Shawne says... Day 13 Mileage Today: 34.0 Total Mileage: 547.1 Flats Today: 1 Total Flats: 16 Tubes used today: 1 Total tubes used: 3 Tires used today: 1 Packing up camp went quickly; we wanted to get out before any homeowners spotted us. We were concerned about being spotted if anyone went out on their decks to drink their morning coffee. A Chevron station was just a block away, so we stopped in for another meal of microwaved burritos. Employees and customers asked all sorts of questions as we sat at a table inside. I updated my journal as Jo scoured [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne says... Day 12 Mileage Today: 60.3 Total Mileage: 513.1 Flats Today: 7 Total Flats: 15 Tubes used today: 2 I woke up and was feeling very "Mr. T"-ish. So, I decided to give myself a mohawk with my beard trimmer. I've never had a mohawk, and I am quite enjoying it! Jo loves it! We enjoyed another free breakfast at the hotel. It was poor timing on our part, though. We walked into the restaurant to see an entire little league team AND a Special Olympics team taking up the entire seating area. We waited patiently as some woman complained [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne says... Day 11 Mileage Today: 11.6 Total Mileage: 452.8 Flats Today: 0 Total Flats: 8 We tried to sleep in today, with the curtains drawn over the hotel room windows...and we did manage to sleep in past sunrise. (Jo interrupts...yeah, we slept in 'til 6 am!) We walked to the lobby to eat our free breakfast. Expecting a regular continental breakfast of packaged muffins and coffee, we were pleasantly surprised as a sign directed us from the lobby to the restaurant for our complimentary meal. On the menu: Eggs (to order), hashbrowns, toast, choice of meat, juice, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne says... Day 10 Mileage Today: 48.4 Total Mileage: 441.2 Flats Today: 2 Total Flats: 8 Fixing last night's flat was first priority this morning. We packed up camp and got on the road. For some reason, my derailleur started malfunctioning all of a sudden. My rear sprockets were cracking and popping as the chain jumped and and skipped between the teeth. It was a downhill back into town, so we coasted about a mile to the "McScarf 'N Barf" (My name for McDonald's) and stopped for breakfast. After a meal of processed crap and sugar, we went outside to address [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne says... Day 9 Mileage Todage: 64.6 Total Mileage: 392.8 Flats Today: 2 Total Flats: 6 We rose around 5:30 am and began warming up our breakfast of yesterday's frozen fried chicken with the camp stove. It was actually quite good...Jo said it was better than the truck stop breakfast we had a few days ago. People at this R.V. park get moving pretty early and are not quiet about what they are doing. As the sky paled orange with the rising sun, a man on his Harley was doing laps in the park and saying 'hi' to his neighbors. He [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne says... Day 8 Mileage Today: 55.4 Total Mileage: 328.2 Flats Today: 0 Total Flats: 4 We didn't sleep well again. Being so close to the water meant there were TONS of bugs. I have so many bites...I was scratching all night. It was hot and muggy, and I felt bugs crawling all over me. It sucked. We rose early and joked about knocking at the door of the fifth-wheel across the way that woke us up last night. We crossed the bridge over the Colorado River, and we were in ARIZONA!!! State #2!!! We stopped at the Flying J truck [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne and Jo say... Day 7 Mileage Today: 63.8 Total Mileage: 272.8 Flats Today: 0 Total Flats: 4 We expected a hard climb right away so we left just before sunrise. Many people had warned us about the road ahead. They told tales of winding roads with no shoulders and extremely steep grades. We were warned to be very cautious of rude drivers that do not give bicyclists room to breathe. What we found was just the opposite. The grade was very manageable with shoulders wide enough for us to ride side by side. We spotted a dead bat on the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne says... Miles Today: 35.6 Total Miles: 209.0 Flats Today: 0 Total Flats: 4 We tried...but yet again we could not get up early. I woke around 5:30 am and hollered at Jo to get up...then promptly went back to sleep. the snooze alarm kept going off in my head, and I would wake up every 15 minutes or so. When 6:30 rolled around, I got up and started the morning routine. The three S's. I made a good breakfast of steak and eggs, microwaved fried chicken, and crackers with PB&J. We bought some instant coffee, so I made a couple [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne says... Miles today: 59.25 Total Miles: 173.35 Flats Today: 1 Total Flats: 4 The road out of the RV Park was covered with loose sand and rock, much too soft for our road bikes to ride through. We walked out to the next paved road and climbed on the bikes. I had the forethought to put all of our water bottles in the freezer the night before, so we took a long pull of ice-cold water and started out. The asphalt in this town has seen many rough years of searing desert sun. The large cracks, sometimes two to three [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shawne and Jo say... Miles today: 51 Total miles: 114.1 Flats Today: 1 Total Flats: 3 Today began with yet another harsh hill climb right off the bat. We got a lot of downhill mixed in with a lot of hard uphill. Concerned about being so close to the border, we are packing heat (well, bear mace, but close enough). We put the mace in easily accessible areas on our bikes, and while Shawne was ensuring the security of Jodie's mace, he ended up macing himself! Apparently the safety on Jo's can doesn't work very well. Mace sprayed all over the [View Full Entry]

---

---