(February 9)

Day 46 - Brawley to Ocotillo CA

And I Thought Two Wheels Were Tough

 

Everything in under these roofs and tarps...all the way into the far distant horizon... is hay. All hay. Enough hay, I think, to feed all the cattle in the state for a year.

For anyone traveling from San Diego to Phoenix, this gypsum plant in Plaster City is an iconic landmark off in the distance.

I had to travel over 2000 miles to find the WORST paved surface I'd ridden on during the entire trip. 12 miles of this, all over the road (and thus unavoidable) from Plaster City to Ocotillo.

The friendly environs of the Ocotillo Motel and Trailer Park.

 

So, today just a few hundred yards outside Ocotillo CA, my final destination for the day, I see a figure in the distance that isn’t a car. I usually have to wait a beat to determine just how fast the object is moving to know whether or not it is a motorcycle. So, moments after spotting the object headed my way I know it is a bicycle and start my “meet my tribe” protocol: slow down, turn off my audiobook and prepare to turn onto their side of the road for a quick chat.

 

Normally, the cyclist coming from the other direction is also slowing down. And/or waving. And, of course, I can detect these things happening so I know we’ll be meeting up on the side of the road in mere moments. But...quite strangely...I note that the other figure isn’t slowing. Undeterred, I go ahead stop on my side of the road and prepare to wave and hail my fellow bike tourist.

Except, in a flash, I realize this person isn’t a BIcycle tourist….he is a UNIcycle tourist.

 

Yep, the guy is riding a UNIcycle that was, hands down, one of the strangest wheeled contraptions I’ve seen. I honestly didn’t get any kind of good look at the guy (it was a man) because he just kept riding by me without slowing, but the single wheel was at least 4 ft. high.. He was, somehow, hunched over with his arms/elbows in what looked like aero bars. What in the world they were attached to who knows! There seemed to be no carrying bags attached to the unicycle of any kind (although, admittedly, I might have missed in my haste to figure out if what I was seeing was what I was really seeing).

 

And as he passed, he simply shouted out “where are you coming from?”...again, without slowing. I shouted back “Mississippi” but I’m not sure he heard me; and I definitely know he didn’t here my “what the hell are you riding?” question which immediately followed.

 

Other than that, it was a relatively relaxed riding day. Only 47 miles, but pretty flat all in all. Yes, the temperature did rise to 98...yes, in early February, 98!!!!...but the wind was not a factor today. And, yes, the final 12 miles from just outside Plaster City all the way into Ocotillo featured the WORST….and I’m not exaggerating….road surface I’ve experienced since I started this ride over six weeks ago. I had to take a picture of it just to even have a hope of anyone believing me. It’s a very good thing The Beast is bombproof, because any less-sturdy bike would have been destroyed by those 12 miles of pitted, cracked, holed, rocky, gravelly roadway.

 

I even had a moment of feeling really decadent when I woke up AT dawn rather than well BEFORE dawn, and then didn’t even get on the road until just before 10 am. I knew it was a relatively short riding day (only 46 miles), so I didn’t want to arrive in Ocotillo far too early to check into the lone hotel there. Not that I should have worried. Now that I’m here I realize they don’t really operate this place like corporate, chain-owned hotel and would hae let me check in whenever I arrived.

 

So, now I have all the hours until I head to sleep to worry and fret over my big climb tomorrow. I’ve dreaded this climb since before I left on the trip. But, I’m tired of dreading it and want to just get started and get it done. Time to slay the beast so that it won’t haunt my thoughts any longer!