we asked me to slow down. In the past that has happened .... ah .... ...NEVER! The only time I've gone faster than Jake was down hill on a Mt bike.

I rode out of Texas and into Louisiana. There was not welcome to Louisiana sign and if it wasn't for the "Entering Beauregard Parish" sign I wouldn't have known. The first 4 hours of our ride was in a thick fog that got everything dripping wet. There was almost no wind until the last hours of the ride.

The weather channel is saying we should have the wind at our back for a couple days (at last). The weather is also supposed to turn cold for a couple days. Good thing we sent our winter clothes home! We are catching all the breaks.

We are going to ride today and take advantage of the wind, but it will probably not be a real big day. Neither of us think Jake has a big effort in him. Actually let me restate that: About 60-70 mile will be a big effort in Jake's condition. We will take it easy for a couple days and make it up when he is 100%. We are currently just waiting to see how Jake reacts to his breakfast and we are waiting for his prescription to be filled.

By the way, if you are a people watcher, the Walmart in DeRidder LA is a must visit. I'm tellen' ya, it would make a great reality show. Just put mikes on these folks, a little video camera: geniues.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Kountze to De Ridder (bye bye Texas!)

Well guys here is the deal...

We left Kountze an hour before dawn making great time on really easy roads. I even had a little appetite back and had a decent breakfast.

Sorry if this grosses anyone out, but 41 miles into the ride after numerous attempts to properly digest the aforementioned meal, my ride came to a spewing, cramping end - stomach cramps that is.

After that episode and another particularly unpleasant issue at the base of an old oak tree, I was sitting cross-legged on the shoulder of the road, helmet on the ground, deciding what to do.

As you can tell by now, despite previous reports, I was not getting much better at all. The stomach virus was probably at the end of its course, but three full days of the most yucky experiences of my life, I was clearly dehydrated and in bad shape. I could not eat or drink - bad news when you are burning 4000 - 6000 calories per day.

We slowly rode into Kirbyville, TX and I promptly called Enterprise. Marty was the only one of us to ride out of Texas. I waited for the car, then drove up to Jasper and then into Louisiana to De Ridder and the Beauregard Hospital.

Just got back after three hours of waiting, two liters of saline and a few admonishments from the Doc.

Overall my first experience with people in LA was excellent - very friendly and they have plenty of saline.

Anyway, Marty trucked on into De Ridder on his bike - I am told it was uneventful, but he did make it out of Texas and got in a full 85 miles (Dave you can deduct 45 off my total).

Tomorrow AM I decide what to do with me. The options include - go very short for a few days or return the car in Baton Rouge and meet Marty in St Francisville. I am leaning towards the former, but we will see how the system operates tonight and tomorrow AM... so to speak.

Sorry for the gross stuff, but a blog is supposed to tell it as it is, no?

Jake

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Cold Springs to Kountze

We only got in 63 miles today. There were two reasons for this:

Tornadic activity predicted for the afternoon in this area and persistent rip currents in my digestive tract.

Marty was a champ today - he pulled the entire ride. The roads were surprisingly nice for being way out in the "Big Thicket".

The Thicket is a National preserve in which Civil War deserters would hide - they were called "bushwhackers".

I am toast, but I think I have seen the worst of it. We will most likely be in Louisiana tomorrow.

Jake

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

About Texas and a catch up blog

We should have just 2 more days in Texas, then onto LA. With this in mind, I'll share some observations of Texas:
- Texans are proud of their state and their country. I have seen hundreds of people flying the state and US flag. This is especially true of the more affluent areas.
- Texans like pick up truck, especially white ones. This is true on New Mexico also, but we have had ten vehicles in a row pass us, all of them white trucks. And yes, they are American trucks and they are the big ones; no S10s or Rangers. Chevy's and Fords lead the pack, then GMC and Dodge. I did see a Toyota one day. After further investigation I saw it had Missouri tags - traitor!
- Texans are either really friendly. (Will strike up a conversation and give advice in a heart beat) or not (Make a special effort to not respond or do so in as few words as possible. (That could be our shorts)
- Wranglers are the jean of choice. Levi's, not even an option.
- Cowboys hats, boots and belt buckets are not rare.
- Texas is not flat, at least not the part we covered.
- Texas is windy, really windy in a "I wouldn't want to live here" way. The mornings are cold, in a "I wouldn't want to live here way."
- It's is not rare to hear women talking about pick up trucks and fishing lures, in a "I wouldn't want to live here" way.
- They have 2 lane roads with 70 MPH speed limits. (65 at night)
- Oboma is more popular than we thought. We talked to 314 Texans and one thought he might do okay. The other 313? not fans.

All in all the people have been great.

We have about 1200 miles to go. Based on what we have been doing against winds, we expect to finish in 15-16, barring anything usual.

We shipped 33 lbs. of cold weather gear and one trailer today, so we will be leaner and meaner for the next 15 days!

All for now, Marty.

BTW - Jake did eat today and is holding it down. Tomorrow should be great, after all he did 86 miles while sick.

A Rest Day!

Well, Cold Springs was not the location of choice for a rest day, but as Marty noted, I got ill.

I will spare you the details off said illness, but let's just say that describing the symptoms dealt with would truly give my creative writing skills a work-out. Bleh.

Anyway, we covered 86 miles yesterday.

Today, we are determining if we can further consolidate our stuff to reduce our load. With any luck we will be down to the panniers (luggage bags on the bikes and one trailer. if we are successful, one guy will take the trailer, one will take the bags.

Another mark of our brilliance: that we waited until we were fully out of any elevation of note to reduce our stuff.

BRILLIANT!

I feel better today and provided I can eat, we will be off and riding again tomorrow.

All the best,

Jake

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Jake sick / In coldspring

What a wild night. The wind was ripping thru where we were even though we set the tent in behind 2 walls of an old building which blocked most of the wind. It had to be hitting 30-40 MPH. I was not looking forward to today's ride.

Once we got up and on the road the wind was all but stopped, maybe 5 mph. The bad news was Jake woke up sick and with no energy. He was hurting pretty bad so we just tooled along to see how far we could get.

He would feel better for a bit and then worse, but overall not the Jake on a bike I know. The last 10 miles were pretty hard on him. I'd say it took over an hour to finish and then things got worse. He is asleep now, after some yogurt and 7up.

