A Rest Day in Good Ol' Blythe California

Blythe CA Rest Day
(10 miles)
12/7/2009
Day 52

We woke up this morning at 6:30AM to rain. Just a light sprinkling, but sure enough, it was raining. The report had predicted it would start around noon. While watching the news we learned that there were big storms happening across the country, snow and rain. Our rain seemed like the kind that was not going to stop any time soon so we went to the KOA recreation room and warmed up and ate our breakfast. Around 10:30 we decided that we would stay for another night at the KOA because there would be no sense in riding in the rain all day when we were already making great time in getting to Mesa and we were at a nice place to weather the storm. The forecast said this storm would bring one inch of rain, which is a lot for this area to get at one time.

After a morning hanging out and watching the news we rode our bikes 5 miles back into town (Blythe) and get internet and groceries. It continued steadily drizzling all day long and we rode back to the KOA around 5PM. We parked under a nice dry awning with picnic tables where we could make our dinner (huevos rancheros) out of the rain. Just about the time we were finishing supper the rain really started coming down. The winds started picking up and just driving the rain down in sheets. We went in the building and waiting for it to subside before we went back to the tent for the night. Greg was brave and ventured out into the downpour to check on our tent and gear. When he got back he was completely soaked from head to toe. I am lucky I have such a loving boyfriend who would brave a storm like that so I wouldn't have to. When the rain had finally died down we ventured out to find huge puddles everywhere and feared that our tent would be flooded. We also worried that the horizontal rain had blown up into the tent and gotten everything wet. Luckily when we got there we found we had put our tent on one of the only high and dry spots in the tent area, whew! Unfortunately Greg's sleeping pad and some clothes got a nice misting of rainwater on them, but luckily we could dry them fairly easily.

Greg seems to be able to sleep through many things, like raccoons fighting, or other strange noises outside of the tent, probably because he knows that it is nothing to worry about. Tonight he slept through the loudest gusts of wind I have ever experienced while camping. I was not afraid of the wind blowing around us, mostly just afraid of the possibility of branches blowing and breaking from the trees around us. I was actually sitting up in the tent, watching the wind strain the tent poles and sometimes bracing the tent with my arm. Finally, I also fell asleep but boy, what a storm!

Dani

Algodones Dunes to Blythe, CA

A cotton picking tractor in a cotton field. Below those mountains in the distance is the Colorado River.

Once the hopper on the tractor is filled with cotton it empties it into the machine in the background. That machine is like a huge trash compactor. It smashes the cotton into huge rectangle shaped bales.

Real sand dunes

Dani is following the first rule of sand dune safety, always stay hydrated.

You can see that we trudged deep into the wilderness for our campsite.

This is looking the opposite direction from the wilderness sign. That is a irrigation canal.

A good view of the dunes

This is part of the off road area, those lines in the back are vehicle tracks in the dunes

Checking out the dunes

Wilderness campsite with unruly hair do: free, Cup of coffee: some work to boil water, but pretty cheap, Mexican pastry: too expensive for the quality, The combined experience: priceless

Algodones Dunes to Blythe, CA
12/6/09
Day 51 75 miles


We woke up in our wilderness area in the dunes and enjoyed a nice sunrise. We were up and active before most of our motorized vehicle riding compadres, so we were able to enjoy some silence with our breakfast. Once the sun got a bit higher, the RV doors started opening, and the sound of motors starting surrounded us. We were ready to get on our way and leave this very strange, but oddly beautiful place. We ate some jelly rolled Mexican pastry for breakfast that we bought from the market yesterday. It wasn't particularly good but we had to eat it all. The name was so long that we just started referring to the slices as "Mexicans" It sounded pretty hilarious to a couple of road weary bicyclists when Dani said, "Greggy finish eating your Mexicans."

We loaded up the bikes and headed out. Yesterday we were below sea level, so from here it was a steady but gentle climb to about 1,000 feet through sand dunes and the Chocolate mountains (named for their dark brown color). About 15 miles into the day we reached the top of the divide and took a short break. The wind was picking up, but it was from our back. When we took off again, we realized that with a very slight down hill matched with a tail wind we could easily ride at 20 miles per hour. The riding here was super fun! Not only were we riding at 20-25 miles per hour with normal effort, but there were nice rolling hills that we would power up, and then coast at even higher speeds, up to 30 mph, down the other side. The hills also broke up the long straight-aways into more interesting terrain. We were planning on stopping for the day at Palo Verde, about 50 miles from our starting point, but we reached that town at a little after 1:00 pm. Not only was it early, but this town was not much to look at and we couldn't even find any food.

