Brawley to Palo Verde

Today (Monday 2/13) we got up at 6 am.  We've been sleeping like logs, so it was easy.  We got breakfast across the street at a donut shop and a Jack-in-the-Box.  Then we loaded the bike and rode to Vons for lunch food - cheese, ham, crackers, buns, and an orange.

We rode through flat farmland for maybe 20 miles, then 6 miles of sand dunes.  In Glamis we ate our lunch.  Then it was 39 miles of hilly, brush-covered desert.  When the terrain was too boring, we told each other stories from books we had read.  Even dull stories make the miles pass quickly.

Just before the end of our ride we found the sign pictured, assigning a name to someone's desert land.  So we and our mascot, The Wiz, have been to The Other Side.

We are spending the night at the home of Nancy Dean Mercury, who graciously provides a place for bikers to camp just south of Palo Verde.  She's a fascinating woman who has traveled the world and now teaches Yoga and does massage on cruise ships.

Overall, today was a nice ride of 68.4 miles with great weather, some tailwinds, and gentle hills.