Ah! Nothing satisfies

Like a Newport!

And a big can of light beer, of course, John O and Mere P!

Sleep is the best medicine

I was so tired yesterday after our 70 mile desert ride (and a bad night of sleep before) that I basically ate and went to bed. This morning I feel so much better! Legs aren't tired, and butt feels much better. Sleep is like a magic drug.

Camp Host

When we pulled in to the Palo Verde County Park there was nothin' there but a faded old sign, bathroom, and a Camp Host. The Camp Host was, unsurprisingly, nice, friendly and had, by personal decree I assume, decided it was free for bike tourers. The surprising thing was that it was a flush toilet, not a vault toilet. There was even a bar of soap by the sink on a freshly folded paper towel. A nice touch, especially since the season is now over, what with the heat and all.

We had a nice short stay, and enjoyed staring out at the mountains of AZ across the oxbow lake.

When I went over to say goodbye to our nice host he apologized for leaving our conversation yesterday; he had heatstroke and had to go. I guess it wasn't just us then, after our 70 mile ride across the sand dunes and desert. Anyway, I thanked him for sharing the little simple county park with us and said "There are a lot of people in this country with so much more than this, but so much less willing to share it. Thanks."

Almost in touch with my inner redneck

We've met all kinds of people on this trip. I can't really think of a mean spirited one (of course, like I said earlier, "It's the ones we DON'T meet that are the problem" [some of the passing motorists]). But lots of interesting, nice folks, for sure.
Many of them are completely different than me too. So they're not all "bleeding heart liberals who think we should be more like Jesus and less like Pat Robertson" either.
Like the other day, we passed a convoy of soldiers going up that 4,000' climb from San Diego, into the mountains, at 6mph. Four or 5 vehicles, and the lead vehicle must have overheated, had the hood up. They looked like they were (acting like?) transporting valuable prisoners or somethin', and the first soldier we saw looked nervous, even though he looked like Tom Starr. And "nervous" is not a word that I usually use in the same sentence with "Tom Starr". But anyway, I was thinkin' "What the hell are those two young guys doin', slackin' off at the overheated vehicle. No one has point. If this is a drill they are SO gonna get busted out of that shrub oak stuff behind them". Overheated. Right. This is an ambush!
Ok. Redneck, maybe.
But part of me thinks I would have been a good soldier, better than average, anyway.
Then today, we stopped in Glamis, to grab some shade in the desert and refill our water bottles from our MSR Dromedary. No one around. Then boom. About 10 OHV vehicles pull up and park 2 feet from my spandex clad ass. What do we do? Strike up interesting conversations with dudes proud of their $50,000 sand rails/dune buggies, who are offering us rides; no, insisting we go for a ride with them.
I was tempted.
The tree-hugging, "we burn fossil fuels like there is no consequence - but sure as shit there are ALL kinds of negative consequences to our frivolous use of gas". Tempted. Resisted.
Palo Verde Bar and Grill - fun chatting with the tattooed, pierced fishermen from the Edwards AFB area.
Am I a closet redneck?

Then, as I'm rinsing off my dirty hands, drinkin' a can of Bud, the King of Beers, at the county park a trio of folks show up with a big pickup truck pulling a motorhome and I initially think "Damn, we don't have this park all to ourselves anymore" (in the off-season, it's too late, too hot).
Then I notice the bumper sticker on the back window of the truck: "This is my peace sign", and it's a gun sight. And I think, "Fuck it. I ain't no dumb ass redneck after all."

Staring at the Black Mountains

Across Oxbow Lake; with the Colorado River out of site, between those two.

The desert is beautiful, in a harsh kind of way. Lots of life there, which is amazing. Cool flowers, lots of lizards and some snakes (saw two roadkill snakes today, but wasn't lucky enough to see any live. Lots of live lizards, scampering about; and doing "push ups" when they aren't running. Man, I keep thinking about that movie Rango. Gotta watch that again when we get home. "What's yer name, pardner?"

Biked the 2 miles into town for some snacks; and we thought, at about the same time, if they have burgers let's get one. Sure enough, one bar and one gas station. Had a burger with fries and a cold Budweiser. Oh, so good, especially after 70 miles of biking in the desert. And we had some fascinating conversations with the other patrons - who pretty much called us cheeseheads, crazy, and then wished us luck, be safe.
They were talkin' about fishin', and, now, starin' at the lake, I'm thinkin' "Next time I do this I am SO bringin' a fishin' rod."

Well, we've hit the Palo Verde Bar and Grill

Guess we might as well patronize the other open business in town...

Then back to the campsite; our first one with mosquitoes on this whole trip.

