Woke up to pounding rain - the forcast had been for 20% chance of rain but it rained hard all morning and didn't start to clear until later in the day - so we opted for a rest day and went sightseeing around the Phoenix area on the lite rail. It is clear that the economy is bad here. Lots of empty commercial space.
Tomorrow we ride again!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
March 22 Wickenburg to Tempe 77 miles
The first 35 miles of this day was a long grade downhill and we made really good time. Then we hit the Phoenix suburbs and were rode city streets and bike trails and the next 35+ miles took 3 hours with all the stops and starts. We ended up at an RV place on the fringe of Tempe and the Arizona State campus and it's lite rail. Seems like a great spot.
Barb just outside Wickenburg...
So sorry we are going to miss this festival - I bet it brings out a real interesting crowd!
I just love these saguro cactus, we'll see lots more of them before this trip is over!
TBlue lupine, yellow daisys and orange (don't know what they are) wildflowers in profusion!
Phoenix and Tempe have a great urban bike trail system with underpasses under busy streets and that runs along a regular canal and a flash flood canal.
The flash flood canal - it's HUGE!
The light rail ran right by our RV place and runs right through the Arizona State University campus - we rode it from end to end. Tempe and the whole Phoenix area is awash with empty commercial buildings. It's obvious that the economy here is struggling.
On the ASU campus...
Barb on campus with the stadium and the hiking "rock" in the background.
Tempe and the ASU campus from the "rock".
March 21 Brenda AZ to Wickenburg AZ 77 miles
This ride started with a long slow grade up into the hills. The road was in pretty bad condition - very bumpy and by the end of the 1st 45 miles I felt absolutely bruised in the "saddle" area.
Can you see those little lines in the road? They are cracks with humps about every 4 to 5 feet - and we had them for miles and miles and ....
The town of Hope is just past Brenda - love this misspelled sign that says, "Your Now Beyond Hope".
Fortunately we did not have wind today!
It always amazes me what people will put on a sign!
We picked up about 2000 feet over the course of the ride today and then had a nice decent into Wickenburg. It is called the "dude ranch capitol of the US" - I don't know about that but it's a really pretty area.
The cattle are headed home...
You know I have really enjoyed seeing the countryside from my bike. Being able to stop and really enjoy all the beautiful, odd, breathtaking, kitch sights is what this trip is all about!
March 20 Palo Verde CA to Brenda AZ 77 miles
A new day and for the first 20 miles a milder headwind that pretty much stopped after Blythe. Our RV place in Brenda was really great, big clean facility, lots of hot water and got our laundry done too!
Believe it or not we made it to Ripley!
We cross the line into Arizona!
We stopped to check out all the wildflowers along the hiway...
It was a long grade up to Brenda - while on the road there was an accident that shut down the freeway going our direction for about a 1/2 hour - the police let us go through first after the the life flight helicopter took off. We are rarely on freeways, but sometimes it's unavoidable - mainly we are on scenic hiways. The truck drivers have been really courteous and give us a wide berth.
Sunset at our RV park in Brenda.
March 19 Brawley to Palo Verde 70 miles
Today Dale rode the first 20 miles and had a wonderful tailwind. That section of the ride was full of fields of crops, horses, cows etc. just lovely....
Then we switched and I rode the remainder of the ride with a terrible headwind - it was exhausting! I had to bargin with myself the whole way to get to Palo Verde. I got off my bike twice because I thought I was going to get blown off and blown into the road.
I rode through a sand dune area that is really big with off-road people - tons of them camped out in the sand with their 4 wheelers running around. After we got out of the desert area we went through a series of "rollers" which normally would have been really fun except the headwind was so strong that we had to push to go down the hill and push to go up the hill - horrible. I think I averaged 9 mph if I was lucky.After that we entered high desert area and we kept hoping that with the next bend in the road the headwind would subside but no luck and that was pretty much the ride until we got to Palo Verde which turned out to have equally unremarkable accomodations for us at the RV place - sigh...they can't all be great!
Then we switched and I rode the remainder of the ride with a terrible headwind - it was exhausting! I had to bargin with myself the whole way to get to Palo Verde. I got off my bike twice because I thought I was going to get blown off and blown into the road.
I rode through a sand dune area that is really big with off-road people - tons of them camped out in the sand with their 4 wheelers running around. After we got out of the desert area we went through a series of "rollers" which normally would have been really fun except the headwind was so strong that we had to push to go down the hill and push to go up the hill - horrible. I think I averaged 9 mph if I was lucky.After that we entered high desert area and we kept hoping that with the next bend in the road the headwind would subside but no luck and that was pretty much the ride until we got to Palo Verde which turned out to have equally unremarkable accomodations for us at the RV place - sigh...they can't all be great!
Leaving Brawley...
Smelly cows...
Dale and I make the switch...
This was a beautiful area - too bad we were so whipped by the sand in the wind, we joked about getting exfloliated as we rode, it actually stung quite a bit!
Camping in the sand - I just don't see the allure...
The dunes are beautiful tho...
Barbara with the sand whipping across the road...
This pretty much expains the whole camping in the sand thing.
Sight like these make it all worthwhile!
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