Do to the lack of internet connections in Salome and Yarnell, I will
now post some catch ups. For the Blythe to Salome, AZ portion, we
passed around a note pad, and ask anyone who wanted, to write
their comments or thoughts of the day.


Gail: Eating a juicy apple while riding down the freeway in a big
dry desert tasted especially good.

Susie: The sign of the day was as we were leaving Hope, AZ. the
billboard said, "You are beyond Hope." Ya betcha.

Ken: The pedestrian bridge over the Colorado River into AZ –
piece o' cake. Quartzite – not a desert ghost town but a
retiree/RV haven. Three hills to Salome (where she danced) were
easy…since we had our tailwind. In fact every day has had a
tailwind. Salome: Dying desert town owned by two competing families.
Its population is declining annually.

Martin: Saw 10 camels under an overpass along I-10 in AZ.

Bonnie: 60 mile day (after two 90 milers) – piece of cake, NOT!
Forty miles on HOT, sizzling asphalt of I-10. Second hill nearly
killed me. Did not wear my $100 Pearl Izumi shorts (thank you,
Sharon, for telling me to buy them) and regretted it. Ouch!

And what were your writer's thoughts? They can hardly be posted.

To begin with, my cyclometer fell off of my bike near the motel, but
I did not notice it for three miles, so I had to back track 6 miles
on a 62 mile day. Then while huffing it to catch up with the group,
I got a flat three miles west of Quartzite from the litter of torn
up steel belted re-trends all over the shoulder of the I-10.

There was not a speck of shade, it was already in the nineties, and
there I was trying to get my rear wheel off with out undoing the
fenders or rack.

Eighteen miles later, I had another flat. But I had used my spare,
and now I needed to patch the first tube. It was now close to 100
degrees on the pavement, and still no shade. On went the patch, and
as soon as I mounted the wheel, I heard SSSsssssssssss. I then found
the second hole, and tried to patch it, but it was so hot the glue
on the instant patch would not seal well. I had one of the old style
patches, but as I was about to carefully place it in the tube, a
tractor-trailer flew by and blew the patch out of my hand and out to
the desert. I did the best I could with the patch I had, and
started again.

Three miles later, the tube lost air. At this point I was about 15
miles from Salome, AZ, and it was going to get dark soon. There was
no cell service. So I pumped it up again, and hoped to make three
miles at a crack, but only made a mile. However it was cooling down
and each time I re-filled the tire, it lasted a bit longer. I
actually made the last four miles on one pump. I arrived in Salome
at 7:00 PM just as the sun was setting. Oh well, it is good to get
the bad days over with early.

Another memory of that day was from crossing the bridge into
Arizona. You really feel you are making progress somewhere, when you
cross a state line. I was hoping for a big sign that would
say: "Welcome to Arizona". Instead there was this sign that
read: "No Diving off the Bridge". I am now sure it was written for
cyclists who get too many flats on the Arizona highways.

Eric