There and Back Again

2020, a year of closures due to the Covid 19 pandemic, has thrown many curve balls to almost any world citizen’s carefully crafted travel plans.

Ryan and I were thrown one as we tried to decide whether or not to visit our friends and loved ones in San Diego, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho after our bike trip from the Georgia coast to San Diego, CA. We pondered the question: How serious is this Covid virus? Should we risk infecting ourselves? Would we risk infecting our lives one? Where should we go to get away from the madness?

We settled on avoiding contact with anyone, faithfully wearing masks, and heading to the Treasure Valley in Idaho to stay with my grandma, Nancy Henry, who is a gracious, generous, and fun host, on her spacious property. After a quarantine period in her shop, we spent two fantastic months eating to our heart’s content, running on the canal banks, camping, relaxing, gardening, playing cards and Settlers of Catan, listening to 100 Gecs, painting, petting cats (and getting bit by them!), and soaking in time with family in the country.

We enjoyed lots of time with my aunt, uncle, cousins, and their families. Shout out to Randy, Lisja, Faith, Kamden, Bradan, Katie, Calvin, Hudson, Peyton, Kayla, Jeff, Anne, Quinten, Wesley, Anika, Dawson, Ami, and Kenyon Brothers. We love you all and now have so many good memories of our time together to carry with us wherever we go!

We did a little bit of work on the visit like washing cars at Bro’s Auto, owned and run by my aunt and uncle, building a chicken coup and pruning trees in exchange for home cooked dinners, and working for a week to sell illegal areal fireworks to Idahoans who are willing to fork over hundreds of dollars for the festive explosives. 🎇 We has a blast!

The Continental Divide Trail

Our second 2020 curve ball came in the form of closed National Parks which made it impossible to legally hike the Pacific Crest Trail like we were hoping. Thankfully, our country has two other border to border trails: The Appalachian Trail and The Continental Divide Trail.

We chose the Continental Divide which is the most rural and rugged of the three and conveniently located 12 hours away from where we were staying in Idaho.

While staying in Nampa, ID we sprinkled in plenty of training for our upcoming hike and spent lots of time in the Idaho Wilderness. It was fun to get some perspective on just how rural Idaho is as we headed into the biggest protected wilderness area in the lower 48 states, the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area and surrounding National Forests where one can enjoy walking all day in the cleanest air you can find, not encountering one other person on the trail.

This wetted our thirst for secluded mountain ranges and kept the fire of desire for a cross country hike burning even as we enjoyed comforts we had missed on our bike trip like a bed, social interaction, cooked food, and running water.

About the Trail

The CDT is about 3,100 miles long stretching from Canada to Mexico and is estimated to take 5 months of hiking around 20 miles a day to complete. It goes through about 35 “towns,” some of which barely qualify, and is hiked by 400 or so people a year. This is a much smaller number than the thousands who hike the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail.

We unfortunately have to start our journey just south of the Canadian border, outside of Glacier National Park which is still closed due to the Cornavirus. Waiting for it to open would mean pushing our start date back much too far to make it through Colorado before snow starts covering the mountains. No thank you!

We left Nampa, Idaho on July 5th, drove a ways down a secluded highway in a rental mini copper (which I love!), then encountered a big rock slide forcing us to backtrack. We took advantage of the reroute and added another day to our trip to stay the night with my mom, dad, and sister nearby in Washington. What a nice send off before our big journey!

Ryan and I are currently driving through Idaho on our way to Montana, winding through mountain roads covered in pine trees. Tonight we will drop off our rental car in Kalispell, MT. Our hope is to begin walking from there on the road with our thumbs out and hitch a ride to the trail to begin the first section of our hike: 200 miles through the Flathead National Forest to the first town where we will resuply.

Here goes nothing!

Expect blog posts infrequently, I will post as service becomes available but plan to still write every day while on the trail.

We did it. St Simon’s, Georgia to San Diego, California in 63 days of biking.

We woke up outside of Pine Valley and pulled our sore bodies out of the tent onto our bikes to begin a fun descent to the ocean.

We did all our climbing the day before and now had about 4,000 feet to cruise down over 45 miles to the beach.