We decided to ride on without having much of a plan. We figured we would figure it out as we rode. After Palo Verde, the riding was no longer down hill, just flat. The tail wind was still a bit help, but instead of coming from directly behind us, it was just quartering at our backs. Still, much more preferable than a head wind. We quickly realized that we could keep riding for a good while. Blythe, the next town, was twenty miles away. We rode some nice low traffic roads through agricultural fields. Oddly, many of the fields in this area were being harvested, and the crop was cotton. We rode into Blythe on nice deserted agricultural roads. We reached the middle of town by not much after 3:00pm. We stopped for groceries, but realized there were no campgrounds in Blythe, only hotels. We really didn't want to stay at another hotel, so we found a KOA on the California/Arizona border, right on the Colorado river, only 5 miles away. We decided after such a long day in the saddle we would find a good place to eat a late lunch. We stopped at a decent looking Chinese place and found that the meals were less than $7. We ordered up and got big sized portions. Almost as soon as we finished eating my stomach started to hurt. I asked Dani if she noticed anything on the menu about MSG, and she said that they disclosed that they did use it. I wish I would have known. By the time we reached the campground, I had bad stomach cramps. They dissipated and we went to get in the campground's Jacuzzi and relax. My stomach cramps went away, but I still did not feel right for the rest of the night. Despite the MSG, we both thoroughly enjoyed the Jacuzzi and nice warm showers at the campground, if you can really call that camping. It is supposed to rain tomorrow (for the first time in six months) so we will see what happens.


Greg

El Centro to Algodones Dunes

So this is what is looks like below sea level

An irrigation canal below sea level in the Imperial valley. Interesting to think that this water would have to run uphill to get to the ocean.

El Centro to North Algodones Dunes Wilderness Area
12/5/09
Day 50 40 miles

Today we left the hotel somewhat late. We always have these grandiose plans leaving early in the morning. With a roof over our heads, a warm shower, and a clean bed, it seems logical, but it usually does not pan out. This morning we slept in. Then we decided to eat some breakfast and write on the blog. By the time we checked out our bikes and got ready to go it was 11:30.

We filled up both of our one gallon bladder bags with water today. We are going through a 70 mile stretch of desert with no water or any services at all for that matter. We had a hard time figuring out the perfect way to anchor the bladders to the trailer, but we eventually figured out a suitable way. We rode out of El Centro toward the town of Brawley. We planned on stopping for groceries in Brawley, but when we got there, we were surprised we could only find was a little Mexican market in a town over 10,000. We found enough groceries, but the selection was meager.

We rode East out of Brawley and rode down below sea level through a valley full of agriculture. This is part of the Imperial valley, a valley that is supposedly the most bountiful agricultural area in North America. Riding through this area, however, it didn't look like much. The land is just valley bottom desert that is laced with irrigation canals. The soil looks like little more than sand as this is a real desert. this area only gets 2 inches of rain per year. The water in the canals is from wells all around the valley. The ground water has been drawn down so much that in some places the ground itself has actually subsided around 30 feet! Crazy. We reached the lowest point either of us have ever been, around 120 feet below sea level. Then we began to climb back up and suddenly the agriculture field disappeared and we came out into open desert and the beginnings of sand dunes. This higher land out of the valley isn't too desirable so it is owned by the BLM.

We rode into an area that is dominated by sand dunes, it is called Imperial Dunes. There is an off highway vehicle area here called Glamis that is famous for off-roading with ATVs, dirt bikes, and dune buggies. On peak days there are up to 130,000 people here with their OHVs. Luckily there were not nearly this many people around when we got to this area. We saw on our map that there is a campground here on the BLM land, so we stopped at the ranger station along the highway and asked about where we should camp. The reaction of the rangers was priceless. There we were, two bicyclists at the biggest off road motor sport place in the country asking for a campsite. The ranger said, "You want to camp here?" It was getting late so we said we were just looking for a safe place to put up our tent where we wouldn't get run over. Paradoxically, the North side of the highway is a wilderness area, so the ranger said we should just set up our camp on the other side of the highway.

