Epic Day. 135 miles through the desert. We left Palm Springs at dawn and a temperature of 60 degrees. The temperature climbed to a blistering 109 degrees. If that wasn't bad enough, we traveled on the shoulder of Interstate 10 for at least 50 miles; having to dodge the rumble strips, and the shredded truck tire debris and all manor of road trash. Unfortunately, we lost a rider to a fall today. The rider was from Germany (63 years of age), he was riding with a group of other riders (we had been riding with him all morning, and had just passed him) and he overlapped his front wheel on the person in front of him (another German, living in Houston). He went down hard. Definitely has a concussion and perhaps a broken leg or pelvis. That was a wake-up call, to always be vigilant.
Between hydrating, eating, showering, get bike packed for next day, etc., not much time to blog. From hotel to hotel, we were on the road for over 9 hours (a little over 7 hours ride time). I've solicited Tim Rohrbaugh (who rode with Jere and I in 2009, but couldn't make this trip) to be my IT guy and spruce up the blog with some pictures, and downloads. I'll have to forward him stuff to add, bear with me. In the meantime, check out the blog of the America By Bicycle; hopefully, Tim will be able to add the address to this blog posting.
Tomorrow, 5.5 miles to the Calif. / Arizona boarder, total milage 116 miles (30 + on interstate 10 again, then a lot of boring miles along highway 60), projected temperatures, only in the 90s.
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Glad to hear all systems are well. The temps were just what you suspected in your conversations on the east coast. Slather on the sunblock, you'll be needing it for some time. I can relate to the feeling in my legs when stowaways latch on to the wheels without contributing with Jere at the helm. Have fun guys ! Joe
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