It was beautiful going down into the city. We enjoyed the small resorty feel of Alpine and soon we were riding through busy bustling suburbs, missing the wide open space we have become accustomed to.

It felt like just another day of riding and it was surreal to think this was the final stretch of such a long journey.

I was laughing to myself while we rode down pathways I wanted to try but had never made time for in the six years I lived in San Diego. It was a good reminder of how easy it is to stop exploring the place you settle down in and I made a point of planning to build in exploration each day moving forward instead of just sticking to what I know.

We made it to Ocean Beach around 3pm and got into the ocean to complete the trek. There and back again. We did it!!!

Wading into the ocean was our final act on the trip. Ryan went in up to his chest and said the cold water felt good on his sore muscles. Riding across California in four days was hard work, but oh so rewarding.

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Getting back into San Diego was bittersweet. After being uprooted for the last six months it’s hard to know we have to leave a place that was home for so many years. It’s exciting though that the future holds so many unknowns and a lot of potential for good!

We also had such a refreshing time seeing familiar faces, but due to the coronavirus we had to admire them from at least six feet away.

Thank you SO much to Jennifer and Keith for letting us stay in your guest house. We had a blast seeing you, sharing meals, and getting to chat even with the social distance! We love you guys and every day see some way you have positively impacted our lives ❤️ Tessa, Flynn, and Elon, you three bring a smile to our faces every time we see you. You’re so creative, thoughtful, kind, and FUNNY! We love spending time with you can can’t wait to give real hugs when the coronavirus subsides. It was also great to meet the newest member of your family, Jasper, the sweet rescue dog who fits right in.

Thank you to Brianna Lewis for taking such good care of my car over the past six months. It was a relief to know it was in a safe place! I am also so thankful for having you to share my life with each day. Bri and I text each other three things we are thankful for every day and it has been a gift. You help keep me looking on the sunny side ❤️ It’s also so fun to hear about your day to day and keeping in touch was a great reminder of home while we were on the road.

Thank you to Scott and Brayden Johnston for having us over at social distance on your porch for delicious homemade lemonade! I have missed you both so much and felt at home instantly being around you. Brayden, I love your enthusiasm, curiosity, and humor. Thank you for showing us your HUGE Millennium Falcon LEGO set! Scott, it’s humbling to talk to someone who has had such varied, hard earned life experiences. Thank you for taking an interest in our lives and always making me feel important and interesting. I don’t know how you do it but I always leave feeling empowered after talking to you!

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What are some first impressions and lessons learned?

Sometimes it feels like you are going nowhere at all, but if you are pedaling, even against 40mph winds or up 7% grades, you are going somewhere and eventually you will get there.

I think this applies to any kind of hard work. If you are putting in the time day after day, it WILL add up to something. In our case, it got us across the entire United States of America… the long way!

Having a job is overrated, hard work isn’t.

Before this trip I felt that if I wasn’t working in a job, building a career, I was backsliding. I think now that it doesn’t matter so much what job I do, but it matters more that I am using my time to become someone I am proud to be. It feels good to get stronger, wiser, more determined and confident. I don’t need a typical job to feel these qualities, but I know I do need hard work and dedicated effort. This bike trip had plenty of opportunities for hard work and dedication.

Hard work doesn’t usually mean you are smashing the pedals, putting in mile after mile gritting your teeth… sometimes it just means choosing to smile instead of sulk. Sometimes it means being kind to the people you are with when you are in need of kindness too. Hard work doesn’t mean you beat yourself to a pulp, so tired you can’t move any more. It means getting back at it and taking good care of yourself so that you are strong and ready to take on a new challenge.

People are really good.

We met so many amazing people on our trip who helped us in subtle and not so subtle ways. It feels SO GOOD to know that everywhere we go, if we are holding ourselves and others with respect, we will be okay. There are communities of love all over our country, and I assume the world. We hope to test that theory soon!

There isn’t a correlation between how many things I own and my happiness.

On this trip we carried only the bare essentials.

For camping: A tent, tent footprint, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, thermal blanket (usually was used as a pillow), bag liner, a drop cloth to cover our bikes in the rain, a camping chair, flashlight, a Smith & Wesson EZ 380 and a small stove with cooking equipment.

