Periodic Progress Report Southern Tier Cross-Country Bicycle Tour

Date(s): Sept. 23, 1999
Day: Thurs.
From: Brawley
To: Palo Verde

Lodging: Tamarisk Trailer Park
Segment Mileage: 70.7
Cumulative Mileage:
Actual Riding Time: 8:14
Average Speed: 13.3
Weather: Temp: high 80's, sunny

Today was a long dry day, with only one water stop. We loaded up on water; I took 4 water bottles. The early part of the ride was through the lush agricultural fields of the Imperial Valley. Then we came upon scrub desert followed by the vast Algodones dunes, sand dunes that stretch for miles. We stopped to run through the sand. It was unusually mild, in the mid 80's. We took turns taking photos of each other running and riding by the dunes, which looked like the surface of another planet. The dunes were so extensive that a road was not built for years until the plank road was put in, a road made of wooden planks held together by metal bands, laid atop the shifting sand. Now a full time road crew works to keep the road, highway 78, sand free.

After the dunes we stopped at the one water stop, a store in Glamis, named after the castle in Glamis, Scotland, by Scottish surveyors. My ancestors emigrated from this town to come to America. Water was $3.25/gal, but we weren't complaing (too much). It was another 30 or so miles to Palo Verde through scrub desert, passing the dark brown Chocolate Mountains. I rode that stretch alone, stopping occasionally to savor the silence, or to check out treasures along the roadside; a nice pair of levis, a 1/2" wrench, a small mirror, and many nuts and bolts. I kept the mirror for some reason. Palo Verde is a very small town, and we're at the Tamerisk Trailer Park under the tamerisk trees (that I hear are a noxious imported tree that tends to suck up excessive amounts of precious ground water) along a tributary to the Colorado River which is 2 miles away. Tomorrow is a short day of 2 miles to Blythe where we stay at the home of a friend of JimN.