Currently avoiding the hottest part of the day by sitting behind a gas station in Glendale,NV, catching some shade, while Ben naps & battles the flies…but more on that later!
Day 16: Oatmeal, then on the road. Late start today – slept in. Had to hang some damp laundry on our packs to air dry during our ride. I find this kind of fun & resourceful. There were lots of farm fields today (wheat, almonds, pistachios, nectarines or peaches, & corn). I found & snatched up a clean washcloth from an almond field that we needed for a grease rag. Sweet find! There were also long stretches of cattle yards, which made me sad. They’re all couped up in small stalls, standing room only, no room to move in any direction. There were thousands of them 🙁 Unfortunately, we biked through this for a while & it was the only shady spot to stop for lunch. Their constant calling made me sad.
Today was mostly about putting in lots of miles. Nothing too exciting today. A warm day but not too bad. I went to the bathroom in a stranger’s house. The woman didn’t speak English, I regretfully don’t speak Spanish, but I knew enough to say “baño?”, she giggled & graciously let me inside. That was kind of her. Thank you stranger! We stopped a while later in a tree patch along the highway to avoid the hottest part of the day. There were long stretches of nothing but sun for miles so we stopped when we could. Ben plotted the next few days, I journaled. At multiple points on our ride we got chased by dogs, which isn’t fun. They either get in front of your wheels & make you swerve or run alongside you nipping at your ankles. Neither is preferable so the best bet is to book it & outrun them, which works like a charm (assuming you’re not heading up a hill). In that case, throw food so they’ll get distracted?
Our destination for the day was Wasco,CA. We rolled in before sunset, checked into a motel, showered, did laundry, got things charging, had dinner at Denny’s, picked up snacks & morning food at a gas station, watched TV & went to bed. Not an exciting day, just a day.
Day 17: Cereal & fruit for breakfast, packed up, ready to leave & noticed I had a flat 🙁 Quick fix, then biked to Bakersfield. Ran some errands (Dick’s-to replace the spork I broke that morning & more propane, Target-for a washcloth & sunglasses). We had lunch outside of Dick’s on the sidewalk, got ice cream next door & went to a movie! We saw Life of the Party, the one with Melissa McCarthy, about a mom & daughter in college together. Pretty funny. Good way to beat the heat. I’m not a fan of all these dinner/restaurant style theaters with servers & lounge seats. I just want the basic theater: movie, popcorn, pop & candy. Why so fancy?
After the movie, we biked a short distance to another motel…Ben is in charge for our route to Vegas, is worried about water & likes the reassurance with motels instead of having to look for everything (food, water, shelter) once we roll in. It’s not my favorite but obviously some things are nice. It’s his trip too & I need to compromise (despite my strong stubbornness not to). I didn’t care much about anything between Yosemite & Vegas (at least not before Bob gave us other options) so I told Ben he could do whatever makes him feel better. Once we unloaded at the motel, we went swimming in the pool. Ahhh, it felt so good. We played toss with some kids, which was fun. One of them started doing some gymnastics tricks into the water so I decided to join her & she was impressed. She said adults don’t do that 🙂 Haha, maybe not all adults but definitely some! It wasn’t very complicated stuff; just cartwheels, roundoffs, mid-air toe touches, & flips. It was a fun time. Back to the room for a shower, TV, laundry & dinner. Ben made a tasty rice dish. Off to bed early.
Reflections:
1. I forgot to mention, Fresno was very fragrant with lots of beautiful blooming bushes.
2. A lot of people we meet don’t always agree with our routes or have a strong negative opinion of the cities we pass through, but we haven’t had any negative experiences. Could we have taken a more scenic route to Vegas? Sure, but I’m still enjoying our ride (for the most part). It’s good to see where our food is grown & other parts of the country you’d never go.
3. One farm we passed was part of Land O’ Lakes (from MN) but there are no lakes around here. I miss the lakes. All the water around here is in canals & dirty (for irrigation I assume?).
4. Biking for pleasure vs necessity are very different & I am reminded of it every time I see someone who looks like they’re struggling in life & probably traveling by bike because they have no other option. We’re biking for fun but that doesn’t mean its fun for everyone who rides a bike.
5. Perspective is so funny. It’s almost like it has its own identity or character on this trip. Things I would never have noticed in the past I now do or things feel different than they used to based on our current experiences. Now, I see a pile logs & think “oooh, shade!” where I wouldn’t have even noticed them before. After biking up a 16% grade hill, a 2% feels downhill! Before, lots of places in the middle of nowhere were not important to me but now if they have even one building (like a grain elevator) it’s exciting! They probably have water, hallelujah! Every day, perspective does something funny to make me see things in a different way than I normally would.
Well, I’m finishing this up in Zion & have more to explore so I have to brake for now. Until next time!
Whitney