For food the staples were: oats, protein powder, dried fruit, nuts, ramen, dehydrated potatoes, peanut butter, pop tarts, granola bars, crackers, chocolate, sugar, instant coffee, flavored drink mixes, fiber, olive oil, hot sauce, and whatever water we needed for the day.

We wore one pair of shoes, a pair of pants for biking, thermal pants for cold, and shorts for laundry time. I also packed two pair of bike shorts to wear under my long pants which provided sun protection. We had two long sleeve shirts and a couple T shirts, sunglasses, Ryan’s glasses and case, helmets, baseball caps, a sun hat, sun sleeves, gloves, a balaclava, rain jackets, fleece jackets, beanies, plenty of underwear, and a few pair of socks. We also packed a small towel for showering and the occasional coffee spill in the tent.

For personal hygiene: Sunscreen, deodorant, toothpaste, tooth brushes, fingernail clippers, a razor, a small bottle of Head and Shoulders, a roll of TP, a comb, ear plugs, chapstick, moisturizer, bug spray, and a few moist towelettes.

A tool set for fixing our bikes on the go including two crescent wrenches, two come wrenches, needle nose pliers, wire brush, rag, a multi tool with tweezers and toothpick (useful for setting bearings), two spare chains and chain breaker, a spare axel, a few assorted axel spacers, a spoke wrench, a crank puller, a flat head screw driver, extra cables and cable end caps, freewheel removal tools, extra bearings, grease, chain lube, and plenty of tubes and patches. We also carried two bike locks.

Art supplies: paper, a pencil, two markers, an eraser, a paint brush, red, yellow, and blue paint, and a palate for mixing.

Two books plus a huge selection of audiobooks and podcasts on our phones.

Our wallets, phones, headphones, two portable batteries, and wall chargers.

We also had some miscellaneous and just in case items like our passports, matches, rope, a compass, deck of cards, a harmonica, backup glasses, a sewing kit and a sleeping pad/tent patch kit.

San Diego really does have the best weather.

There are so many beautiful places in the southern United States. There was a lot of wilderness, millions of acres of ranches, and generally, the weather was pleasant. It was still amazing though to ride into San Diego after being in the inferno that was the Imperial Valley of California. Over the mountains along the coast, there is a paradise. We assume, if it wasn’t for the mountains holding in the ocean’s moisture and cool temperatures, San Diego would be a dry, fiery and unforgiving place. Instead it is temperate, lush, and kind. We missed you San Diego!

Having the right gear makes a difference… but creativity goes even further.

While it’s great to have nice gear and sometimes essential to have the right gear, you can make do with surprisingly little if you are willing to put in the effort it takes to find a solution. It seems that while specialized equipment can make a difference in comfort and performance, it isn’t necessary to get the job done. An example is Ryan’s single pair of pants. They were made for hiking, not biking, but he wore them every day and put in literally thousands of miles with them. I have fallen into the trap of thinking I can’t perform an activity until I have an expensive article of clothing built for it. If you’ve got something good enough, it’s better to just get going than to wait until you have the “right” stuff.

Ryan was able to get us out of tough mechanical situations several times with this mindset. He made do with what we had and found creative solutions that kept us going when I would have assumed defeat.

Daily exercise feels great!

Putting in hours of exercise every day felt extremely healthy for our body and mind. It was surprising how much we could do and wake up feeling refreshed, ready to go again the next day. Even on our rest days we usually biked or hiked enough to count as a short workout. We both want to keep up the physical activity it seems our bodies have been made to do.

I can’t escape myself, and I can’t escape reality, but I can work with it.

Before we set off, I had visions of being in nature in constant awe and blissful peace. This was very rarely the case and instead I often found myself running a lot of the same thoughts and emotions I had sitting at a desk in an office. What this trip did do was give me time to watch myself. I can see more clearly now how much of my mood depends on how full my stomach is! I can also see the impact of choosing to stop running negative thoughts and of choosing to smile or relax a little bit. To be fair, I think I was a lot less stressed in general biking every day in the great outdoors, but I still had to deal with the natural fears that come from being.