A guy from the RV park just came over

And gave us a bag of fruit
And asked about our trip; said be careful (of motorists; he was riding a motorbike yesterday)
Nice
Generous
Thoughtful


Time to ride through the desert
Starting at elevation -111 feet

Two people we have met are stuck in my head.

We met an older man at the sandwich restaurant in Jacumba (pop. around 50) who was born there and then "didn't return again until the 70s" and has been living there ever since. It was a hot day when we met him, but he was wearing dark clothing, including a dusty leather vest, wool scarf, and cowboy-like hat. He gave us some history of the town's glory days when it was considered a resort town for hollywood people, and he gave us some advice. He told us (Greg really) to ride single file, use lights and rear view mirrors, setup our tent out of sight of the road, take good care of your woman, and to "keep your protection close".

And this morning we met an impressive woman who was deciding how to celebrate her 85th birthday. She had celebrated her 70th birthday by biking across the country! It sounds like she had taken a lot of the same route that we are taking. She was able to give us a lot of good advice on what roads to take, and where to stay. My favourite piece of advice though was, to wear a whistle. I've been a little worried about what I'll do if a dog starts chasing us. People have given us different (bad) advice that I can't see working like: bike faster, spray them with water from your water bottle, carry pepper spray and even carry a gun (but I think that was a joke). The woman we met this morning, said she wore a whistle around her neck and blew it when a dog chased her. And it worked. This is a method I am willing to try for myself. If you are interested, her blog is "bike70th".

I wonder what I will do for my 70th ... anyone want to come biking with me?

Brawley cows

Seeing all the cows grazing on the coast I had to admit that maybe CA cows ARE happier than WI cows, in March. Come July/August, especially in this drought, it might flip.
Then there's these cows, in pens, in the sun, in 95'F heat in early April. I'm guessin' they ain't "happy".

I don't understand

The long term thinking of "air conditioning on, doors wide open".
And this is true of desert CA, China, NYC, and I'm sure lots of other places too.

I mean, you burn the coal, create heat and steam, turn the turbines, produce electricity, transmit it over lines for miles, then consume tons of it making some air cooler/some air hotter. And there are many inefficient steps in that process. You lose energy along the way. You create a LOT of heat and CO2.

And then you just leave the doors wide open? All day?

I know it is "marketing" to feel the cool air as you walk by or in; but, do you think your prospective and current customers think there is a chance that you don't have AC - and so you have to show them, before they go in?

Seems crazy.
That is, if you at all understand science or care about the longer term future (of your children? Grandchildren?)

Water vending machine

25 cents/gallon

Ay, carumba!

Lunch in Jacumba!
Had a great sandwich and many pleasant conversations in Jacumba (today; and Alpine and Pine Valley yesterday). The problem with stopping for food, rather than eating what we are carrying in our panniers in some county park, is that it takes so long. Lots of nice people want to talk. And invariably they say "Be safe. Good luck." And then we rush off, "behind schedule."

Thus we were "late" when we rounded a bend in the old highway and Heidi was kinda shocked to see the big metal fence between the U S of A and Mexico, which we rode right beside for a large part of the day.

We've gone pretty quickly from gated mansions overlooking the Pacific ocean, to poor towns just inland, to 4,000' mountains and high desert - and now enough Border Patrol to wipe out most small nations.
We were surprised to go through a checkpoint, on our bikes, on the old highway, pretty early on yesterday. Then more white BP vehicles, then "Volunteer patrols" checkin' us out at the Forest Service campground, then huge BP compounds with dozens of white SUVs and Jeeps "inside the wire" - plus all the ones passing us out on the road every mile or so. We passed 4 guys in BP uniforms, with 2 Jeeps, lookin' for evidence of "wetbacks" in a dirt poor farmer's field. Kinda surreal, out there in the blinding sun and building heat of the day. Trying to imagine the poor folks who may or may not have hopped the huge fence - and made those footprints in the sand around the corner of that fencepost?

We rode through the Yuha Desert after refilling our water bottles in Ocotillo - and getting a liter of cold orange juice and an ice cream, of course. It felt hot, to us. Then once we were smoked from the surprising amount of climbing today, the headwind, the heat, the sun, and the brutally rough farm road for the last 8 miles (on our 70 mile, 2,000' vertical day) - we were taken in at the Sunbeam Lake RV Park, with matching American and Canadian flags out front. Turns out a lot of "snow birds" come here in the winter. So we felt welcome right away.
We didn't completely understand the "Excuse our noise - that's the sound of freedom" sign until later. There are Border Patrol helicopters going over every couple minutes, looking for our NAFTA neighbors trying to come here for dirt poor wages workin' in the agricultural fields all over this part of the country. They want the work, the corporations want their labor - but the politicians, and a small, loud slice of supporters make hay out of "keepin' 'em out". Weird. "Free" market? "Free" trade agreement? "Mobile labor force, just like capital"? Nope.

