Blowing into Blythe

The weather channel last night indicated we might have favorable "w" (can't say the word), but I was sure we were jinxed when Connie this morning excitedly announced the forecast at breakfast. Notwithstanding a headache and slightly bummed stomach this morning, I headed out on the bike, but told Janet, today's sag driver, that I might want a sag later in the day.

As you can tell from the flags, we had a pretty stiff wind (over 20 mph according to Marni who gave us a briefing on how to tell the strength of the wind according to the Beaufort scale). Fortunately, Connie didn't jinx us and it was a blessed tail"w" all day. Even the rollers (small dips and rises) didn't require much gear shifting. The only scary moments were when trucks passed us -- would cause the bike to swerve a bit. It was a glorious ride -- all the way to Blythe.

Along the way we went through Glamis, which is nothing but a stop in the desert surrounded by space for RV's and ATVs and lots of desert for the ATVs to bomb around. It was interesting that on the left side of the road was a restricted area where no offroad vehicles were allowed because of an endangered turtle. That side of the road had vegetation of the desert variety. The right side of the road, where the offroad vehicles cavorted, there was no vegetation, just tire tracks.

Our first sag stop was in an interesting place - in a bombing range.

We passed a huge feedlot, with probable 500 cattle and 200 sheep. Could smell that for quite a while! We also passed large sand dunes, the Chocolate Mountains, and more Midwest farm wannabee land. We went through the towns of Palo Verde and Ripley. The scenery was stunning - mountains, desert, crops. Wish I could post all the pictures I took, but I'd run out of blog room too quickly.

I rode out of Brawley with Liz, Susan, and Robin, but ended up on my own after a while. Played leapfrog with Ann as each of us would pass the other who had stopped to take a picture or just gaze at the scenery. Had Marni for company for a while near Palo Verde. Stopped in Palo Verde at the liquor store and got a cold green tea (not doctored) and chatted with three guys who were also riding the Southern Tier, but were hauling their stuff and camping.

I haven't commented on the dinners Linda and Lois have cooked for us. We've had baked talapia, a mexican feast, and last night she cooked a fantastic beef stroganoff. Tonight and tomorrow night she has off, as tomorrow is a layover day. So, we're all going to Sizzler for dinner tonight. There's a movie theater here and Slum Dog Millionnaire is playing, so maybe I'll take in a movie tomorrow.

Bike stats: miles ridden - 91.74; ride time 6 hrs. 26 minutes; total trip mileage 195.