Thankfully I think I can say I am a little wiser and more level headed. I feel better equipped to handle difficult situations without falling into feelings of despair and defeat. I also see a lot of room for growth that I didn’t have as clear a picture of six months ago when I left my job. This is humbling, but exciting because I see a direction to aim.

I’m curious to see what nuggets of wisdom continue to reveal themselves to me after I’ve had time to process this trip.

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A HUGE thank you to everyone who read our blog and followed our trip. You have kept us going in so many ways and we love you ❤️ our lives would be so much less beautiful without you and we can’t wait to see all of you again!

Signing off for now…

Morgan and Ryan

What. A. Day.

After two days of cranking away in the Imperial Valley, which Ryan I agreed was trying to kill us slowly in a fiery inferno, we were quite sore and tired when we woke up this morning.

Little did we know one of the most difficult stretches of our trip, The Imperial Valley, had a cherry on top in the form of a 2,100 foot climb out. Whipped cream was the strongest wind we have felt yet that tore in at strange intervals through the curvy hills. It took us nearly 3 hours to go just over 10 miles.

After this climb, we were through the inferno and up high enough to enjoy 80 degree weather the rest of the day. We climbed at least another 2,000 ft c interspersed with lots of good downhill stretches on the outskirts of San Diego County.

To make things more exciting, we rode past two people who had stopped their truck and were out looking at something on the side of the road.

What were they looking at? What was so exciting? A snake?! Whoah! Big snake! “Hey Ry, did you see th-“ and that was how I ran into his braking bike, taking us both down.

This was the first accident we have suffered on the trip. The second to the last day. So close to being done.

My bike has a bent front wheel that Ryan worked some magic on and now has it to a very slight wobble while I ride. My back wheel now sports a huge gash in the rubber and somehow has remained full of air despite this injury.

Ryan got a good bend in his back rack. We were able to bend it back so no harm done!

Other than this… All is well! I am sure I have a bruise forming on my hip, but nothing to cry about. We managed another 30+ miles after the fall. It also turned out to be a rattle snake that distracted us and caused the accident. I think that is a worthy snake to have an accident over.

We also saw a long lizard roadside later in the day, this time coming to a safe stop to examine him.

Currently we are in our tent in the beautiful Cleveland National Forest. Amazing to go from so hot and dry to dewy and cool in one day. Tomorrow… we hit the ocean!

Route info for interested readers:

We had another stretch of interstate on I8 as highway 98 came to an end. We took I8 to an exit onto Old Highway 80 and followed that until it merged onto highway 79.

It’s strange to be so close to our final destination. Two months worth of pedaling our bikes and we are on the edge of the Western United States.

After a very deep sleep from both of us, we tore down camp quickly, trying to use up every drop of the cool desert morning. By cool, I mean 70 degrees… which rose to well over 100 by the afternoon.

The morning was the best part of our day. We were the freshest we would be, in nice weather and with gorgeous sights, sounds, smells, and a light breeze blowing. The morning brought the eeriest blue haze in the distance which contrasted sharply with a flat yellow landscape. How did this phenomenon occur? We spent several minutes coming up with theories. Our best being the Salton Sea creating a blue mist. Whatever it was, it was a sight to behold!

There are some huge canal systems out here and a lot of farm land in the Imperial Valley of California. We crossed the All American Canal today which is the largest irrigation canal in the WORLD and the Imperial Valley’s only water source. It irritates 630,000 acres and carries 26,000 cubic feet of water per second! What a canal. We took a picture on one of its branches which was home to many soaring squawking birds.

Before we suited up for the sun, while the UV index was low, we had our faces exposed and noticed a consistent stream of cobwebs hitting us. When we braked to put on our face coverings, we noticed tons of baby spiders crawling on us. They were using the cool morning to shoot out a web and catch the breeze, taking to the skies in search of a new home. What a fun way to spread your babies! They were more daring travelers than we, venturing into the unknown and literally going wherever the wind blows.

About twenty miles into the day, Ryan had a flat from running over an old screw on the road. We fixed it and enjoyed our first formal snack break of the day, refilled our water, and set off for another 50 miles to Ocotillo. We planned another water refill there before the final leg of our desert travels coming tomorrow.