I'm sure he will be good tomorrow. Not much keeps this guy down.

Today's ride was thru the Sam Houston national forest and was low rollers. All and all not bad, but we did see what we called some sad old towns. We also saw some huge houses and ranches. This part of Texas is very nice.

All for now. Wish I had something more interesting to discuss.

Independence and Coldsprings Texas

Yesterday's ride out of the park was pretty hilly, but we were blocked from the wind. When we got out of the parks, we saw a bit a wind. To put it lightly, it was stupid. (Tom Habich, you would have laid down and cried) It was not right in the face, it was hitting us from the SE while we were heading East. It was so strong at times we were leaning into it like we were trying to.... well, I don't know what. It would have been fun it we were doing it for 50 feet. Unfortantly we did it for miles. It wore me out.

We ended with about 20 miles thru some nice rolling hills and farms to Independence. We stayed on the property of to local general store. Mike, the owner, actually offered us a cabin 5 miles away, but Jake and I were done, so we camped on his property.

Total for the day 83 miles.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Independence Texas - short version

Hey all - connection is really bad - we will update tomorrow for both days - 83 miles - winds ridiculously high out of SSE. Apparently when Texans bother to talk about the wind, it is windy.

'til tomorrow!

Jake

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Bastrop Texas

We learned a few things over the past days. Hills are what they are, wind is what it will be, and riding on or along interstate highways is as dull as dishwater.

Despite the fact that tomorrow we will be facing winds off 20 - 30 MPH with gusts over 40 (not my guess - check weather.com) we will be happily trying to make it to Navasota Texas. We figured out that AdventureCycling.org chose the pathes least taken for a reason. San Antonio was worth it though.

Navasota will complete 4 of 7 sections of our trip. We hope to be in Louisiana in 2.5 days. I'll have to brush up on my French so I can pick up on some of the Cajun as we head to Baton Rouge. C'est vrai!

Anyway, we knocked off 93 miles - probably a century if you count the ride back to the restaurant and convenience store - but we do not count that! So that is about 265 in the last three days. Moving right along.

As you may notice from the pictures I have shaved the beard. Yesterday, about 30 miles from San Antonio, I found a battery operated trimmer at a Dollar General. We were at the time eating left over pizza on the side of the store, so you can imagine the scene - shaving and eating pizza on the side of US 90 - kind of gross, but my kids were up in arms, so what is a Dad to do?

Today's highlight is our campgrounds - a beautiful state park outside of Bastrop - no rail cars. no highway, no indigent RV Park dwellers - just wind int he pines and Marty snoring his butt off... yikes.

Oh yeah - went through a town called UHLAND. Can't tell if it was in homage to Lance Armstrong's interview style... Uh.... Levi was great.... Uh... The team was just great... Uh...

Or maybe it was because "You Know, TX" and "Like, TX" were already taken!

'til next...

Jake

Saturday, March 21, 2009

San Antonio

We had a pretty boring 84 mile ride from Uvalde to San Antonio. When I say it was boring what I mean was that there were not many interesting sights, different than what we have seen over the last few days.

What was great was the wind was in our face. What's great about the wind in your face is the fact that you always see it coming. It also help you from going too fast, which cuts down on any possible errors in directions etc. It also ensures that you are going slow enough to see every bit of all the sights, which again are the same as the last couple of days.

In San Antonio we meet up with my niece Casey and her boyfriend Wes. It was great seeing Casey and meeting Wes. I had not seen Casey since she graduated from high school which was 13 years ago. We had diner at the San Antonio river walk and it was a very nice evening to sit outside. Amazingly, Casey looks just the same as she did 13 years ago. Me, not so much.

Items to note:

I've been asked about my blog entry where I said we made a mistake and ended in a part of El Paso that 2 guys in tights should not be in. The question was "what was it about this part of town?". Lets be honest, we have all, one time or another, been in a place where we didn't feel quite comfortable. When you wear this goofy biking stuff, that happens fairly often. I mean really, unless you, a friend or a family member cycles, these clothes are freaky looking. Anyway, lets just leave it at that.

In my next blog I'll explain the clothes to those non biking folks out there, but believe me it is NOT a fashon statement. When we finish riding each day we get out of these clothes as quickly as possible. (Okay, maybe Jake like to wear it around. Ha) I hope he doesn't read this.

All for now. Hoping for more head winds. It really is keeping us hunble.

Off The Course

By the way, we are off the Adventurecycling course - we shot down through San Antonio (today's destination). We are meeting Marty's niece there later today.

This means we WILL NOT GET TO AUSTIN. We will actually come up below the Southeast part of that city.

Jake

Friday, March 20, 2009

Back on the Road

Today we got up at 5 AM and were rolling by 6.

The darkness and wind were oddly calming. The only distractions were the little obstacles the headlight pointed out. I could not see my navigation unit and therefore I had no idea of how fast or slow we were going. I decided to focus solely on the effort my legs were putting forth.

Without regard to change of wind speed or pitch in the road, I kept my legs feeling a constant effort. All I had to do was shift my gears to keep the focus. Pretty soon all my thoughts were about maintaining that focus; that effort.

That is, until "The Boxer" popped into my head. Odd as there are no Simon and Garfunkel songs on the old Ipod. I realized I could maintain the effort focus and half hum, half mumble the song.

I wondered if I could keep the focus once sunlight revealed all the distractions with which I normally ride.

Predictably, the answer was no. Despite a rather dull 83 miles from our campsite near Del Rio to Uvalde, wind, hills, sights and sounds were all convenient alibis to lose focus.

We passed through one town, Brackettsville, 40 miles into the ride and that was it until Uvalde!

Well almost... the sole picture of the day was a historical marker noting the site of a bygone settlement called Delores. Apparently some Land Baron named the town after his Mexican wife. Perhaps they would have lasted had he only named it after his favorite aunt, Mulva.

I think Jerry Seinfeld would agree.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Rest Day Success

We rested!

We also met this guy David who offered up his truck... no not gave us a ride... let us take his truck at his insistence to "town" to reload on stuff. This is very cool because we plan on starting early tomorrow prior to the stores opening and selling said "stuff".

Really a very generous gesture - people are very nice for the most part and we are very grateful for that.

Meanwhile, it is time for more of that rest deal.

