Day 49: Salome, AZ to Blythe, CA

Daily Miles: 62.9 Total Miles: 2674.2

Riding through the desert

We made it to California!! We could not get away from Sheffler's fast enough this morning, so we packed up and I biked on down to Buckaroo's for breakfast. The food there really was good, and by 9:30am I was back on the road. And it was already HOT. Fortunately I quickly started a long descent and was riding at a great pace. Before long I had finished up the first ~25 miles to Brenda and was preparing to once again ride on the Interstate. I briefly chatted with Mary before deciding to push on another 15 miles to Quartzsite for lunch. I had a little climbing to do once I got onto I-10, but today's ride was much less stressful than my other Interstate experiences. After the climb I had another descent all the way to Quartzsite and I met up there with Mary for Subway and DQ Blizzards.

Dome Rock

All of the towns we passed today consisted of nothing but RV parks full of snowbirds. I do not know what the attraction is, but the entire area was packed full of RVs. Most of the parks even had signs advertising that they were reserved for people 55+. My question is, who under the age of 55 has an RV? And even if they have one, why would they want to stay in an RV park in the middle of a blazing hot desert with 0 attractions until the Pacific Ocean? It was odd to say the least. After eating and a long rest it was about 1pm, and the temperature was already over 100 degrees. I finally forced myself to go on and ride the last 25 miles of the day in to Blythe.

The Colorado River from the dirt trail below the underpass

I rode an access road along side I-10 right through the heart of the desert for about 6 miles before I once again hopped on the Interstate. I had another big descent and, per the ACA map, exited at Exit 1, and was planning on taking the pedestrian bridge over the Colorado River, entering California, and continuing on an access road into Blythe. Once again, things did not go as planned. I got off at Exit 1, took the access road downhill to where it dead-ended right on the banks of the Colorado. As I rode up, I thought, "hmmm, I don't see a pedestrian bridge." At that point, Mary, drove back up the access road and yelled, "I don't see a pedestrian bridge... Good luck!!" and then promptly drove away leaving me alone under the underpass by the river. Well. The directions said to "go up a path to the north side of the bridge." There was no path, so I ended up pushing my bike on a rocky, dirt path under the underpass to see if there was a way to get on the bridge over there.

I made it (barely)!

Mind you, the bridge is now several hundred feet above my head because I am stumbling along the riverbank. I get to the other side, and do not find a path up to the bridge, but instead I find the back parking lot of a trucker's only adult movie store. And there were like 5 18-wheelers parked back there, all turned on, but with no one sitting in the driver's seats. Gahhhhh!! I immediately turn around, run back under the underpass dragging my bike behind me, get back on the access road, and bike back up the hill to I-10. Once I got up there, I was drenched in sweat and covered in dirt. Like there was sweat running down my shins. Terrible. I ended up just crossing the bridge on I-10 and it was perfectly fine. I did see the pedestrian bridge, along the side of the I-10 shoulder. The only possible way to access it would involve scrambling, while carrying my bike, up a steep mountainside covered in loose gravel. I now just hope I make it to the Pacific Ocean without getting done in by these freaking ACA maps. I crossed the border without further incident, and rolled along another 5 miles or so to our hotel. Tomorrow I'm going to take a half rest day, putting in 35 or so miles and trying to catch up on e-mail and fundraising. It's hard to believe our adventure is almost over. We only have 5 more days of biking left!