It was fun to see San Diego appear on mileage signs, and to be so close! We are now less than 100 miles away. Our arrival is planned for the 1st of May. Before we get there though, we have another 100 degree day with many climbs and descents.

Ryan reminded me today that once we reach our last climb, it won’t just be the road that drops for a nice coast down, but the temperature as well!

Good thing we are nearly through this heat because we both became a bit delirious by the end of today. A salty meal with lots of water helped to perk us back up enough to find a campsite where we can rest our bodies all night.

Sweet dreams out there! We love you all ❤️

Route info for interested readers:

We rode into Brawley on Highway 78. From there we turned left onto S Palm Ave, right on Malan, and left on Imperial Ave which turned into Dogwood Rd. That took us all the way through Calexico where it hit highway 98 and there we turned right for the rest of the day. We are camped tonight at the end of highway 98 just past Ocotillo

We woke up today with the sun at 6am, so far, a normal day. What is amazing is the fact that we had packed, eaten, and gotten on the road by 7:20! This is definitely a personal best for us.

On our way out of Blythe we refilled the 4.5 gallons we normally carry for long stretches, plus Morgan carried an extra gallon strapped to her back rack. I was a little skeptical about needing so much water. Looking at how much is left at the end of the day I am thanking God that Morgan had more foresight than me! Out of the 5.5 gallons we started the day with, only 1.75 are left for cooking and our short ride into Brawley, CA tomorrow morning.

Today was HOT. There’s no way around it. The Sun blared down on us while the air stayed perfectly still. The temperature got to 105 and stayed there, but, you know, it’s a dry heat….

We passed through some of the sparsest deadest desert so far on the trip. Occasional fields of chaparral gave way to vast expanses of sand. It was fairly flat terrain though, which kept us moving. The flatness provided visibility that kept us safe given the lack of shoulder on highway 78. We saw two CH-53 Sea Stallions, and two V-22 Osprey, as well as an assortment of high flying jets racing across the sky.

The only store we passed after leaving Blythe was in the sand dunes of Glamis CA. We both enjoyed a cold soda in the shade before carrying on. The soda was a refreshing change of pace after a day of drinking water the temperature of coffee.

In all today was hard but very productive. We quickly fixed another broken spoke and patched two flat tires . Other than that we kept moving, kept drinking water, and kept being thankful that my derailleur is finally working again.

Our camp tonight is a short hike off the road on BLM land. Very secluded and peaceful with fun critters!

Route info for interested readers:

We left Blythe on some back roads, stair stepping our way to highway 78. Left off of Hobson Way onto Defrain, right on 28th, left on Neighbor. Right to cross the wooden bridge, then left at the T and the next right. Left onto Ben Hulse Hwy which merged into highway 78 for the rest of the day.

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.

Hello California! It has been a long time. Sometimes, I thought I would never see you again, but pedal after pedal and there you are!

We are officially back in California after a short 20 mile ride into Blythe. The interstate carried us the rest of the way ,and I saw a big horned ram on the ride! A rare sight to see big wildlife out here.

Ryan and I did our laundry, got a nice shower, and feasted while zoom calling with his family and our beloved nanny family who brought Ryan and us together almost five years ago. Thanks for the fun conversations to Paul, Maria, Sarah (happy birthday Sarah!), and Ben Weizer. Mike, Michelle, Dani, Jordan, and Josh Borenstein. Jon, Susan, and Johnny Wagner. Then later to Keith, Jennifer, Tessa, Flynn, Elon Harris-Burdick and the newest member of the family, their rescue dog Jasper. We love you all and had a fun time seeing your faces and hearing your voices!

We constructed giant sandwiches with Swiss cheese, tomato, sautéed onion and bacon, sausage, turkey, avocado, pickles, mayo, and mustard on French bread. We woke up still full with more food left over to eat before leaving our hotel room. We will definitely be fueled up as we continue through the rest of California!

Tomorrow we are picking up Ryan’s bike part at the Post Office and have our fingers crossed that Space Ghost will be back in good working condition.