Tomorrow we deviate from the adventure cycling map and head straight to San Antonio. Cannot avoid this dang wind (15 MPH steady out of the East - no joke), but we can avoid more climbs. While this may eliminate us from the pantheon of the greatest cyclists in the world, as they say in the French Alps, "oh well!".

All the best!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Day 20???

Wow that is a long time 20 days on a bike.It is not like we didn't ask for it!

A St Patty's Day note or three - James, I got both of your impaired voicemails and both were much appreciated. No, Bob, no green beer... Sanderson is not McSorley's West. And Thomas, does the Irish blessing really say may the wind slam into your face all day?

Today was windy and not the good kind... which reminds me what Glen Lebby told my son John: West Texas is not a normal place for wind - so all you folks praying and hoping for West winds, kick it up a notch okay?

As usual we met some interesting folks mostly in our only true stop at Langtry Texas - home of Judge Roy Bean's saloon and court house. Michael from the Wagon Wheel (great BBQ sandwiches) and his pal Russell were extremely helpful.

We made it to Armistad National park just outside of Del Rio before dark.

Tomorrow we rest - no biking unless it is to food.

New Pictures as always are being posted right after I say..

All the best,

Jake

PS: we are seriously considering taking US 90 through San Antonio for a couple of reasons. I will let y'all know for sure tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

St Patty's day - a day of redemption

Yesterday had us pretty beaten. I think it had a lot to do with waking and riding in near freezing temps. Be that as it may, we got up and went to work today.

We got rolling around 9 after a hearty meal at the Chuck Wagon. We know, that sounds late, but due to the fact we are on the west end of the timezone, it does not get light until nearly 8.

First 25 miles was a hoot - lots of downhills with either no wind or wind at our back. We got to Alpine Texas (again with the Alpine thing) in what seemed like no time at all. Alpine is a dang nice place - seriously. Surrounded by amazing scenery, it is a real town - university and all.

As we wondered why it is we always seem to stop in the uncool town right before the cool town, we came upon Gil Jones. He stopped his 77 El Camino and told us that we were welcome at his "crib" in Marathon 30 more miles down the road. Immediately I sensed something fishy about Gil. Marty said I was just being crabby. But for Cod's sake, you have to follow your instincts, right? Well the salty Marty convinced me to swing by Gil's just for the halibut.

Gil... actually Guil, runs a wacky commune in the Southwest corner of Marathon - check out the pictures. Oh My COD (credit to Kip Adonis). Guil was not there but Buffalo Springfield was blaring as we pedaled away and set out to make Sanderson... another 55 miles away.

On the way, we met John (in the pics) who quit his job to go 80 days from San Diego to Maine. Kelly and Sue - at least we kept our gigs!! He was driving the route backwards to scope stuff out. Nice guy, chronic over-packer even compared to us.

Anyway, despite a crosswind/headwind ever since Guil visited us we stayed out there for 10 plus hours (including lunch and snack stops) and made it to Sanderson. 110 MILES - our first century!!!! The lame pic of us is on the exact spot we finally crossed 100.

Sanderson, what a cool place... we are camping in an RV park wedged between the only main road in this entire area and and a railway. We will sleep like kings. How do we manage to do this? This is unbelievable - Alpine was cool, Marathon was cool, Sanderson makes Palatka look like Coconut Grove.

Not to jinx ourselves, I will say we will do what we feel like doing tomorrow -- right now I feel like having a beer.

Thank you Thomas for the Irish Blessing

Jake

Monday, March 16, 2009

People Pain and Food

I need to note that the people of Sierra Blanca were very nice to us. The hotel was not the greatest since the Ritz Carlton, but the people who ran it were genuinely nice and helpful.

We had dinner at Curly's, a BBQ place on the East side of town (see pictures). The people there were real characters, gruff, teeth challenged, but again, really nice. Patrick and Tresa were the cook and waitress respectively. Tresa isn't a typo - it is Gaelic according to Patrick who wields the knives in the place, so who was arguing? The food was great and Patrick was so disappointed we did not have one of his steaks, he gave us one anyway. Great place good people.

So as Marty mentioned, we got out of town on the wings of a monster tailwind. It was great! There were times we were flying downhill at over 35, soft-pedaling on flats at 25 (remember we are toting a bunch of stuff) and going uphill in the teens. We had a great lunch in VanHorn and arrived in Kent feeling great with 75 miles under our belts.

Then Texas 118 - look it up. 10 miles later, legs are feeling dead. Not painful, just dead. You cyclists know the feeling - zero horsepower. We stopped and set up camp DUMBASS - in a 5ft by 6ft concrete culvert.

This morning began with the most painful 30 minutes of riding I have ever experienced. Frost bitten fingers and feet numb to the midfoot only added to the fun of traveling uphill at 6 MPH.

We struggled all day to get a measely 37 miles behind us. We really need a full rest day. We think we will hold out until we get to Del Rio - nice big lake, milder temperatures, and more stuff.

Our final stop today, Fort Davis, does not have a lot going on, but it did have a coin-op laundry which we desperately needed according to the coyotes who took one sniff of us last night, howled and ran for the hills.

At the coin-op a nice lady gave us some detergent and told us about the Chuck Wagon where she worked. It was yet another great Texas BBQ place. Worth a stop, if for some reason you happen to be out on Texas 118!

Tomorrow we go as far as we feel like going - right now, I feel like going to sleep, so until next blog...

Jake

We found a pretty part on Texas, but it cost

Yesterday we woke, in Sierra Blanca, to find the winds were at our back. We cranked out a pretty fast 75 miles and then turned and started a climb if rolling hills. We scenery was great. Lots of open spaces and lots of small Mountains and out cropings. Our legs gave out and we decidedto camp where we were verse trying the next 30 to the next town.

We actually camped in a concrete colvert because of a 20 MPH wind. All was good until this morning when we found the small vally we were in was obviously where the cold air fell to. We got up and on the bikes within about 18 mins. Normally it take us an hour. It was the coldest night we have sleep out and it was not pleasant. In fact the first 30 mins of riding was pretty miserable as well. Jakes hands were froze and my toes had the same. We finally climbed into the sun and we stopped to warm up. In no time, we were taking off layers and it got pretty warm.

