Day Eight - Wickenburg to Phoenix

Another cool morning and a later start. No sense pushing it. Let it warm up a bit. We had breakfast, fixed our snacks and hit the road. 67 miles and 1300 feet of elevation gain. The ride went pretty much the same as yesterday except the last 15 miles. We made a right hand turn and picked up a tailwind. It made me almost forget the pain in my hand. Oh yeah, and the one in my knee. Now that's the way to end the day. We stopped a few times to take pictures etc. The good news is that the temperature is warming gradually each day. It had to hit as least 70 today. We stripped down to the bare necessities. There is a lot to be said about being warm and dry!

I got to our hotel about 3:00. It's strange to be back amongst all of the white noise. I can't wait to move on tomorrow.

I had dinner with Grace and Dan, friends of mine from Phoenix. We had a nice visit. That is definitely one of the benefits of this trip.

Those of you that aren't able to leave comments can email me at pjharriso@hotmail.com

I love hearing from you.

8 days down and 50 to go.

Day Six - Salome to Wickenburg

It was pretty cold when we started out this morning. We put on all of the warm gear we had and started off. We rode 5 miles to a local coffee house and settled in while it warmed up a bit outside. It was a great little coffee house. My pictures don't do it justice. It was very unique. We shed a few layers and started out again. Today was alittle rougher than yesterday. Our tailwind was gone. We had wind in all different directions, but nothing too bad. We peddled straight across the desert for 56 miles. It felt like being on a treadmill. Nothing changed for miles. Our elevation gain was only 1079 feet for the day. As I was riding I had some flash backs "Are we there yet", "I have to go to the bathroom", "Mom, she's touching me" and I thought, this is a piece of cake. We pulled into Wickenburg, showered, soaked in the hot tub, went to happy hour, and had another delicous meal in the parking lot. Tonight was lasagna, ceaser salad, garlic bread, mint brownies and fruit shortcake for desert.

7 days down and 51 to go.

Day Five - Blythe to Salome

Today was a great day! We rode about 63 miles with 2738 feet of elevation gain, but we had a tailwind. (I felt like Kathy Scott on steroids) We were going so fast that we had to stop and eat twice! I don't think I'm going to have any trouble losing weight on this trip. Our chef, Linda, whips up the best meals in her trailer kitchen.

We crossed the border into Arizona first thing in the morning. We were all pretty excited, but the best news is that we found out that each time we cross a stateline, we get margaritas with dinner. I could live with that.

We stayed in the town of Salome at Sheffler's Motel. I don't think it had any stars, but the people were very nice. I'm finding that the people everywhere we go are very friendly.

I'm including a couple of pictures of our rest day. We all cleaned and oiled our bikes, then a few of us went to the movies and out to dinner.

6 days down and 52 to go

Day Four - Brawley to Blythe

I'm writing this on day 5 because I was too tired to do it last night!

The good news is that we had beautiful weather. Blue skies with a high of about 70. Perfect riding weather for riding across the desert. The scenery was great. I didn't get too many good pictures because my batteries died, but I did get a few. We went through Glamis were the sand dunes are and continued into The Imperial Valley with green fields and the Chocolate Mountains in the background. We had a couple of areas of rolling hills that were pretty fun to bomb through. We actually climbed about 2100 for the day. We rode a total of 90 miles. OUCH!

The bad news is that I had my first flat at about mile 10. I changed it and continued on. Then at about mile 75, I had another flat. I got it changed with the help of Mike and Alayna. Alayna had a great pump with a guage on it. I'll be looking for one like it. They continued on while I adjusted a few things. I got back on my bike and rode about another 1 1/2 miles when I flatted again!!! This time I went over the tire with a fine tooth comb and found a cut in it. We called Amy, our sag driver for the day, and she brought me my extra tire. I put it on and rode in the last 15 miles. I showered, had a glass of wine and all was good again.

Amy awarded me with the first flat of the ride necklace. In case you were wondering what that was in the picture...

Today is a rest day and that is exactly what I will be doing.

4 days down and 54 to go.

Day Three - Jacumba to Brawley

I woke up at 4:00am to the sound of rain on the roof. I layed there and listen to it get heavier and heavier. Oh well, it is what it is. The problem was that when I got out of bed and put my feet on the floor, they were in water! The good thing was that my luggage was on my bed. The bad thing was my roommates was not. It was very wet on the bottom. They don't get much rain here and it's a good thing because more than half of the rooms leaked. The Jacumba Hot Springs is a very different place. Some of the girls referred to it as the "Bates Motel". The coffin in the picture was out side of the rooms?????

We started our ride in the rain and ended it in the rain. We were about as wet as you can be on a bike. The temperature was not too cold so it was wasn't horrible, just WET.
We rode 67 miles. There was a 10 mile downhill that would have been screaming if it weren't for the rain. I missed a turn somewhere along the way, but fortunately I was still heading in the right direction and met up with the group alittle later. They thought they had lost me. After talking to the other girls, I guess I did the right thing. The road the rest of the group took was absolutely horrible. The worst road any of them have ever been on in a car or on a bike. I was the bad sheep of the day.

They are cooking dinner in the parking lot and I smell something really good so I am signing out for tonight!

3 days down and 55 to go!

Day Two - Alpine to Jacumba

Well, the day started off very nice. We had a great breakfast and hit the road. The weather looked really iffy, so we carried rain gear etc. We started climbing almost immediately and climbed a total of 4600 feet in about 40 miles, but then we had a 7 mile descend that was awesome. We did indeed get rained on during the last 15 miles. We are staying at the Jacumbe Hot Springs tonight, so we got in right away and warmed up pretty nice. (with the hot springs and a glass of Chardonnay)

Oh yeah, and there was the casino.....

Two days down and 56 to go!

Day One - San Diego to Alpine

We dipped our wheels into the Pacific Ocean at about 8:45 this morning, then we hit the road. The weather was great. It was a little tense getting out of San Diego, but as soon as we made it through the traffic and hit the back roads, things calmed down and were very pleasant. We road 34 miles and climbed about 2790 feet in elevation. I feel very fortunate to be riding with this group of women. It is trully going to be a great trip. I will try to get a picture from one of the ladies. My camera would not work this morning. I'm looking into new batteries :(

One day down and 57 to go!