Day 5 & Day 6: Palo Verde, CA and Quartzsite, CA

Day 5 & Day 6: Palo Verde and Quartzsite

May 21, 2015 and May 22, 2015

Palo Verde - May 21
Miles: 65
Brawley to Palo Verde

Quartzsite - May 22
Miles: 47
Palo Verde to Quartzsite


Day 5 - Palo Verde

While off the grid, a lot happened.  We had three very exciting things happen.  First, the night we left Brawley we had six minor earthquakes.  The last one 4.1; I felt it while sitting on the bed.  The bed shook as the lamp shade rocked back and fourth.  Steve was standing at the time and said he didn't feel anything.  I tried to convince him, but he wasn't having it.  Not until Bob, a gentleman we met in Glamis the following day, confirmed it to be true did Steve say he believed me.  The second, we rode 65 miles across the desert yesterday and made it to the other side.  We also stayed in a camp ground last night for the first time on this trip.  Crossing the desert was both exciting and exhilarating.  The campground was equally exciting for Steve.  For me, every twitch of a branch woke me.  All I could think about was rattlesnakes, scorpions and having gone to sleep without a shower. Luckily they had bathrooms that were clean. Thirdly, we crossed over into Arizona today about 12:51p today.  We have successfully crossed the state of California; total 10 states in all. We are perfectly on track with our plan on paper.  The next two days are going to be short riding days.  We plan to ride to Salmone tomorrow and to stay the night (about 40 miles); Sunday ride to Wickenburg (about 54 miles) and then stay the next two nights in Wickenburg. That second day in Wickenburg will be an off day for us.  I am happy to report that all these night will be in hotels.

Riding through the desert in the high heat carrying an extra 10+ pounds of water each had me thinking long and hard about what we were doing. It would be our longest ride so far.  We did our research.  Read other biker blogs.  Spoke to the locals.  And then consulted with our advisor - Jen.  After much thought, we said lets do it, and it was definitely worth every minute of it.  The 65 miles.  The heat. The extra weight. The rolling hills. The wind.

We left very early that morning - 5:45a.  Weather was beautiful riding weather 65 degrees.  The wind coming out the West.  Perfect conditions really since we were riding East.

Riding through the desert was spectacular.  

Early morning

 Get ready for what you see next ...

The Imperial Sand Dunes

The road to Palo Verde

Just stunning

Like floating on air

Steve overlooking the sand dunes

Steve hydrating

This is Bob below.  He works, perhaps owns the Glamis store.  It was the only place on the way to Palo Verde.  In fact, it wouldn't have been open if it wasn't for Bob reopening the store because he saw us riding our bikes earlier that day.  He stayed open until we got there.  Great guy.  Bob is a duner.  He's been riding dune buggies for 30 years.  Bob was the gentleman who confirmed that my earthquake story was true.  Bob made us a free pot of coffee!

Bob, the duner

Me eating a peanut butter bagel sandwich for lunch

Once we past through the Imperial Sand Dunes area, as you can see, the desert changed its face ...

Steve admiring the sites

and so did Steve...

Steve came prepared with his bandana to protect himself from the sun.  Perhaps this is why we were pulled over at border patrol.  We were asked where we were going, and where we came from.  Then if we were American citizens.  Border patrol was about 25 miles away from the Palo Verde.

Steve the sheik

Rolling hill

Taking a break

We made it to the campground at 2:30p after riding 8 and 1/2 hours. Steve made me Mac and Cheese for dinner.  It was delicious!  We ate bananas and cliff bars too.  We fell asleep a 6:00p; woke up at 8:30p for 30 minutes at most, then sleeping again by 9:00p. As I said earlier, the idea of rattlesnakes slithering around the tent bothered me, so I was up and down all night. The next morning Steve assured me that I slept.  I ask him how he knew this; he said because he was up a number of times and each time he noticed that I was sleeping.  Apparently we were both up and down all night; it is odd though, that it was at different times :).

Blowing up my sleeping mat

Hiding from the mosquitoes 

View from the campground

Steve practicing his golf swing with a broken tree branch that I had commandeered as my rattlesnake whip.

There is only one other person I know that has a better golf swing; Poppy!

Day 6 - Quartzsite

It was tough starting this morning because we were still tired from yesterday's ride. Plus, no morning coffee always causes problems for us. We luckily found it early in our ride. We planned a 47 mile day to Quartzsite today.  It was a day of climbing mountains, about 2000ft total.  Not too bad, but coming off the 65 mile desert ride we knew a shorter ride was in order.  We were right.  It was slow moving. Despite our fatigue we made great time.  Again we caught a tailwind.  That and great weather, high 80 degrees.  Apparently this represents a storm, which is basically a cold front.  Normally it is over 100 degrees.  We have gotten very lucky with temperatures and winds so far, and the forecast for the next few days is the same. Woo hoo!

More hay bundles, this time green.  Quite a production.  Instead of riding through corn fields, we have been riding through hay production plants.

Thats me riding to the bridge that crosses the Colorado River.

The little climb

Thats me again riding across the bridge that crosses the Colorado River. If you look closely, you will see the Arizona State Line sign top right. The tiny green sign.

Colorado River

Steve coming off bridge

Another beautiful day.  Just beautiful.  Dome Rock below in picture - left mountain with dark cap.

Dome Rock far away

Dome Rock closer

This is our attempt to get a selfie. It looks like we don't know what we are doing!