He climbed today to the Mc Donald Observatory near Ft Davis at a little over 6000 feet. It was the hardest day yet. Instead of steady climb, it was climb drop climb drop etc. It took almost 3 hours to go 14 miles. At places the road was so steep we were out of the saddle in the granny gear. (I never thought that would happen) So the day ended with us doing about 37 miles. The legs are tired.

We are now in a small town called Ft Davis waiting for a Motel room to be cleaned. Nether of us can handle another night in the weather. Hopefully as we move further East and South the nights will get warmer. For the last 3 mornings I have been wearing every piece of clothing when we start. It has been that cold and with the wind in your face...... Very cold.

When did they put mountains in Texas?!

Hi y'all...  Kelly here.
Just talked to Jake and he wanted to let everyone know they are fine.  They didn't have cell or internet service last night.  Because of high winds last night, they had to sleep in a culvert.  The cold air settled in quickly and Jake said it was the coldest they've been so far.  They have much slow, windy climbing ahead of them today.  Hopefully, they will be able to get online this evening!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Day Two in the Longhorn State

First off - we have no cell service and I am borrowing the PC from the Hotel to post this - we are just fine.

Before we left Fabens, we had breakfast at the famous Fabens Cafe. There I finally asked someone what the heck Menudo was other than a boy band from Puerto Rico.

Delia (whose picture will be posted when Kelly gets a chance - can't do it from here), not only told us what it was, but gave us a little bowl of it to test. For those who do not know, Menudo is Beff Tripe and Hominy. We dutifully chowed down on the menudo. Apparently it is a famous hangover cure.

Again the wind was in our faces and it took entirely too long to do 70 miles to Sierra Blanca, which should be called Sierra Cerrado (thank you Sesame Street) - nearly eberything is closed!

We saw a lot of that as we rode along the Rio Grande - Marty is pictured riding buy the civic center of McNary... where narry is a ... well anything.

We found out what a Texas Cycling interval is today too. Here is how it works.... you ride along at a moerate pace and one of you yells "DOG!" Then you ride as fast as you can until your heart nearly bursts to get away from the snarling. snapping dog.

Dave Van Gundy if you are reading this beware that 2 miles West of Fort Hancock, that dog who looks like he wants to play does in fact want to play... with your internal organs.

I have never seen Marty ride so fast!!! The dog was a cross between a wolverine, a pitbull, a dingo and cerebus (minus two of the heads). Scare the you know what out of us. Next one gets the Bear Spray right in the kisser.

Met a fellow traveler - Michael form Anchorage -- and that is where is is riding to - Wow.

I have but two wishes for Texans -- they really need some pickup trucks here and some stray dogs.

That said, we enjoyed much prettier countryside today.

All the best.

Jake

Not the best of Texas

Our morning ride out of NM was pretty nice as we passed Pecan trees, farms, horse ranches and a polo field. We dropped into Texas, without any signs or fan fair, into a really ugly part of El Paso on Texas 20. It was like we were suddenly in a junk yard, mixed with a flee market and parking lot with our road going through it. It did get better after a few miles but honestly it does not represent Texas well.

El Paso from what we saw is a really long skinny city squished between some mountains and the Mexican boarder. Our directions had a hic-up on one of our turns (that's my story) and we ended in a part of El Paso that two guys in tights should not be. We just kept rolling and found our way out.

While like every city there are good parts and not so good, our route exposed us to much more of the latter. We could see some beautiful homes build into the mouintains overlooking the city, but we didn't go there. What we saw was strip malls and restraunts for 20+ miles. It just went on and on. Jake saidhe actually saw three Villiage Inns on the same road in Texas. Since we were not looking for a room, I didn't notice.

I'm ready for a break in the morning cool, the wind in the face and I'm missing my wife, my kids and my home.

This morning it is 35 and the wind, still in the face.

Hello to my poker gang in Chesapeake who are playing tonight. I miss you guys. Please let Sue win a couple big pots. While we are trying to not spend a bunch on the road out here, sometimes you get caught. We paid $70.00 for a dive of a motel last night because our options were that or bandit camp. Nothing else 50 miles.

That's all for now.

Friday, March 13, 2009

A quick pass through New Mexico

Marty will fill you in on the incredible sights and sounds of El Paso.

New Mexico (Land of Enchantment) only took us two and a half days to get through. We only hit the Southwest area of the state, but definitely enjoyed our stay - especially the time with John and Alicia.

New Mexico was the 47th state admitted into the Union. Don't worry.. no boring history lesson, just a boring memory. You see, our Basic Training group (called a Flight) in the Air Force was chosen to be the "Flag Mass" on parade day; the culmination of our stay in Lackland AFB.

At the time, I was a good deal shorter than I am now... a towering 5'9" (and a half, dang it). And as the fourth shortest member of our flight, I carried the flag of New Mexico, which happens to be the very last of the 48 continental states I have visited.

That's it - told you it was boring.

As for the rest of New Mexico, what we saw (except Deming) was really nice. My cousin Mary Lou, if I recall correctly always loved horses and has settled here - good choice from what we saw.

Well we entered Texas and got in about 83 miles today and feel pretty darn good even though the wind was once again, not our friend. That is the thing about going in one direction all day - there is no backside of the loop where you get the tailwind that was the headwind earlier. I know, we are Wind-Whiners.

Jake

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Dem(ing)s da breaks

I really can't say too much about Deming. The RV folks were odd enough and friendly enough, but the sad thing was there were clearly a few semi-homeless tent dwellers there... some with kids. I am not going to go all soapbox here as to do so, I would need to have some glib solutions to spew.

I do not. But I do suspect this is a growing phenomena in this country.

John and and his wife Alicia are very nice and gracious hosts -- we have already been fed twice! We are very glad to be here given the fun fun fun we had in the wind today.

I do need to do a retro-blog here. Somewhere between Buckhorn and Silver City Marty and I went to a convenience store to refuel. We had magnificent frozen burritos for breakfast and as we were reviewing the bulletin board, the super-friendly clerk perked up.

We noticed that a World Record elk had been shot by bow. She quickly explained with great disdain that she knew that elk had been farm-fed and the hunt was in a confined area. Not very sporting. In addition to damning the faux heroism of killing a big fat encumbered beast, she noted that the world record antlers were the result of CALCIUM supplements.

