Day 5 Peaceful Easy Feeling The Eagles

Rest Day – no miles!

Enjoyed a day off on Tuesday. It felt great to rest my weary legs and to spend the day conducting mundane, but necessary tasks. Meals are not included on non cycling days, so I grabbed breakfast at the hotel. Carol our guide ran a bike cleaning clinic at 9 which was then followed by …you guessed it cleaning my bike. Sweet Ruby has been very reliable so far so the least I can do is keep her in good shape. My next task was the local laundromat. Um, it has been quite some time since I have been in a laundromat and boy, did it show. I approached the coin changer with caution, at first fishing out any $1 bill that looked as though it had not been through the washer and started to feed them in one at a time. I looked around and realized that a load of wash was $3.75. Dug around for a $5 and boldly put it in the machine. Jackpot! I then went to the low tech vending machine and ended up with a package of Bounce, because I had not depressed the button for detergent. After I struggled through that, with soap powder in hand, I moved to the washer. Dumped clothes in, dumped powder in, put money in. Good so far. Hmm, the door would not shut. Hmmm try again. Hmm, and them a sweet Abuela came to my rescue. With the use of pointing and head nods, she pretty much said, “hey, dumb ass did you not see the duct tape that indicates out of order?” Of course the duct tape was not over the coin slot btw. She marched me over to another machine and supervised my transfer of laundry to the new one, and even helped the crazy white girl out by measuring out a cup of her detergent for me to use. In exchange, I handed her the bounce sheets. We smiled and hung out. To close the day, it was two trips to Rite Aid, and out to dinner for Chinese. Early to bed.

Day 6 – My Own Worst Enemy. Lit
Blythe, CA to Salome, AZ 63 miles

Today we assembled early to get a jump on the day and beat the heat. 3 miles down the road we found ourselves in our second state, Arizona. Our entrance to Arizona took us to another interstate. We road I 10 for a total of 30 miles today, with the initial stretch of 20. It was a beautiful ride- but I will be honest I did not enjoy it a ton, as the interstate is wicked busy with trucks and cars whizzing past you. Lots of debris to watch out for on the side of the road. All those blown tires that you ignore in a car become obstacles and culprits for many a blown tire. Know what happens to steel belted tires when they blow? Yup fragments of tiny steel pieces everywhere that find their way into your tires resulting in a puncture.

I stopped to take a few pictures as it was so pretty. At mile 15 I noticed the arrival of saguaro cacti dotting the landscape. It is amazing to me how they all of a sudden appear. The cue sheet indicated that we exit the highway at Quartzsite and make our way to Darlene’s Bakery for pie. Sometimes I fell like a hobbit as this turned out to be second breakfast for me, and who doesn’t like pie for breakfast?

Upon arrival at the counter I went fishing around in my back pocket to locate my travel snack size Baggie that holds my cash, ID and credit card. Uh-oh. Not in the back pocket. And then the frenzied checking of pockets, bike bag, windbreaker, back pocket again (neurotically checking multiple times) to no avail. Somewhere on I10 my license, insurance card and other goodies are flapping in the breeze. One of my fellow travelers, Helen, from Canada was kind enough to buy me a slice of pie and a diet coke as I worked to get my shit together. I was devastated.

Sometimes, I am my own worse enemy- I should have had it in my bike bag stowed safely. Thanks to my tremendous sisters at home for their quick help in canceling my cards and calming me down. I have lost it more in the first 6 days of this trip than I have in years. But, I am finding it all works out.

The rest of the ride to Salome was uneventful, even enjoyable when I allowed myself to stop beating up on my bruised ego/psyche.

Salome is a small town of about 1400 with limited accommodations. Which is a nice way to say, suck it up the hotel was vintage in 1950. It is kind of crappy, but it is kind of fun.

Tomorrow onto Wickenburg to look for cowboys.