At first glance, the desert looks barren and basic. I can imagine even more so if we were not riding through at the peak of wild flower blossoming!

One of the reasons Ryan and I decided on bike as our mode of transportation back to San Diego was for the slow pace it offered and the natural result of being able to notice far more than you ever could in an enclosed, efficient and speedy motorized vehicle.

We also decided on camping, not just for the low cost benefits, but also for the opportunity to live a bit of each day IN the landscape.

The desert looks barren at first glance, but when you get in a step closer, you see this is strikingly far from reality. The desert, right now the Sonoran Desert, is teaming with life, variety, and subtle beauty that can absolutely take your breath away. Particularly, I’ve found, in the hour before and after sunset.

Green, gold, and yellow are the most common colors out here but the value ranges within each and occasional pops of highly saturated purples, blues, reds, and oranges of flowers, butterflies, caterpillars, spiders, beetles, and birds can keep your eyes busy and extremely satisfied drinking it all in.

This morning we found several chrysalis on fence posts from very fuzzy caterpillars who had spikes on their little squirmy bodies to mirror the thorns on MANY other desert plants. There were also freshly emerging lady bugs and shiny iridescent black beetles crawling around.

I’ve been fascinated with crawling critters since I was very little, my favorite being spiders, and Ryan likes to point them out for me when he sees them. He spotted an INSANE daddy longlegs with black and white banded legs and a deep purple and yellow body.

We also can’t help but notice fat lizards with tails as long as their body, sometimes much longer, that jet with humorously fast fight or flight mechanisms back into the brush from their sunny patch of pavement as soon as our shadow touches them as we ride by.

Thankfully we have found the desert to be so engaging as we deal with Ryan’s bike, who has been endearingly named Space Ghost (coast to coast), suffering many chain slippages as he rides along in a modified single gear. We are approaching Blythe, CA where a new derailleur is being shipped to general delivery at their post office. In the meantime we are having to stop and correct the slippage by releasing his quick release, resetting the chain, pulling the wheel back into place, engaging the quick release, and continuing to gingerly pedal at a consistent pressure to keep the chain in place.

I admire how Ryan still keeps going despite having to deal with such a frustrating repeating process. We are so looking forward to Blythe where we are also planning a hotel stay with plenty of food to refuel and build our bodies.

Speaking of food, we found our favorite mexican ice cream bars and had two each at a cute, friendly market in the middle of the Arizona desert. It will never get old being able to eat so many delicious treats and know you are doing you body a good service at the same time! I have been surprised though how necessary feelings of satisfaction and fullness are to knowing when you’ve had enough. I remind myself how one ice cream bar normally would feel just as indulgent and satisfying as two do now. It’s just the new normal!

We got lucky to meet a couple around their 70s today who stopped while driving by to tell us about their Southern Tier bicycle trip ten years ago and another ride from Oregon to Michigan. We didn’t get her husband’s name, but he and Marsha cheered us on after we got further down the road and passed their RV campsite. I love meeting other people who tour and find they are usually some of the nicest, happiest people we run into. Seems like Ryan and I are on a good trajectory for our lives! It’s also encouraging to be the youngest riders we’ve seen so far. There are many years ahead for us to refine and enjoy this type of travel.

Today, nearly 60 days into our biking, we also had our first ride on the interstate. Earplugs were wonderful to keep the noise down ,and the wide shoulder made us feel very safe. I like how long and flat the interstates are, you can see where you are headed for miles down the road and the hills are not too steep to really take it out of you.

We rode all day today and were two and a half miles short of our final goal in the last hour of daylight when Ryan’s chain finally bit the dust. It was very exciting to watch from behind as it snapped and exploded away from his bike frame. Poor Space Ghost. Poor Ryan. He had to walk his bike over four miles back into town where I went to find us a decent spot to camp that wasn’t right next to the deafening interstate. This in all put us about 20 miles from our much anticipated destination tomorrow. Thankfully the stars were out and happy to see us, and a late set up had me cooking dinner underneath them. I think I’d like to repeat that experience.