Today as we rolling along we were chuckling about this particular episode and Marty said, "can you believe she thought they made the antlers big with COW SEMEN?"

Yeah Marty, you will find that in the GNC right next to the Bull Milk.

Have a great night!

Jake

Flat, flats and still nothing comes easy

Last night before hitting the hay, Jake noticed he had a flat. But he was wrong, he had two flats. He fixed both. In the morning one was flat again so he changed that one again. Then when loading his bike the tube blew out. That's 4 flats in zero miles - beat that. About 45 miles into our ride he had another blow out. That is five flats on 2 tires in 45 miles. This after going for 13 days with only 3 flats up until today. Luckily we made it to John's (a brother of Jake's cousins wife) in Las Cruces without another flat. Had we had a blow out we would have been in trouble as Jake had used the last of the tubes.

We woke this AM to another very cold Morning and had 15 mile head winds all day. Not a good day on the bike. Very cold and no where to stop for anything the whole way. We were prepaired with peanut butter and Nutrigrain bars, but a cup of coffee or real breakfast out of the cold would have been nice. We were doing 9-10 miles per hour on flats and downhills. Very exhausting and disappointing; almost 6 hours on the bike for only 55 miles. The effort should have yeided 100 miles+.

I'll let Jake write about some of the events in the RV park. Overall real nice people. If you ever get a chance to visit Deming, just keep going.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Why Deming?

Some of you may be tracking the adventurecycling.org route and noticed that Deming is not on the trip.

Well, remember that choice we made Sunday to stick with the course even though knees and achilles tendons thought we ought to just take boring old Rte 70 avoiding massive climbs? Well, we had another choice this morning and this time the joints and tendons won the battle.

As we headed down 180 in the cold rain with the wind at our back, my Garmin started beeping at me to make a left and head towards Mount DOOM - Emory Pass.

The peak, shrouded in titanium hued clouds, beckoned us to test our mettle. Instead, our intelligence won the day.

As we passed the turn, the Garmin castigated us with its incessant beeping. It finally shut up, but it seemed the hills had the last laugh.

As Marty mentioned, the wind suddenly turned our 23 MPH romp down 180 to a grueling 11 MPH trudge into Deming, "Flower of the Southwest". I made that last part up... but there were flowers on the walls of that Motel I bagged.... and for me to opt to camp instead of sleep under roof is extreme.

Missing all, hope everyone is great.

Jake

Nothing is coming easy

The day started with me waking to find the hotel did not give us the 6:30 wake up call; it was now 7:45. By the time we got up and and out it was raining, and of course cold. We had more climbs an descents for about 8 miles and then it got flat with the wind at our back for about 8-9 miles, then everything changed. The wind picked up out of the Southeast at about 15 mph. We were heading Southeast, see the problem? We ended the day with 60 miles under our belt, about 44 of it in the rain. It was mostly a soft rain, so it could have been much worse.

We are staying in Deming NM at a Roadrunner RV park. Not too bad of a place, but not the best. Jake actually chose this over a Motel down the street that we checked out. It was really rough and Jake said no because of the smell. I could smell nothing because taking in the decorating required all of my senses. OMG - I would have taken pictures but I thought that might offend the owner. But then again based on these being his rooms, my guess is he does not offend easily.

Here is something we experiance today, which I hope you never do: During the part of the day when it was raining pretty hard, a cattle carrying semi came by. Obviously the rain was washing off the floor of the truck which was covered in .......... Anyway once the runoff was mixed with the normal semi tire spray, we had a lovely little cow urine and poop shower. Like I said, I hope you never experience it. Maybe that's why I couldn't smell the motel room and maybe that's why the owner wasn't disappointed when we said we would pass.

That's all for now. Wishing all your showers are free of cow poop and urine!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The last couple days

As Jake mentioned we had a pretty difficult day on Sunday. It is pretty intimidating to see the road you are riding disappear into the clouds, then when you get pretty far into the clouds, it just keeps disappearing a little further up and on and on. We climbed for almost 3 hours and saw very few cars. It makes you wonder why someone would bother to build this road. There were some interesting sites along the way.

Once we dropped into New Mexico we saw nothing but a couple of ranch entrences for miles. We went by one place called Mule Creek. I swear we saw one house and a post office and nothing else. If you are ever looking for a low stress job, try a post office in a one house town.

We ended at anthoer one of those RV parks were people live, not visit. It was not very nice and we both actually chose not shower in the place. This was after already not showering for 2 days because we camped at places without facilities the previous 2 nights.

We did about 35 miles today with more climbing into Silver City NM. We crossed the Continental Divide today which took us back up to 6230 ft and then had another climb before dropping into Silver City. We had the best tasting Whopper ever. It is amazing how good something can taste when you have be surviving on much less for a few days.

Looks like we will be in Texas in 2.5 days of riding.

For those wondering, the knees are holding up pretty well. I wish they were 100% as the trip would be much more enjoyable, but I'm still having a good time and seeing intersting things.

Couple items to note: Saw tumble weeds in Bylas AZ blowing ride down the middle of "town". Also in this part of of the word you can't take a step any where without shoes as some kind of sticky thing will be in your foot; usually it will be three things.

When Jake mentioned that we were not prepaired for rain, what he meant was that we left stuff out. We did realize that we would see rain sooner or later, and are prepared.

All is well. Thanks for all the thought and prayers.

(Monday's Ride) 3-way to Buckhorn

It rained all Sunday night. Not a deluge, but just steady rain. We had been lulled into the security of day after day of sunshine and were really not very well prepared for rain… especially rain that slipped in under the cover of darkness.

Luckily, I awoke and scrambled around getting our stuff either covered or in the tent. There were only a couple of misses.

This morning, the rain let up in time for us to break camp. It was in the low 40s and the sky threatened more rain. So, we broke out the rain gear and even went so far as to line our shoes with plastic bags.

Lesson 38… Do not deploy rain gear unless it is raining. Once upon a time there were these things called “wet suits” that stupid high school wrestlers used to cut water weight (some still do – not good). Well, rain gear for cyclists acts very much in the same fashion. So while trying to stay dry in the non-existent rain, we managed to get completely soaked by our own sweat!

