Day 4: A partial bailout

January 1, 2011

Well, I didn't bail out in Yuma and take the train but I ended up doing a partial bail out today. But, I'll get to that in a minute.

It was a good day overall, though cooler than I would have liked. Still, except for that it was a nice day to ride.

I have driven this route (on 100% interstate) a couple of times. Driving on the interstate it feels totally empty. But today, riding on mostly two lane frontage (and older, pre-interstate) roads I was struck by how much is actually out here. I have been carrying water containers for what I thought would be long stretches of empty, only to find small towns/stores/etc every 10 or so miles. There are also more farms, ranches, orchards and houses than I noticed while driving.

I also spent the day racing trains. The frontage road runs next to the train tracks and I saw a lot of freight trains. More than once I was going just about the speed of the train so I tried to keep pace. Once, the engineer was getting into it. I could see him laughing and waving. What the heck, it's a little cycling entertainment :-)

A few places I got on the freeway but that doesn't bother me, with the smooth wide shoulder. All in all it was a fairly straight forward day. The complications (if you want to call it that) came at the end.

I pulled into the Dateland travel center and asked for a tent space for camping (which I looked up online that they have). Well, they sort of have it. The 'tent spaces' are really RV pull through spaces and I did not feel comfortable setting up my tiny tent in the middle of a space that some RV'er might try to pull through in the middle of the night. I'm too fond of my body in the shape it is now, and not flat as a pancake.

The other thing is that it is REALLY cold, much colder than expected, below freezing as a matter of fact. I asked if I could sleep inside the rec room (or some other indoor space) and they said no. So I thought about it a while and, well, decided common sense is the better part of valor, and that I should bail out and try and find a ride to Gila Bend where I could find a nice warm, safe, hotel

There is a shuttle that runs between the towns so I waited for that. Finally, at 6:00pm a van appeared. "Are you the shuttle to Gila Bend?" I asked a nice man. He wasn't, he was making deliveries (Walgreens and some other business) and could give me a ride if I wanted. We talked for a while and I decided to take him up on his offer (we looked closer at the shuttle schedule and realized the shuttle does not run New Years Eve)

So, I'm in a nice warm hotel room, though I am a little sad I will miss a day of riding. It would have not have been my first choice normally but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Tomorrow I'll ride to Phoenix and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully it will warm up a little! And hopefully I can get some nice pictures in?

Oh. Happy New year!

I had to pass through the immigration station. Now where would I hide an illegal on the Girl Friday? They passed me through.

One of the little way stops along the route--this one in Ligurta

Looks like a touring cyclist had some trouble with their tire?

This was at the Mohawk rest stop. It was closed officially but on a bike I could get through the barriers that the cars could not. Under the circumstances I decided to park in an actual parking stall ;-)

Today's ride: 58 miles (93 km)
Total: 232 miles (373 km)

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