Best Ride & Longest Day

March 7th & 8th, 2018

March 7th

Our ride today began with a fantastic 10 mile downhill glide on Interstate 8! Bikes are allowed on an Interstate highway whenever an alternative route does not exist. Best of all, this was a new portion of that Interstate with smooth paving and long swift glides through massive rock cuts. It made up for the previous day’s climbs, almost.

At the bottom we passed from the mountains into the Imperial Valley, home to massive desert farming operations. Along the way I met a farm worker and asked what the main crop was. He explained that macaroni was their primary export. They plant it in the early spring and it is harvested sometime around the end of August. He went on to say that once the harvest is in nearly every town in the valley has a pasta festival, usually around Labour Day. Hundreds of migratory workers are employed in the harvest since the plants have to be shaken by hand to dislodge the macaroni. However, times are changing and more and more farmers are using a new machine to do the labour intensive task. At first I thought this farm hand may have been pulling my leg but I remembered seeing a documentary on the CBC television network a few years ago that talked about the spaghetti harvest so I knew he must have been telling me the truth.
I think he must be from Calaveras County.

I also passed a very interesting power generation plant. Back when I was a kid we had an expression that went, “ If BS was electricity, you would be a walking power plant.” Well now that I have actually seen a BS power plant I am fairly sure that it would be difficult do scale one down to a personal size.

This evening it was my turn to cook along with fellow rider, Jeorge. We made an epic chicken stir-fry along with Waldorf salad. Both were set upon by our fellow bikers like a pack of hungry wolves.

March 8th

A long ride today, close to 90 miles. We were not trying to prove that we are iron men and women but the plain truth is that there were no places to camp along the way. The one stop was in a one shop town known as Glamis. Here we were able to tank up for the next 40 miles of black top with no food or drink to be had. Fortunately it was only a desert.

The journey was a long winding road through desert country and past the chocolate mountains where it is said that chocolate chips are mined. The road was crazy narrow for about 30 miles with no shoulders and heavy truck traffic. The truck drivers are a good bunch always giving us plenty of room as they zoom by. I wish I could say the same for some RV rigs and nearly every passenger vehicle. Nearly every rider had some nasty encounter with a rude vehicle driver this day. They do not seem to realize that we are doing all we can by wearing highly visible clothing, displaying reflective triangles and flashing lights and by getting as far onto the shoulder as we safely can even though the law entitles us to ride using a full lane of the highway.

Our stay tonight is at a nice campground with the nicest washrooms and showers so far on the trip. Pizza for dinner!