Sweat? Low 40s and climbing to higher altitudes? Oh yes… our ride today was not horribly long in miles (46) but it was an absolute killer. The first 14 miles were pretty much straight up… we encountered our first bunch of switch-backs as we climbed out of and above various canyons on the Arizona side. When we got to the top of the pass, it was really cold and we were really wet from our rain gear… sadly designed to keep us dry!

Anyway, the temperature was around 35 as we had our brief break of a 5 mile plunge to just short of the New Mexico border.

Marty and I noticed the weirdest thing – all the way up the mountain, we were looking at craggy rocks, precipices, cactus and scrub. As soon as we crested, we were in forest. And then as we got lower, we were in rolling prairie land. If you ever get the window seat as you fly into Phoenix, you may notice that the instead of mountainous terrain rising out of New Mexico, it appears more like the earth was gouged creating the canyons and such in Arizona. At least that is how it looked to me flying to San Diego.

Sadly, the climbing did not stop. We continued up and down in New Mexico and finally said ENOUGH in Buckhorn. Odd place and zero cool stories about cool friendly people – sorry!

Neither Marty nor I have set foot in New Mexico before, so yet another first.

Tomorrow we climb into Silver City where we just might call it a real short early day. Today was really rough – six and one-half hours for 46 miles is just sick.

Jake

Monday, March 9, 2009

In the Middle of Nowhere, New Mexico

Hi y'all,
Kelly here...  Jake just called from a barbershop in Buckhorn, NM.  They have absolutely no cell service, so there will be no photos or blogs from the guys today!  
He said they climbed and climbed and climbed today; traveled about 48 miles in 6 hours.  Looks like two more climbing days ahead.
Marty's knee is better.
Hopefully, they will be able to get online tomorrow. 

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Honky Tonk Night - Wind in your face Morning!

If the connection holds up I will post the pictures from last night as well as the pics from today's ride.

The bar across from where we pitched our tent was everything it was cracked up to be. Apparently most of the town is run somewhat by the family of the store clerk who gave us the Lion's Club hook up. I believe they are the Keens and they were also about two thirds the patrons at the bar.

It seems we stumbled into a bit of a reunion as one of them had disappeared many years ago and returned this weekend. Kind of sweet in a "don't ask too many questions" way. Anyway they were all really cool people.

So this morning we woke up to find that the ice we purchased at 3 PM the day before (not in a cooler) was still good to go! Yes, it was dang cold. So we scurried around muttering vague obscenities and got ready to roll. 50 yards from the Lion's Club - rear tire FLAT.

To further enhance our morning, the wind, our buddy the day prior, was in fact the fickle mistress the sailors say. Dead in our face.

So we toodled along until we reached Safford on a rather unremarkable Rte 70. There, a decision was on us.

We could either leave the Adventure Cycling Route and continue on the relatively flat but not very interesting Rte 70 to avoid many many climbs (knee saving) OR... we could suck it up and stick with the route.

At the fork in the road, we chose to stick it out and enter some of the most incredible landscape in the Country.

We climbed quite a bit and I have to say, Marty did really well. Then we finished the 57 mile day with a 6 mile descent to "3 Way" that featured ... well speeds that caused us both to feather the brakes more than a little.

We are now camping FOR FREE AGAIN at the Clifford Ranger Station of the Apache National Forest and looking forward to some serious ups and downs tomorrow. The wind is screaming at us right now and the temperature is dropping. They do not call it roughing it for nothing.

Pauline's (my cousin from day one) brother John called and left me a voice mail that he will be putting us up or putting up with us in Las Cruses, so John if you are following this, I will get an idea when we are going to be there because we would love to take you up on the offer - even if Pauline made you!!

All the best

Jake

Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Best Plans

We saw Kelly off at around 11-ish and took off down Rte 70 East bound .. but not down. Marty's grapefruit had some fluid pulled out of it and you can now tell the difference between his knee and his calf. Better yet, he was feeling good as we pedaled along.

I too, felt pretty good. Kelly was a great help. She brought a stearer tube extender from James at PC Bike so I could raise my bars to eliminate my upper back and neck pain -- it totally worked, although those who know my riding style would never believe I would have a road bike where the seat and the tops were level. But enough Bike-talk drivel....

So there we were - going to do 30 miles and camp out down by the Coolidge Dam. Wellllll... there was this monster tail wind and much less ups and downs if we took the alternate route straight towards Safford, AZ. So we did. 60 miles later we sit in Fort Thomas. So we didn't keep it to 30 miles today, but even though there was a good amount of climbing, it was like a 30 mile effort.

Fort Thomas was as you might guess was the site of a fort during the Indian Wars. It is now the site of the Lions Club (the founder of the international Lions Club was born here), a convenience store and a Honky Tonk complete with corogated steel siding and big red letters:

BEER - FOOD

These being two of our favorite things, we stopped and asked at the convenience store if we could pitch our tent somewhere and not get shot (ha ha). The clerk, who apparently also runs the Honky Tonk said "sure - the Lions club"!. But she did warn us that the music could be loud until 1 AM. If the wind holds up, we will not hear them, if not, we will go over and enjoy the band.

I think she said the Good Ole Blues Brothers Boys Band was going to be playing the theme to Rawhide repeatedly.

We'll see!

Jake


PS - Scullys - our Great Grandfather's half brother was NOT stationed here at Fort Thomas - he was at Fort GRant and Camp Thomas (later to become Fort Apache). But I am sure he matered the quarters well where ever he feathered... er... made his bed.

A Visitor!

Kelly flew in yesterday afternoon and as I mentioned that gave us the opportunity to give Marty a full rest day. It also gave me the chance to bomb around in the hills out here without 45 pounds of stuff on my bike.

But before I get to that, I can't tell you how good it was to see her... really I cannot even begin. She is the greatest.

As Marty said, I took off from the campground (we posted some pitcures from when the sun went down on the rocks - incredible) at around 8 am. Because we went off the track to get to the camping, I decided to take shorter route back to Rte 60. Of course the first couple of miles of this road was unpaved! Oddly, this was not a disaster - 30mm tires are pretty versatile.

Then it was onto Rt 60 east into Tonto National Park and onto Superior, the home of the World's Smallest Museum! And... not much else. Reminded me of some Vermont towns I have been to... but with really good breakfast burritos.

Remember the Chamber of Commerce woman? Well once again, her words of wisdom were a tad off. She described a virtual "tunnel of death" that you have to ride through to get out of Superior that was 1 mile long straight uphill, two lanes, no shoulder, etc.