Route info for interested readers:

Highway 60 to Interstate 10

We woke up sort of slowly. We were both surprised at the distance we covered yesterday. Both of us felt exceptionally burnt out, and imagined we had covered at least ten miles more than we really did. Sights are set towards Blythe, CA where the new part for Ryan’s bike is being sent and where we are planning a luxurious Motel 6 rest day.

The desert sun was as beautiful coming up as it was going down the night before. A deep red crept over the horizon warming us up like lizards. We had to slightly modify our standard breakfast by crushing up granola bars to compensate for dwindling food supplies. The land of milk and honey, Dollar General, was only 15 miles down the road so this didn’t get us down.

The morning ride dragged a bit as Ryan’s bike suffered frequent chain slippages and a popped tire. This is the first flat tire Ryan has had since upgrading to Gatorskin brand tires in Austin, not bad.

We finally made it to Dollar General in the town of Wickenburg, AZ. Wickenburg has a very western aesthetic with a mix of adobe buildings and large wooden porches in front of shops. Horse sculptures dotted the medians. It’s a shame we are having to see the town during this pandemic, as it appears to host a large tourist industry.

Dollar General is heaven. We gorged ourselves with a half gallon of milk, two cans of chili, a large jar of guacamole, a bag of tortilla chips, and a container of cottage cheese. We are now loaded down with foods for the road as well.

The rest of the day’s ride towards Blythe was rural and beautiful. The ecology vacillated between the huge saguaros and large varieties of grasses we have come to expect from the Sonoran Desert and vast expanses of chaparral we haven’t seen for a few hundred miles. The chaparral is somewhat boring, being almost exclusively a single plant species, but the sameness of it is beautiful like the expanses of the ocean.

We are camped behind some very tall and dense shrubs maybe 100 feet from a quite road. Apparently we are disturbing a lot of critters that call these shrubs home. We hear them all around us. Hopefully they are smart enough to leave us alone while visions of Blythe fill our dreams. Good night.

Route info for interested readers:

We continued on 74 then turned right at highway 60 for the rest of the day.

I would say Phoenix is in our rear view mirrors, but those mirrors snapped off a few hundred miles back. The point is we made it around the concrete jungle!

We woke up early and did a much abbreviated version of our morning routine in order to get moving.

After passing by a casino on the eastern edge of the city we headed due north for a spell.

The casino situation in this state is hilarious. God forbid you are an Indian reservation inconveniently located far from major population centers. Your reservation is then doomed to poverty that is all too common on reservations. Similarly, God forbid you are a white, black, asian, or hispanic American with dreams of operating a casino. You should have thought about that before being born. It’s the least capitalistic system imaginable. Anyways, nobody asked for my opinion.

Once we turned north at the casino we entered the Fountain Hills suburb and were greeted with beautiful estates and immaculate cars speeding past us. We both commented that this was the most opulent wealth we had seen since leaving San Diego months ago.

This wealthy suburb then dumped us out into a beautiful nature preserve, the Phoenix Sonoran Preserve. It wasn’t as scenic as the national forest of the past few days, but considering the extreme proximity to the city we were both mightily impressed with the Phoenix Parks and Recreation department. Other cyclists swarmed around us on the Sonoran Preserve. It’s easy to see why this place is so popular with excellent bike lanes and pleasant views.

The next road “West Carefree Highway” was a pleasant ride with a pleasant name. That is, of course, excusing the brief dust storm that knocked us both around before moving on.

We ended up camping close to the Carefree Highway. The road was fairly quite. We were both too tired from the day to give much of a hoot about another night so close to the road.

For those interested in the mechanical situation of Ryan’s bike-
We called around 20 bike shops in Phoenix and nobody carries the specific part needed. We settled on ordering the part to the post office in Blythe, California so it should be waiting for us in a few days.

Route info for interested readers:

We turned right off of highway 87 onto E Shea Blvd, then right onto Frank Lloyd Wright. At the 52, we turned onto a bike path that went from paved to easy dirt and rode until it connected back to the main roads at Cave Creek Road. We took a left off of Cave Creek onto East Sonoran Desert Drive for a few miles, then right onto North Valley Parkway and a quick right onto N 27th Drive. Then it was a left onto Carefree Highway for the rest of the day.