We took his advice, but what a weird place. We could hear the scream of engines all around on the South side of the highway until a bit after dark. We saw everything from tiny kid sized dirt bikes to dune buggies with four seats and huge V8 motors. No one was in a tent but us. Everyone else either pulled big fancy camper trailers or drove bus sized RVs to the dunes. We couldn't imagine what all of the other people must have thought when they saw us. Never the less, we set up our tent on just the other side of the wilderness boundary, and locked our bikes on the just the outside of the wilderness boundary (bike are not allowed in wilderness). We flipped the BOB trailer upside down and used the bottom of it as a little table to cook our supper of burritos. A few people partied until about 10:30pm, but the whole place quieted down after that and we actually slept pretty well.

Greg

Boulder Oaks to El Centro, CA. My First Miserable Day

Nasty broken pavement for twenty miles

The view on our long downhill

The infamous "wall" along the Mexico border. Notice how it just ends on the mountain. I am sure that immigrants willing to risk their lives to come to America look at that and think "there is no way I am going to climb up that hill to reach the land of milk and honey."

The last pass on the big hill

Greg playing a warm up game in the morning at the campground.

The desert

Some really odd barrel cactus

Steep hill but nice shoulder on Interstate 8

Boulder Oaks Campground to El Centro, CA
12/4/09
Day 49 70 miles

This morning we woke after a long nights sleep to cold and wind. The better part of the night was windy, so windy that it covered our tent with dust. The noise of the tent rattling woke us up periodically, but we still got plenty of rest. When we got out of the tent we realized it was COLD. Really cold compared to the warmer air by the ocean. It was probably around freezing. Welcome to the desert. We huddled in the tent until the sun came up enough to eat breakfast in some sunshine. After we ate, we packed up quickly because we didn't have to wait for things to dry thanks to the desert air.

Even though the sun was out and not a cloud was in the sky, the air was still very cold, and the wind was howling. We pedaled out of the campground straight into the ferocious wind. It was blowing 15-20 mph straight into our faces. We both hoped the wind would go down soon. We immediately began climbing toward the town of Live Oak Springs. When we were not in protected places the wind beat down upon us. It easily gusted up to 35 mph at times. Then without warning it would switch and blow from the side making our loaded bikes hard to handle.

We finally reached Live Oak Springs and I (Greg) was freezing because of the cold air and wind. Dani dressed warmer but I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts. We had to stop so I could put on pants and a long sleeve. We continued on into the hellacious wind which rarely gave us reprieve. Even downhill sections were hard because as we picked up speed, any shift in the wind would throw our bikes around making us slow way down to regain full control . We usually average 13-15 on flat ground, but today we were lucky to ride at 8 mph. To top it all off, my knee was beginning to hurt worse and worse. I started the day by compensating as much as I could with my healthy right leg , but after about 20 miles of trying to power the huge load up hill and into the wind, my right leg was too tired. I then started using my left leg and my knee got progressively worse. We were riding so slowly that in three hours of riding we had gone less than 20 miles.

We finally reached the last summit on this hill and were rewarded with a 12 mile downhill. The wind did die down enough for us to relax some and enjoy coasting down this huge pass. When we reached the bottom we turned onto state route 80. The wind had died down substantially here at the bottom and the temperature was much nicer. The pavement, however, on this road was horrible. By far the worst we have ridden on so far. Many gravel roads are in much better condition than this piece of pavement. To give you an idea, the road was littered with potholes, some of them 4-6 inches deep. Then, every 20 feet there was a crack that ran from shoulder to shoulder that had a couple inch high lip on it. I was afraid one of us would surely break a spoke. We didn't, but our bodies took a huge pounding. Our arms and wrists were worn from just keeping a hold on the bars, and our butts were sore from the constant jarring. If nothing else, the condition of this road prevented us from making good time.

We rode really hard, and for the last ten to twenty miles my knee was giving me some pretty intense pain. When we reached El Centro, the sun was getting low, and we knew the campground was still 6 miles away. We talked about getting a hotel, and figured if we could find a room for less than $50 we would do it. We found a room for $40 and treated ourselves to a nice relaxing night and a warm shower after a really hard, really sweaty day. Today was the first day where I realized that for a portion of the day I wasn't enjoying myself. I thought about that for a second, one day out of fifty I didn't have fun. You have got have a few of those days in there every now and then, because it made me realize how much I am really enjoying this trip.


Greg

PS we will probably not be able to blog often until we reach Phoenix. There are very few towns between here and there, and the ones that there are probably are too small for internet. We will try, but don't worry if you don't see a new post for 4-7 days.

Lakeside to Boulder Oaks Campground

Dani with a huge sugar pine cone

Over 4,000 feet and we just left the ocean!