As I ate my breakfast, someone asked (and by the way, this a really cool part of the trip, people are almost always really interested and friendly) where I was going. I told him and we chatted about the rest of my ride and the TUNNEL OF DEATH, As he paid his bill, he offered to put my stuff in the back of his truck and drive me through - what the heck?

You guessed it... a pretty well lit 200 yards of three lanes of traffic. Better safe than sorry.

What she should have told me about was the upcoming riding through places like "Devils Canyon" and "Top of the World" and the total lack of shoulder in many spots and the copper mining trucks whizzing past... but nothing beats a good TUNNEL OF DEATH story!

It was rather dicey both uphill and down. I was very glad not to have my trailer. At one point they were blasting so the whole road was closed temporarily in both directions - the nice worked let me fly down the mountain all alone for a mile or two.

Then I hit the end of Tonto and the beginning of mining country - thank God for National Parks.

I got to Globe and waited for Kelly and Marty. They found an urgent care place and got Marty some help and some advice. The good news is he can keep going.

So we are planning several short days in a row due to the terrain and the need to slowly bring his knee back. Hopefully that plan will work. Might cost a couple days, but oh well.

Did I mention how great it was to see Kelly?

Jake

Friday, March 6, 2009

A sad morning at broken knee

I just watched Jake ride off toward Globe AZ as I sat in our camp. I'll be catching a ride with Kelly later and am trying to get into an orthopedic Clinic today. My right knee is in bad shape an our 4 days of taking is easier has not improved the situation, though I don't think it has gotten much worse.

Each night as I sleep pain builds and then in the morning I'm limping around. As the day moves on it gets feeling better and I can walk pretty normal etc. The problem is as I ride I can apply almost no pressure, which means I'm ride with one leg, the other is really just along for the ride. This has been okay for the last 3.5 days that have been fairly flat, but we have big climbing days in the coming 5 days and I need 2 legs. Riding with one leg is now causing some other issue as I have had to adjust my riding position to accomodate.

On the lighter side, we had our first Elvis sighting today in the Camp restroom. It was the older Elvis with big chops etc, but he was thin. We was decked out in biker garb, but was driving a mini van. (Look for Elvis in a white mini van.)

When we were in El Centro in Southern CA I went into a big grocery store called Carabrosa's, or something like that. I asked where they had pain medication and sun tan lotion. The gentleman did speak English and quickly got me in contact with anther man that didn't speak English who then assisted be by getting a third guy who didn't speak English. What happened next you might not believe but I said, "I need ibuprofen" he had no clue so I said "Pain medication, something for pain" and he said "mushrooms?" That made the stop worth while. I did find what I needed, without help. When I checked out I noticed the register rang up both dollars and Peso's. FYI - Ibuprofen and water is a lot of peso's. I choose to pay in dollars and hence feel like I got a great deal. You can't fool me!

That's all for now. Hoping that a day off the bike and some good news from a Dr will get me back on track. The last few days have been less than fun. Jake has been great, riding slow (not his style) and carrying more than his share of the load.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

quasi-rest day 03/05

As promised, today was a late start and a slow roll out of Mesa.

I was really longing for the nothingness of the desert again. The endless traffic lights and heavy traffic kind of took the fun out of actually having a bike lane in which to ride.

We decided to hit the Apache Junction Visitor center where we met a woman who claimed to be a "long-distance" cyclist. She was friendly enough, but her tales of misadventure, gloom, death and destruction on bicycles were amazing. I was surprised we made it to the next traffic light (conveniently placed 10 yards from the previous one) alive!

She did give us directions to The Lost Dutchman State Park that sits at the base of Superstition Mountain. But before she did so, she made sure we knew that THERE WAS NOTHING past Apache Junction that would afford us the resources to continue our journey.

So, we passed store after store and restaurant after restaurant on our way to the Park after we took the time to buy a bunch of stuff at the grocery store. I did say she was friendly, right?

Incredible beauty at this place and better internet signal than the hotel in Mesa.

Some pictures of the park today.

Total miles today around 30 but I'll be back tracking a bit tomorrow to get back on the course.

Kelly is flying in tomorrow (she is on Spring Break!) to see us (okay mostly just me). This will give Marty a chance to have a 100% rest day as he will wait for Kelly at the campsite and then they will join me at Globe, AZ about 60 miles up the road and mostly up hill. Lucky me, my wonderful wife will rent a puck up truck and so I get to hammer this out on my bike -- no trailer, no packs. SWEET.

It is getting chilly, gotta go. Oh by the way, Mark Bertoune took the liberty of doing a rewrite of this blog on his site www.thebikeframe.com - I have to admit, it is very funny.

Jake

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Wednesday 03/04

Today was pretty uneventful.

We rolled out of Wickenburg before dawn after spending a night in oh, such luxury! We actually wanted to camp out but could not locate a campground and the town was too populous to just camp off the road somewhere. So we bargained for a price we couldn't refuse and spent the night at The Westerner.... the place literally had no door knobs - dead bolt only! But can't complain as we chose it.

Then it was almost continuous downhill or flat ride into Surprise AZ and then a suburban/urban zig-zag course through Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa.

The SPOT died in Tempe - batteries last a week. Not bad. It will be up tomorrow.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is a rehab and rest day for Marty and a catch up on Evergreen day for Jake. We will do an easy spin for about 25 miles to Apache Junction and not get going again until Friday.

No pictures today - the pretty stuff was all in the dark. About 70 miles total for those keeping score!

How is Marty's knee?

You'll have to wait for his account, but we are optimistic.

Have a great night.

Jake

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Out of Hope but still have hope.

We were on the road before daylight to avoid what we thought would be a very hot day. As it turns out after climbing about 700 ft out of Hope it actually was colder. We stopped for breakfast in a little cafe' in Salmone. I order 2 pancakes to find out where the name can from. I was starved and I ate 1/2. These things where bigger than a plate and over 1/2 inch think. It was a cool little place an we sat by a bunch of guys in cowboys hats telling their stories of the previous few days.
Southern Arizona , as pretty as it is in the distance, along the highway it is incredibly desolate and poor looking. Most all towns consist of an RV park, a convenient store and maybe something else. Mostly there are deserted buildings. It makes all the movies I've seen about this area makes sense. No country for old men; yep, that's what I'm talking about.
The knee: big as a grapefruit and hurting. Jake is doing all he can. Tomorrow I might ride on his back.
Tonight we are in a real dive. Imagine a trashy hotel that would pait a permanent "vacancy" on their sign. NICE!!!!

