August 14th, 2007
It was a much better ride today. I planned better and I respected how harsh Mother Nature can be.
It rained like crazy last night – wind and lightning, but no thunder. At around 7am the rain stopped and I was on my way. At 80 degrees, the desert is truely a beautiful place. Peaceful.
The terrain became a little more lush (enough to support cactus) and the cascading boulder fields returned. It’s still a very harsh environment – well over 500 miles and still going. For us in New England, that’s the same as if Bar Harbor, ME to Buffalo, NY was a complete desert. It’s hard to even imagine.
A nice way to start the day – double rainbows over Tacna, AZ
I wish I could have captured photos of the boulder fields coming from CA to AZ – they were enormous. Here is just a kind of “sample” of what they looked like.
Some cactus for Jen
I ended the day in Deming, NM. – Found a nice motel room….there were some holes in the panelling, but you can’t even notice because the repair job was done “spot-on”. See if you can spot where the work was done…
I know from living in Nebraska and South Dakota for 16 years what you mean about the size of the west. It’s hard to describe to anyone who have spent their entire life in the east. You don’t talk in miles when talking about going someplace but rather in hours. It’s not 300 miles it’s 5 hours.
But there is a beauty to it if you can stand the wind blowing 24/7, weeks on end of zero temps in the winter and baking sun in the summer. Humm, maybe that’s why I moved back (home) to the east coast!
By: mdnefan on August 15, 2007
at 5:21 pm
“For us in New England, that’s the same as if Bar Harbor, ME to Buffalo, NY was a complete desert. It’s hard to even imagine.”
Wow. Now there’s a depressing thought. What’s so nice about the North East is the variety of riding you can do. There are so many back roads and route options, you can really mix it up. Heck, I’ve got at least three ways I can ride home from work!
It seems that vast middle section of the US, and especially the barren areas, don’t have any option. You simply take “the” road. It must make giving directions very easy…
By: woodenloon on August 15, 2007
at 7:49 pm