Blythe, CA

We got stranded. Kind of. Ryan’s bike had a part coming in the mail to heal its sad derailleur injury. The part was shipped to general delivery at Blythe, California’s post office. The post office confirmed the address we used and we waited patiently in 100 degree weather outside for their 2:30pm open time on Saturday. The package was in Blythe on Friday with UPS, it just needed to be delivered to the post office… hooray! We were ready for it.

UPS however was not ready to make our day and sent the part BACK to the shipper saying it had an undeliverable address.

We were so close to fixing Ryan’s bike, yet now so so far away. We decided to wait around until Ryan could get ahold of UPS or the bike part company and sort things out. He still hasn’t been able to sort things out with either! Thankfully, unbeknownst to us, there were some amazing people a few miles away who would entertain us, give us a gorgeous place to camp, welcome us into their circles, AND fix Ryan’s bike.

We camped Saturday night, defeated, north of town in some harsh terrain near a landfill on BLM land. The next morning, after planning to stay in our tent for the day, we quickly realized we needed another spot to pass the time due to the insane temperatures of over 100 degrees. Just sitting still we were dripping sweat and the area was thick with thirsty pesky flies.

The Colorado River called our name so we set off in the heat in pursuit of cooler places.

Hidden Beaches offered us respite. We pulled into a shady patch by the boat launch and quickly made friends with RV guests and snow birds.

Thank goodness for friendly kind people. Our day improved in ways we could never have predicted!

We made good friends with Downtown Cathy Brown and her son, Brad Brown, who offered us a spot for our tent on his riverfront RV lot. What a fun group of people!! Shout out to Cathy, Jearold , Mike, Brad, Bethany, Gracelyn, Melissa, David, and Taylor. They not only kept us great company, but even invited us to enjoy some of the best burgers I’ve ever had, grilled up by Brad. We enjoyed getting to know them well into the evening and slept so soundly listening to river frogs and birds.

The next day we rode our bikes into town for water, then did some general maintenance on them back at Hidden Beaches. While we were working, friendly neighbors offered to help. Julian, the park manager, told us he had a part he thought would do the trick. We were amazed when he brought a solution we didn’t even know existed that completely solved Ryan’s mechanical issues!!!!

We are back in business!!

What a fantastic turn of events that was topped off by Kevin and JD inviting us over for grilled chicken and good conversation. We had such a good time with them and their lifelong friends, Lorenzo, Art, and Jessica who drove over from Palm Springs that evening.

In all, Blythe was very good to us. Thank you to all the amazing, generous people we met! Our hearts are full and we are SO ready to hit the road. San Diego, we are coming for you.