Manzanita bark, it feels smooth and waxy like it looks

Greg writing notes in the tent at the end of the day

Nice lush North slope in the desert

Greg checking out the view during the climb up the big hill

Lake Jennings dam.

El Capitan from Lake Jennings

Lakeside to Boulder Oaks Campground (Cleveland National Forest)
12/03/09
Over 3,500 feet in elevation gain
Day 48
35 miles


Woke up to a beautiful clear sky this morning. We are perched on a bluff above the surrounding town and lake. We can see the mountains ahead of us to the East. The big mountain is called El Capitan, not the same as the Yosemite one, but still beautiful.

The riding today is mostly uphill, with very little flat or downhill. We know to pace ourselves and go slow and steady, taking breaks when we need them, but making sure they are short. This slow and steady works well for us and we make it up this hill with determination and steady pedaling. This is the largest hill on our tour so far. Greg says that he likes hills for the rhythm they put you in as you are ascending. Greg started having knee pain again today. Carrying a large load slowly up a large hill on a bike that doesn't quite fit right takes its toll on him. Ibuprofen and leg massages should help us get through this pain.

We stopped in a little town for a milkshake and a snack. Greg filled up his water, but I forgot to fill up mine, I thought I would be able to get more water at our campground, about 10 miles from here. We got to the Boulder Oaks Campground on the Cleveland National Forest with about 40 minutes of light remaining. The campground was really nice and situated in an oak forest. There were lots of birds and other animals around and the sagebrush reminded me of Montana. Unfortunately when we got to the campground we discovered that there was no water available. A water test showed that water was unsafe to drink so the water had been temporarily shut off. We were pretty upset because we had planned on having water when we got here. We had just enough water to get through the night, but were empty by morning. We even drank our pasta-cooking water, mmm, starchy! I wish the campground had left water on with the water safety warning, so that we could have boiled or used iodine to drink the water. We also cut it close today with our fuel. We didn't realize we were almost out and had just barely enough to cook supper with. It gets very cold as soon as the sun sets in the desert. During the night the wind howled and blew outside, violently shaking the tent, and we slept while coyotes yipped in the brush.

Dani

The Big Day- we make our Left Turn

Brown Pelicans at La Jolla Cove

Our last view of the Pacific Ocean. The next time we see an ocean it will be the Atlantic

Greg makes the big "LEFT TURN" the path going up under that bridge in the back, and East

Dani riding East towards the mountains

The Big Day- we make our Left Turn
12/2/09
Carlsbad to Lakeside, CA
Day 47
63 miles

This morning we had a great breakfast of whole wheat banana-walnut pancakes and eggs with Barb and Tom. It was SO good and very filling. The perfect breakfast before a big day of riding. We said goodbye to Tom early as he left for work. We went to Trader Joe's before leaving, then packed up all of our gear. It was great to see my uncle and to meet Barb. Greg and I got some rest and relaxation, as well as having some fun at the ocean and seeing a little of the city. Today we will begin heading East for the first time on the trip.

We left Carlsbad at 11AM, which was a little later than we aimed for. We rode south into San Diego, back through La Jolla where we had been the night before with Tom and Barb. We rode along the ocean for the last time and into Mission Bay Park. We got to a point on the route where we realized that we were turning from the South to the East. It was strange thinking about how we would no longer have the company of our constant companion, the ocean. We would not hear it rhythmically crashing as we slept each night. The sun would no longer bear down on our right sides for the majority of the day, and instead we would wake each day to face the sun. The amount of people and amenities would change and I'm sure we would quickly feel a change in the character of the communities as we left the coast. There is a definite feel to people on the coast, kind of laid back mellow attitude. As we made that literal turn away from the ocean, it immediately felt like a big change in the figurative direction of the trip. Now we had proven to ourselves that we could do it, ride the miles, live the lifestyle, and now it was time to see just how far we could go.

Riding through San Diego was awful. As we left the ocean and eventually the bike path, we rode on a highway in the Mission Valley that felt more like a freeway, with exits that appeared without warning taking drivers off the road into the shopping malls. We got cut off by one driver and felt like we were not a welcome part of the flow of traffic. We couldn't wait to get out of this place! We reached a county park where we rejoined a bike path. Before long we met up with yet another friendly, helpful, local cyclist who offered to guide us through town so that we could travel the less busy roads. This guy was named Bill and he took us through town on a route pretty similar to the one our map showed, but he helped us find our way quicker than we would have just by looking for streets on our own. We are constantly impressed by the amount of caring and helpful people we meet along the way. We began our big climb today, and we could definitely feel the earth gradually rising beneath us.