So after riding through miles of hay fields in the Imperial Valley, we found out it WAS hot. It was in the 90's today. I had that Genesis song stuck in my head, as Heidi and I two-person team time trialed into the headwind over the last 30 miles: "And they can't refresh me those hot winds of the south". I just didn't know what number to attribute to them yet.

But, as the cool kids say, the long and short of it is that "the Border Patrol around here is off the hook!"

And it's hot.
The desert is hot.
Imagine that?

Big Day Today!

We have really left the coast and are heading east through the desert. Today was a long day with 70 miles of riding, including some ups-and-downs at the beginning, a 9 mile downhill into the desert, and then 30 miles through the desert with 90+ deg F temperature and a head wind.

Deserts are a new thing to us, and we were relieved to hear after our ride that the temperatures were above 90F ... we were hot because it really was hot! We also found out we need all three waterbottles to ride 2h through a desert. So we will be needing extra water for longer rides.

We are also very close to the border, so close, we can see it. I was surprised to see that one part we saw was obvious because it was marked with a huge wall/fence. No "Welcome to America" signs on this end of USA. We have also seen ALOT of border patrol vehicles. The white SUVs of the border patrol remind me of the vehicles of the chinese officials in Tibet, just keeping people out instead of in.

We have to plan our next days carefully since there is a 80 mile section without water. Tomorrow will be a short day, and then we will decide whether to split the 80 miles or to do it in one long day (preferably with a tale wind).

Saved! By the Sunbeam RV park

In Seeley. No, not WI. Seeley, CA.

Don't know if they've recovered?

Or gone extinct.
But we were able to camp here, with another bike tourer, Mike.
And it was a nice spot; along the PCT.

A short day

But a hard day, fer sure

And contrary to the old-ish map info, the Boulder Oaks Forest Service campground along the Pacific Crest Trail is open (it used to be closed 3/1 - 6/15 because of an Endangered Species that lives here; the Arroyo toad.)

So here we are!

We're not splitting hairs

On our training diet.
We are, however, occasionally splitting bananas!

We have been setting some records. Not Strava records, eating records...

Are you feeling a little unbalanced, California?

One of the most common pieces of debris in the bike/debris lane is this little fella (a wheel balancing weight).

Besides, of course, beer bottles, drink cans/bottles, coffee cups, cigarette butts, broken pieces of landscaping equipment, bolts/nails/nuts, banana peels, and roadkill.
The roadkill has definitely changed recently (for us, in our travels), from songbirds and raccoons/skunks/possums to lizards (and snakes? Not sure. One of the kinds of lizards looks so much like a snake that it can be hard to tell [after they are flattened by passing motor vehicle tires])

One of the bad jokes I have been telling Heidi, far too often?
OK.
It's a sprinter joke.
And you have to say it with a bad imitation Southern accent...
"You sain that Bolt back there?"
(As we pass the 10,000th bolt of the day. Man, there must be a LOT of stuff fallin' apart out there, on CA's highways and byways)

When you're strange

The little "Alpinian" we talked to was wearing a "Doors" t-shirt.
Made us think about that old song (not bc they or we are strange)

People look ugly
When you're alone

Women seem wicked
When you're unwanted

When you're strange

Can someone please fill in the lyrics for me in the Comments? Chris? NJ?
When we were about 6 NJ gave Chris and I each a Doors album. And we listened to those old LPs at least one or 2 (dozen?) times...

Strange Days? (Chris')
And
Waiting for the Sun (mine)
Makes me think of my last fortune cookie:
You need to start dancing in the rain
And stop waiting for the sun

Reminds me of the sign in the Bronx zoo

When I was a kid my mother used to take my brother, sister and me to the zoo a lot, and there was this memorable sign that said "The most dangerous animal on Earth is in the next room."


And the only thing in that room?


A mirror.

Nice conversation w some "Alpinians"

At Franco's Flapjack House

But, OMG - does this mean that I need to "clean up my act" a bit?! Will children be reading my drivel?! Parent's - please edit what I write when you read it to the little ones!

50 miles per day, on average
We eat ice cream and lollipops
And sleep like babies in our tent at night...

Franco's Flapjack in Alpine

Is AWESOME!

More than I could have hoped for...
Great food and service.

Question for my Dad:

What happened to harvesting energy from waves? I thought there was some development of technology to harvest energy from waves ... Was it not successful?

Panniers East!

