Still talking to each other after first week of pedaling!

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Ahhh! Taking a break in Lake Havasu City.

After 6 days and 350 miles of biking, we're kicking back and trying to blend in with either the MTV Spring Break Crowd or the masses of retirees that we've found out here in the desert. At the moment, we're sporting biker's tans that don't exactly make us the envy of either crowd, but we're excited to be off our feet and out of the heat.

Yep, there's been plenty of sun in the first week of our trip. The extreme heat started in Palm Springs- land of golf courses, restaurants, shopping malls and NO outdoor quality-of-life. By the time we got across the desert floor, we both were a whole shade darker. This experience led us to the conclusion that biking is a noctural sport when one is in the desert. In fact, by the time we reached Joshua Tree National Park, we had become willing to start our next biking journey at 2:30 am. In the next 24 hours we covered 100 miles of pure desert- no towns, no water. By the time, we pedaled past the sign that said, "no services next 100 miles", it was about 3:45 am. Um scary (but seemingly not for Forest, who carried an extra gallon or two of water for us). Anyway, that day, we stopped biking for 8 hours, by taking refuge under a low-growing shrub (Abby, it made the Ghana trip look good) and we were plenty happy to see the truck stop in Vidal Junction, near the AZ border that night.

In general, since starting our trip in San Clemente, California, Tuesday afternoon, we haven't exactly eased into things. We've climbed at least 2000' most days, our highest day so far was at 5,000' when we crossed the Pacific Crest Trail. Forest has held up just fine (ugh), whereas Anne has found herself shamelessly clutching the Motrin bottle during some of her darker hours. Her main complaint is that bikers think that clipping one's bike shoes into the bike is a good idea. Her elbows and legs would tell a different story. Forest and Mike, of Mike's Bikes Shop in Yucca Valley saved the day and Annie's shoulder when they replaced her bike stem with a longer one. I look like I'm driving a Harley now, but boy does that feel better. Thanks Mike!

On a more positive note, we got some good news while camping in the mountain desert town of Anza, CA. Forest's last minute application to Duke was accepted- and we'll be going to the same program next fall. Yeah! Where was everyone Thursday morning? It was almost impossible to get someone to check his email account- but in the end, it was good news- we even got some congratulations shouted out of pickup trucks as I celebrated at the Anza gas station. That's probably the first time someone's ever got excited about an MBA program in Anza.

Other good news... we are discovering (or in Forest's case re-discovering) the joys of junk food on the road. When you bike 8-10 hours a day, all "healthy" filters are off and you can eat like a 15-year-old boy. I have taken great comfort in Slim Jims, for example. Forest is a traditionalist and likes to stay true to his ice cream habit. The other morning, he saw that I had doughnuts (Crumbettes!!) in my hand and he asked me whether I shouldn't get something more substantial. I realized that he had a Ice Cream Snickers in his hand at 7:30 am in the morning. We looked at each other in disgust and rode on.

Tomorrow, we will be heading out of Havasu, north towards Kingman, AZ. From there, we'll head toward Flagstaff and later, New Mexico. We've enjoyed the strange sights along the way:
-dead rattlesnakes and turtles,
-a dance party of 80 somethings at our motel in Desert Hot Springs (seen Cocoon?)
-some drunk Autralian soldiers wandering around 29 Palms at 3am and complaining about American girls,
-a placard in the middle of NOWHERE marking the
site of harsh environs training camps used briefly to train a million soldiers for WWII.

We'll try to update this in another week or so- we've loved the comments from you all. In the meantime, it's back to the all-you-can-eat buffet and Forest's last chance to amourously embrace the A/C unit before we take off.




For fellow bike tourers, here are more details on our route.

Day 1
Dana Point, CA; 74; closed campground before Lake Eslenor.
Bad traffic, little to no shoulder and lots of climbing.
Slept: closed campground before Lake Eslenor.
Mileage: ~30
High point: ~2,000ft

Day 2
74; Lake Elsenor; local roads to Temecula; 79 to Aguanga;

Day 2

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Hiding from the heat and eating a push-pop, Forest is dismayed to find himself on the smallest bench in the world. You mean you haven't heard of Aguanga, CA?

371 to Anza.
Traffic and roads were good, but lots of climbing on 371 before Anza.
Slept: Side of road next to Anza Community Center
Mileage: ~64
High point: ~4,000ft

Day 3
74 to Palm Desert; local roads to Desert Hot Springs
Good roads and traffic; great downhill on 74 to Desert Palm; extremely hot in Palm Springs.
Slept: Motel in Desert Hot Springs
Mileage: ~60
High Point: ~5,000ft

Day 4
Local road to 62; 62 to Indian Cove campground in Joshua Tree National Monument (near 29 Palms)
Lots of traffic on 62, but it had a great shoulder
Slept: Indian Cove Campground
Mileage: ~40
High Point: ~2,500ft

Day 5
Indian Cove Campground to 62 to Vidal Junction.
No services for 100 miles! Good road. Almost no traffic between 29 palms and 177 junction; light traffic from then to Vidal Junction
Slept: Side of road on BLM land
Mileage: ~104
High Point: no major climbs

Day 6
Vidal Jct; 62 to Earp; local road to Parker Dam; 95 to Lake Havasu City. No shoulder and too many trucks on the 62 going to Earp; little to no traffic between Earp and Parker Dam; some traffic, but

Day 3

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Crossing paths with the Pacific Crest Trail.

excellent shoulder to Lake Havasu City; excellent bike path through Lake Havasu City.
Slept: Motel in Lake Havasu City
Mileage: ~58
High Point: no major climbs

Day 7
Day off in Lake Havasu City

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