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Published: October 3rd 2006
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 tissues we planned to use as toilet paper for the day, so we pulled them all out and did our best to clean him up. The mace, according to Shawne, smells like Mexican food. Shawne joked that with his Hispanic last name, and the presence of so many Border Patrol Agents, he felt bad and decided to mace himself to "get it over with".
After passing through the border town of Jacumba, we caught a glimpse of our incredibly fortified fence on the Mexican border. It was nothing more than a picket fence that you would see surrounding a
farm, except that it had two cross-boards. There were tiny American flags waving from the top of each post (as if to say "Yay, you made it!") We stopped at the corner market and purchased a cold Gatorade and some food for later.
A scraggly, unkempt man with a long beard stopped us to tell us he'd ridden his bicycle a long way, but his story was jumbled and he'd forgotten most of the details. He told us that he'd come up with the first "trash-powered bicycle" but that he'd forgotten to 'register' it or he could have gotten many sponsors. He rambled on while we politely attempted to leave. He was friendly, but it was really hard to follow what he was saying. As he left, a car pulled up and out jumped a man with a false arm ending in a hook. Shawne believes he was still lost in a war from long ago. He was far too interested in where we were staying that night. We danced around the subject and gave no details. Another man got out of the car and followed hook-arm around, repeating what he was saying and laughing under his breath. It was
too hot-we needed to leave, and as we rode out of town, we kept a close eye on the cars that passed for some time.
We finally reached the summit and started on our 4000 foot decent. We quickly found out that the load in our trailers was too much for our brakes. We had to stop every mile or so on the 6% grade to let our brakes cool down. Our rims were so hot, we couldn't touch them!
Pulling into Ocotillo, we interrupted a local woman on her walk to ask where the campground could be found. We pointed to a group of very tall palm trees that could be seen looming out of the desert terrain and asked if that was it. She said she'd lived there 20 years but never went "over there". Mind you, this is in a town of about 200 residents! We were baffled, but decided to check it out.
It was still about 103 degrees out as we pushed our bikes up the dirt road toward the palm trees. It was, indeed, our campground, and the man who ran the place, John, showed us around. We walked into the rec room and
into air conditioned comfort. John told us we could sleep in the rec room if we wished, which was great! He showed us the laundry facilities and the restroom, and then told us we could stay for free! He said he doesn't like the idea that people charge cyclists for pitching a tent. We did laundry, showered, and watched TV in air conditioning! YAY! Thank you John!
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Tot: 0.09s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 5; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0447s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
Lindy J
non-member comment
Crazy guy
Hi Jo, glad you're having fun! We have a friend for your hook man, and crazy guy....Rach and I were putting a PICC line in a guy yesterday that started growling...yes growling...halfway through. He sounded like a possessed demon! He would growl then sing with the music, and growl some more. After that he kept talking about wanting to die and why wouldn't people just let him die??? He was absolutely nuts! We're thinking too bad we can't ship him there..he might actually fit in and have friends to growl with. :) Good luck and stay safe! Love ya...Linda