Well, we said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean yesterday after a good, month-long run down the left coast.
I'd highly recommend doing it, part of it, whatever. Lots of ways to slice that pie ride! (Including using trains to carry you and your bike, unboxed. How "civilized".) And if you want to meet interesting international travelers, they're in the Hiker/Biker campsites!

We have come inland from San Diego a little bit and the climate, animals, insects, plants etc are already changing. Including the socio-economic climate. We are not in Malibu anymore, Toto, with the fabulously wealthy homes, immaculate landscaping, massive motor vehicles, and elective surgery. We are now in the land of "Campsites built on toxic waste sites", police/ambulance sirens blaring, Navy firing ranges, and people driving through the campgrounds blaring the American national anthem - poor, but strangely more fiercely, proudly American than the people who have benefited so much more from our nation's amazing resources and history - and skewed govt and business policies, designed to protect and coddle the wealthy.

After seeing how the 1% live on the coast it is even funnier to see the "Please conserve" (water, whatever) signs all over the "low impact" zones, like the Hike and Bike campsites. Ironic, to be sure. Offensive, of course. (Our society is saying to us "Do as we say, not as we do".) And seeing the heat lamps running full gas on the patios of the coastal restaurants leaves me even more doubtful that we, the largest consumers on Earth (per capita, and overall) of fossil fuels, will do anything about it. Huge houses, outlandish motor vehicles, and heat lamps on the decks when it drops below 65'F. I guess the oceans and the air will just have to keep sucking it (our exhaust) up?!

As I tell Heidi (and she hits me when I say it), "At least we don't have kids..."

But, back to the bike tourism. Sorry.
It has been awesome. It is healthy, beautiful, meditative, and full of serendipity.
U could do it too!

I couldn't help thinkin' again today...

About how much theft, suffering, and death the royal family of Spain, their soldiers, and the Catholic church are responsible for in this part of the world.

I mean, if there was some kind of omniscient, all powerful being, judging humans on this Earth...those people are in for some serious lashes with the eternal whip!

I wonder if they took some of the wealth they stole, and, I don't know, gave it back? Or started, paid for, and ran programs to help the remaining descendants of those that they screwed? (so royally!) Maybe publicly apologized for their bad behavior?

I haven't thought of a way that the Catholic church could possibly make amends?

I keep trying to imagine how beautiful it must have been here, before there were Missions and Presidios...

Change of plans

We decided to upgrade, rode a few miles more, paid a few dollars more - and? It is totally worth it.
I only wish I brought my fishin' pole!

There are osprey nest man-made platforms. Think I saw an osprey? But no nest in the 2 platforms I can see from here...

Tonight's RV park campsite

It's in a poor neighborhood, with some "senior living" next door...

Sandwich time!

In sunny San Diego...

Equipment revisions

On our day off yesterday we made some equipment changes to lighten our load and prepare for the southern tier:

New equipment:
-MSR 6L dromedary water bag and bungees to hold it to the rear bike racks when its full
-platypus gravity water filter
-chain lube
-arm warmers that are white and UV protectors
-bike shorts for Greg
-lighter camp shorts for Heidi
-light pair of socks for Greg
-small plastic container to carry our olive oil

Sending back:
-Greg's bib shorts
-Heidi's wool jersey (shrunk in the wash, so might fit Laura now!)
-long woolen knee socks, and another pair of thick socks
-black arm warmers
-long fingered gloves (we had too many)
-boxer shorts (we had too many)
-used maps

A cruel joke

It is April Fool's Day, and we are in the San Diego area. We have seen and talked to lots of roadies down here, and it seems like a lot of them (on the weekend) were doing a long bike ride on the coast - and then taking the train home. Can you imagine it WI? Ride from Madison to Milwaukee (or vice versa, or some part of that canceled route), have a beer/coffee and a meal - then take the train home, with your bike on board with you? (They had hooks to hang them, some trains have room to leave them standing up, and on big rides they would actually add a train car to take the large number of bikes.) Looks like an awesome way to use the commuter train on the weekend, eh?

But the geniuses in control of WI state govt since the 2010 Tea Party Revolution canceled "the choo choo" to appease the most closed-minded members of their constituency. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
Moving WI "Forward"?
I don't think so.

What a cruel joke on us, to see how awesome the people here in general, and cyclists in particular, have it with their mix of infrastructure (and to think how close we were to joining them).

Crazy flowers here, man

"Bird of paradise"?

Encinitas gets it

The roadway went from 2 motor vehicle lanes plus a bike lane each way to 2 motor vehicle lanes each way - and they had a flashing sign before the change saying "Change lanes to pass", and "Bikes may take full lane". Then they had sharrows on the right lane and signs along that section "Bikes may take full lane".
See, that isn't so hard (or expensive), is it?