Steady as she goes

Before today's antics and adventures.... Last night at the Ramblin Roads RV park in Hope, we were treated to a "jam" session of about 25 people with everything from mandolins to electric guitars to squeeze boxes and harmonicas. It wasn't perfect, but a bunch or retirees having a ball taking turns leading the jams, it was actually... perfect. At the end, they all sang the National Anthem and then handed out the words to, and sang Oh Canada - first time for me outside of a hockey game, but I gave it my best.

New Pics (Venus guys on there). We'll figure out a way to organize them (or I will beg Kelly to) so you do not have to go through each and every one to see the new stuff.

Today we were rolling before dawn (a practice we will probably continue - takes a lot of pressure off). So, we were treated to sunrise hitting the east facing mountains and hills. The picture does not do justice to the unbelievable colors generated by this. My Mom would have had a field day with her palette.

So, we wisely set very attainable goals for today - about 61 miles. After we went a whole 6 miles, we came upon Salome and decided to have breakfast. If you are a Bugs Bunny fan, you may remember the singing frog episode - I swear the character came from this town. Wikipedia it - tell me if I am wrong. Cool little place.

Then we went a WHOLE 6 more miles and saw a really cool cafe in Wenden and guess what? We stopped again. Extra points to to first person who looking at the pictures guesses why we stopped!

22 miles later, Aguila. The most awesome gordita ever (no nothing like Taco Hell). Unfortunately, there, my camera was stolen!

Miraculously, just 10 miles from the end of our journey, the thief somehow slipped my camera back into my handlebar pack. I guess he felt bad.

10 miles straight downhill into Wickenburg, and we are done for the day.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Problem: I hope they go away

Jake was kind in not mentioning the reason for the low miles the last 2 days. Marty is having problems. That's me.
On day two and three we pushed harder than we should have and I'm now dealing (kinda) with some issues. The only one I'd call a problem is what appears to be tendonitis on my right knee. It was noticeable yesterday, which is why we cut that day short. Today "noticeable" is not the word. The pain is pretty extreme, especially if climbing. It also stops me from rising from the saddle which you have to do when you are spending 6-7 hours on a bike.
We stopped and camped in Hope AZ to find out it is the hottest day 3/2 since (1922 we heard). I've spent 2 plus hours icing the knee and hope it does not stop me.
Wish me well.

Day... what day is this?

Today we left California and headed up hill from the Colorado River into Arizona.

Kind of an odd day, but truly an example of all's well that ends well.

Almost immediately our route put us on Interstate 10. I have to say, having 8 - 10 feet of shoulder with people whizzing by at 85 MPH is less dicey than no shoulder on curves with campers going 60. Nonetheless we are being very safe - not even cheating off the tractor trailer drafts.

Left I-10 for a bit and ran parallel to it. There we saw some awesome scenery and actual GOLD miners. Wayne is in today's pictures as is the gold that he THOUGHT was his. Marty clubbed him with a mini pump and we are now in Aruba.

Then Quartzite - a town built around an RV park built around a swap meet built around gem stores. There we met the Venus guys.

These three young guys from LA left everything (which upon further review wasn't a ton anyway) and are biking to Venus Highlands Florida to join... you guessed it, The Venus Project. Caitlin, please feel free to check it out, but stay off your bike. Nice guys, but a maybe a bit over the top in their pursuit of economic utopia... but maybe not. Who knows what can happen when young people make choices.

Perhaps a choice here and a choice there and there is no open bar stool at McNasty's in Columbus, Ohio and maybe no hanging out at the pool at Villa Valdos in Vadosta, GA.

All's well that ends well, right?

Ended the day at Hope Arizona - fitting, but only about 51 miles. Nursing our legs a bit- y'all understand.

Jake

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Some hard days

We had a couple of hard days on Fri and Sat. Friday was pretty good overall until that last 30 miles thru the Yuha desert which was on the worst paved road I have ever seen. Imagine a volcano in the road every 8 feet. That was what we road over. We where looking forward to taking a little break in a place called Plaster City. As is turns out, there is a plaster plant in Plaster City. No city, no gas station, no houses, no nothing but Plaster Plant. Jake is suing. (But not complaining, Dave)
On Saturday we had another good morning riding thru the Imperial valley, which I think is the Yuha Desert with Cow Poop and water added. Then we headed back into what I'd call a desert and into the Algonones sand dunes. At about 11:00 Am we got hit with the Santa Anna wind in our face and had a very hard 45 miles. The climb was gradual, but with the head winds we were in our granny gears going 5 miles per hour. Even the last 30 miles, which was to be down hill, was actually rollers (ups and downs). In other words, we have had 3 days of climbing. We ended the day in RV Park in Palo Verde.
As nice as Palo Verde sounds, like most of the small towns we have seen..........not. Check out Jakes pic, but imagine a RV park where people without money might live. OMG - for you folks that don't like roughing it, this place would kill you. What a hoot. Rememeber it's Sat night and they were partying, so the country music stopped at midnight. The people getting walked back to their RVs ended at 12:45. I think the funniest thing was when the guys were talking to us in the morning, I could tell who was who from listening to them the night before. They sounded the same in the morning.
Today, Sunday we decided that we needed a "rest day". We did about 30 miles and are now camping on the Col0rado river. We have both spent about 3 hours icing our knees, my neck and my achillies. (Yes I'm having some issues) - Dave, we are NOT complaining.
New pics posted.

Lessons Learned Saturday 2/28/09

After a good night's sleep in El Centro, we set out on what looked like an "easy day".

We learned a few things on that easy day...

1. If the topography indicates a hill, IT'S A HILL.
2. Santa Anna is the patron saint (or would that be matron saint?) of messing with cyclists.
3. Rollers going in a descent are only slightly less grueling than rollers in an ascent.
4. Glamis is NOT a town, but if you like unending dunes and high-powered off-road vehicles, you would love Glamis.

85 miles later...we learned never to determine a day "easy" until it is done :-)

Jake