Arizona and New Mexico Deserts

Biking through the Arizona desert was pleasantly consistent. I knew what weather to expect, how much water to carry, and could find a place to camp each night. I counted a grand total of two clouds and had about 35 nose bleeds. The dryness in Arizona was interesting to deal with. I am a bit susceptible to bloody noses, so within the first day of two of arriving in Arizona, my sinuses dried out and blowing my nose became a 15-minute commitment. What fun.

I crossed the Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations and found that I prefer these stretches of road to the mass-franchised sections of route 66. Grocery, gas, and lodging prices on the reservations where all what the rest of the country should be. Reasonably low. I guess when the overhead cost of land rental or purchase is taken away, everyone benefits.

I made it to New Mexico and spent two nights and a day in Gallup, camping in an inexpensive RV park that had showers, a pool, a giant chess board, and free coffee. The heat was ridiculous, so I had trouble motivating myself to get going even after the nice break. I am a bit baffled by people who cross the country in RVs. They spend hours tucked inside the same four walls, never really seeing the scenery, and from my observations, hardly venturing out even when parked. I suppose it would be easy to stay within the luxury of air conditioning, refrigerated drinks on demand, and private facilities. My philosophy is that travel is intended to throw individuals into unfamiliar and at times uncomfortable situations so that they can grow familiar with the concept of ever-changing surroundings. On a bike, I feel I get the best of the unfamiliar and uncomfortable. In an RV, I paraphrase Molly: “...travel the country to visit the Wal-Mart parking lots.” Wahoo?

Once I got to Albuquerque, I stayed with Louise and Michael, friends of the family. It has been excellent to catch up and take a longer break after the desert. I have seen a few more clouds and even some rain and lighting in New Mexico. I crossed a fairly obvious natural barrier when leaving Arizona, which also happens to be the political border between the two states. New Mexico, albeit still dry, has considerably more humidity than Arizona. Not a single nose bleed yet! Jackie, Louise's daughter and I went on an overnight road trip to the Carlsbad Caverns in southern NM. The formations were surprisingly untouched considering the number of people who travel through the caverns each day. The park rangers at both the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns are very attentive to and informative for visitors. The stalagmites were incredibly huge and as Jackie put it, “Freud would die down here.”

I have spent the last few days biking around Albuquerque, reading, drinking iced water, and eating doughnuts. Stephanie Plum novels always make me crave doughnuts. And I'm withing biking distance of two doughnut shops! I should get on the road again before my bike begins to complain under my weight.

Heading east on route 66 for a couple hundred more miles, then will skirt the northern edge of Texas, aiming for Shreveport, Louisiana. Lets see how the mid west treats me.

On a back note:

While still in Cayucos, California, I got a worrisome e-mail from Molly, my biking partner with whom I rode the Oregon coast and northern California. A little over a month ago, after Molly had returned home to Oregon, she was visiting a friend in Washington, and got into a fairly nasty bicycle accident while riding an unfamiliar bike. Molly e-mailed me several days after the accident, after she was released from the hospital and at her mom's house in Portland. I was five days from Los Angeles at the time, so I hopped on my bike and covered the distance in three days. I left my bike and gear with family in LA and flew back to Portland to visit Molly. She was on the mend and will eventually recover, but she will not be riding a bicycle for a while. Her body was certainly not feeling the greatest, but the consensus is that the helmet that now resembles a shattered eggshell was nothing short of essential in preventing her head from feeling like her other unprotected body parts.

I spent a few days in Portland with Molly, my sister Kari and brother-in-law Elgin before flying back to LA and continuing south to San Diego.  

Grand Canyon

A bit short this time, but computer and internet time has been short over the past few weeks.

I have started about three blogs, but I have had difficulty describing southern California. I met some great individuals, I biked passed about 7 million people, and ended it all with a trip to the zoo in San Diego. The zoo part of southern California was awesome, but the 94 red lights that stopped me in LA were not so awesome.

I spent a lot of time contemplating my travels beyond San Diego and I could write an entire blog on my internal dialogue, but in short, I decided to turn east and travel for a while within the lower 48. I took a train from San Diego to Flagstaff, Arizona, to avoid a vary large and very hot desert. From there I rode to the Grand Canyon! I spent a couple days at the South Rim (south side of the canyon), acclimating to the elevation (7000ft) and heat (high 80's and very dry). On the morning of the third day in the park I woke at 3am, packed my camp, parked my bike on a rack, and by 4:13am I was hiking down the South Kaibab Trail to the bottom of the canyon. By the time the sun rose at 5:11am it was about 75 degrees. After three hours of downhill hiking it was almost 90 degrees. I set up camp at the bottom of the canyon and spent most of the 110-degree day completely submerged in the cool and clear Bright Angel creek. After the sun went down I slept on the picnic bench under the open sky, watching bats and stars fly overhead. I woke up again at 3am and began hiking back up to the rim by 3:30. It is incredible how fast the temperature rises in the canyon as the sun rises. I began early enough to miss the hottest part of the day and the Bright Angel Trail hike back up wound through deep valleys, so I was not in direction sunlight until the last hour of the five and half hour hike. The hike as a whole was great. I'd like to raft the Colorado river at some point. Seeing the entire canyon from the bottom would be a unique experience.

After leaving the park I rode a different highway back to Flagstaff began planning the next several stops as I head east along Route 66.

Turning East

The biggest news is that I have officially changed my mind: I am heading towards the east coast instead of south. I still want to see Mexico, but it will have to be another day when I won't need to tiptoe around the cartels and...such. I am planning on seeing the Grand Canyon, a few caves, visiting family and friends, and having a blast with whatever else I end up doing.

South of Salinas I biked through strong wind gusts that almost knocked me off my trusty steed a time or two. For the most part it was at my back or blowing in from the sea, which was a lot better for the cliff-side venture than wind coming down off the hills. A couple days south, in Cayucos, CA, I stayed with some good friends of Marci's. While I was there I got an e-mail from Molly, my friend who biked the Oregon coast and into northern California with me, saying that she had had a bike accident and got pretty banged up. The helmet saved her head and she will recover, but I was pretty worried, so I pedaled down to Los Angeles over the next couple days and hopped on a plane back to Portland to visit, play scrabble, and eat cookies with Molly. I stayed in Portland for a few days, then flew back to LA. While vising the city of Angels, I stayed with some distant relatives and finally met my second-cousin-once-removed Kevin, with whom I've been pen pans for several years. It was fun to finally talk with him in person.

Biking through and getting out of LA was a nightmare. Navigating was pretty easy, but the sheer size and the 92 red stop lights started bugging me after about six hours. My goal was to make it to San Clemente, about 65 miles south, before dark, but I didn't make it.