WE ARE IN PHOENIX!!! We are more than one tenth of the way to St. Augustine, Florida! Now, on day 8, our first rest day, we’ve got a whole new set of habits, from organizing our bags, snacks, when to take breaks, and how much to wear. And of course, Eat something, enjoy the terrain, and get back on the bike. Here’s a short breakdown of the days:
Day 1- to Alpine—We dipped our wheels at Ocean Beach and then wound through the bike paths and started climbing. Some people got a little lost. Others were frustrated with our Garmins, and quite a few said the written map directions did not match the route plotted. This would all be resolved in the next couple days, when we realized we just had to pay close attention. We climbed 3000 ft, and dragged into Veijas Indian reservation campground. It was cold, by a stream. Who knows what we ate. Went to bed at sundown.
Day 2 -to Jacumba Hot Springs—started out riding on I-8 (seriously?!) through the the mountains and then got off on an old stage road, hwy 79, continuing up through the mountains 4084 ft total, and then winding SE till we started seeing Border Control buildings 10 miles from the border, and white pickups and humvees here and there. Finally, from up in the hills, we could see an amazing thick, steel fence running forever, about 18 ft high. Sheep were grazing on the other side. We stayed at Jacumba Hot Springs Spa with great rooms and “A” showers. With a population of 560, everyone knew we had arrived. It was David P.’s and my night to cook, but they were renovating the store. We got to eat in the restaurant! We still had to get up at 5:30, get our things out to the van, and set out breakfast and lunch.
Day 3-to Brawley—The morning light was beautiful as we wound out through the desert, but soon each of us had to hold onto our bikes for our lives as we rode 10 miles down the In-Ko-Pah Gorge with 25-35mph winds and 6% grade on I-8. We continued on a rough desert road that went through wide places in the road with names like “Plaster City.” We had a stiff tailwind and covered the 63 miles quickly.
Day 4,5,6 to Blythe, Salome and Wickenburg—-The next three days we were feeling better about riding and we rode through 200 miles of desert interspersed with large farms. I include a few pictures below of our first 420 miles. We spent two nights in Phoenix and are very thankful for Jared and Colleen’s help getting to REI, new tires for Paul, and the chance to see cousins, Wally, Teresa and Patti!
