the road to Palo Verde

We left San Diego the day after Earth Day, taking in one last eyeful of the mild weather and the rolling waves.  Time to head inland.  The next two days were spent straining against the 4200 foot climb through the mountains, a task we found suprisingly easier than the climbs through Big Sur and Highway 1.  The days of rest and pancakes must have done us well.  I find us covering more and more ground each day, anywhere from 50-65 miles now that our legs are truly underneath us.  The Adventure Cycling Map keeps us clued in to the small towns and water supplies, but we still carry an extra gallon each in case we end up in between towns.  Speaking of which, I have to go into the journey from Brawley, CA to Palo Verde we did a couple days ago.  We woke up at 4:45 and were packed before the sun reached over the hills.  The temerpatures were expected to reach triple digits and Palo Verde is 70 miles from anywhere west.  We were on the road by 6, passing farmer's fields in Imperial county, the red-winged blackbirds vanishing in knee-high wheat like raindrops in a river.  This time in the morning is perfect to ride, the sun is low and the miles are cheap.  Truckers pass cautiously, their hands on coffee cups and yawns draping their mouths; some wave, some honk, others just rush past leaving only their short gusts of wind.  By 730 we had both stripped our outer layers.  The desert greated us with chaparrel and litter.  On a bike you are able to hear the faint sounds of lizards escaping into the tall grass, and see that the locals prefer Natural Light in the grey cans.  Eventually the Imperial Sand Dunes spread before us like some massive arc and we cruised through the country in the midst of motor entusiasts: ATVs, motorcycles and dune creations.  Their presence seemed intrusive, foreign, or perhaps we were the visitors.  By midday we had tucked away more than forty miles, aching over slow inclines and rolling dips that crushed any momentum.  We stopped to eat Cheez-its and watch the gold diggers moving mountains in dump trucks, the barbed wire fence stretching over miles of barren desert.  To the north the Chocolate Mountains darkened the horizon and the sun thundered in our ears.  The border patrol is everywhere down here.  We watched their cruisers pass sometimes alone, sometimes escorting an entire chartered bus full of illegals being returned down south.  We took turns drafting but gave it up when i got calorie deficient and moody.  Brit pressed ahead of me, oftentimes by more than a half mile as I wilted and it felt as if I rode through wet cement.  Six, seven, eight hours in the saddle.  The sores developing, everything right down to the wrists screaming ENOUGH!  Dried washes and vultures in the air, RVs coming over the line.  Finally a sign promising Palo Verde in 7 miles.  It must have taken us an hour and half to finish those seven, mirages and pain and the fatalist thought that i might just be peddaling forever, Sisyphus in Lycra.  Palo Verde was a one-horse town full of nice people who stick around through the blazing summer in an RV park.  The town shares a flock of geese and laying hens, a gas station, bar and post office.  There were wonderful people there who let us pitch a tent, take a day off and watch the birds over their lagoon that ran into the Colorado River.  We met up with an amazing couple, each 65, touring for the third or fourth time across America.  Wayne and Kristina also tow around their 13-year old poddle Amber in the trailer behind them.  These two had stories from every continent and we listened wide-eyed and helped them finish their scotch.  I saw the travel bug crawl up Brit's leg and take out a fair amount of flesh.  We've made it now over the Colorado and through the Saguros to a town called Wickenberg, Arizona, but the 60+ mile days have taken a toll and I'm laid up with what looks to be heat stroke symptoms.  We've got a hotel and Brit is enduring my infant demeanor and cries for Gatorade.  We're calling up my aunt in Tucson to shuttle us through the last leg.  Much love to you all, and we'll get the pictures up soon. -C