We ended up having to ride for a little while in the dark to get to our campground, at Lake Jennings Park. Our map showed that the park was owned by the county of San Diego, but we found out otherwise when we arrived. The county no longer ran the park, it was now run by the Helix Water District, which had always owned the land. They had taken over control of the campground after vagrancy and drug dealing had become a problem in the park and campground. The park was fenced off and a sign notified us that only registered campers were allowed in the park, and we were not registered. Walk-up registration was only available until 5pm, and we arrived at 5:30. We were getting tired and didn't really want to keep riding that night, but didn't know where to go from there. We were lucky that just as we got to the gate, both the campground host and an administrative ranger arrived, one leaving, one entering. They don't accept cash, but made a generous exception for us because they didn't want to see us head back out on the road. The campground turned out being really nice, situated on the top of a hill overlooking the small reservoir. The host even gave us a bundle of firewood for free and we had one of our first real campfire of the trip. I really enjoyed our stay at this little park. We slept well, even with the pack of coyotes that came through in the night and howled just yards from our tent (Greg said he heard their footsteps.) Tomorrow we tackle the biggest, steepest part of the hill.

Dani
It was pretty odd to suddenly turn East and leave the ocean. There it was, our last look at the biggest ocean on Earth. It served as our temperature moderator, moisture provider (not really a good thing on a bike), and natural noise maker for almost six weeks. I think we will miss the incredible views the most though. For me at least, every time the ocean left sight for any amount of time, the next sighting of it was just as exciting as the first time we saw it on this trip. Pacific Ocean here is to you.

Just before we left Carlsbad, we used a bathroom scale to weigh some of our gear. We have been wondering what our stuff weighed, so we thought we might post it here so you would have an idea.

Dani's burden
-rear panniers plus the rain gear all carried on the back of her bike = 35 lbs

Greg's burden
- front panniers full of food = 22 lbs
-bob trailer bag = 46 lbs
- bob trailer itself = 15 lbs

As you can see, we are not ridiculously over weight by any means, but we are carrying a good load. My bike's weight, plus the gear, plus my weight is about 300 lbs. A lot of weight to drag up hills, especially the hill we have coming up soon. When we get in the desert we will need to carry extra water for obvious reasons, so I will have two gallons of water extra on the BOB trailer. An extra 16 lbs is nothing to sneeze at. I am sure I will notice it.


Greg

Carlsbad Rest Day

Seals at the Cove in La Jolla

More Seals

Carlsbad Rest Day
Day 46
12/1/2009

It is so nice to be here in Carlsbad with my Uncle Tom and Barb. We slept in this morning and had a filling breakfast. They both left early this morning for work. Barb works at the local YMCA and teaches aquatic fitness classes.

Greg and I were determined to swim in the ocean today, because it was going to be our last chance to swim before we left the coast. It was a 15 minute walk from Tom's apartment to the beach- awesome! Barb and Tom said it was going to be cold today, 65 degrees and water temperature of about 52. We thought that sounded pretty nice compared to the cold rivers and lakes we usually swim in. We had an awesome time at the beach, playing in the surf. We jumped in and over waves, floated, and just had a great time. I climbed on Greg's back and he would throw me into the water when the waves came. The ocean is such a fun place to play.

After our playing at the beach we drove out to UCSD where Tom works and he showed us around his shop and we looked at the projects his students were working on. His class uses metal cutting machines to manufacture various shapes and parts for nearly anything you could think of. He even had a table saw that when the blade touches a finger, it immediately stops and the person suffers no injury, it was pretty cool.

The four of us then went down to the town of La Jolla and visited the cove where the seals give birth. We walked around the fancy downtown and saw the shops and restaurants. For dinner we went to a Turkish restaurant and had a great meal. Greg and Tom had Gyro plates, Barb had a chicken plate, and I had a grilled veggie plate, all with taziki sauce. It was really fun to spend time with Tom and Barb and get to see a little of where they live. It will be nice to ride back through this area tomorrow. We really enjoyed having a relaxing day here with family. Now we should be rested and ready to conquer the upcoming hills and desert.

Dani

PS. I am very upset that I forgot to get a picture of all of us together. Barb has one that we may be able to get when it is developed, stay tuned.