Live for the Path

I woke up at 5:30, made some adjustments to the still duct-taped rack (near disaster averted… mental note: fix in LA), and got on the road at around 7.

Getting closer!

I quickly made it through Brenda, and onto I-10 towards Quartzsite.

Thus begins a new leg of my trip.

No problems there.

I climbed a pass and then drifted down into Quartzsite (hit my max speed thus far: 28 mph – woo).

Quartzsite, a bustling Metropolis.

I rode along the main street there for a while and then stopped at McDonald’s. Thumbs up for them letting me charging my cell phone. Thumbs down for having a broken ice machine.

I left there and climbed another pass out of Quartzsite. I rode down another huge mountain into Ehrenberg and then crossed the Colorado River into Blythe, CA.

Heading towards Bylthe.

Horray!

Colorado River. Known for work such as creating the Grand Canyon.

Onto state number two.

Now, I have never heard anyone say anything good about Blythe, but I thought it was fine. It is certainly industrial and farming driven, but people on the main street seemed friendly. I stopped at a Starbucks there for a few hours for some Wi-Fi and to get out of the heat.

(Editors note: I wrote the above in the Starbucks. After I went outside and went down the main road (Lovekin) to get some food, I see a little more where people are coming from. There were around a zillion homeless and otherwise depressed looking people around, but only on that stretch. Unfotunately that is the only part of town most people will ever see. Blythe needs to do something about this if they want to fix their reputation.) Anyway, I figured that I would do another 20-30 miles after Blythe and stop somewhere outside of Desert Center for the night. So I set out after my 3 hour rest at around 3:30 and got back on the road.

I did a couple of solid hours, the first one pretty sharply uphill. At around 6:30 I began looking around for a suitable stealth camp spot. Problem was there was absolutely nothing. The desert just had no plant life around at all except for really tiny bushes that offered no protection. I was forced to keep going and do my first night riding of the trip. It was miserable – I was tired, and all I wanted to do was sleep. Luckily I read a story earlier in the day by a guy that said that said that the proprietors of the Desert Center Cafe had let him camp outside. So I decided to keep going through the darkness. Finally, at around 8:45 I reached Desert Center, and walked into the empty cafe and asked the lady who was working if I could camp somewhere. She insisted that I just go to sleep in the post office across the street instead. I know plenty of bike tourers sleep in post offices regularly so I figured I would do it. Sure enough as soon as I walk in and start unpacking, two guys walk in (remember it is only 9:00 – late for me but not for regular people), and an awkward conversation begins (see video for more). Anyway it turns out to be fine, and I talk to one of the guys for a while who turns out to be one of the town pastors. Eventually, he needs to leave but offers to take me to breakfast at 6:30 in the cafe. Sweet.

I go to bed shortly thereafter, and am only awakened once by someone checking their mail during the middle of the night.