Day 33 Fri. Oct 17, 2008

I got up at 5:30 am. Made preparations for my long journey today. The terrain is very inviting. This journey should be quite fast and comfortable. The traffic appears to be moderate. I waited until 7:30 for the water to return. I had to go to the motel manager for ice. The accommodations did not provide for those simple amenities. She brought me a small bucket of ice that came from her own refrigerator, I suspected. The cubes were shaped differently.

Imagine the last stop before entering the desert. I was beginning to make plans to rationing whatever little water I had left. However, when she saw me in my riding
gear, perhaps that fact increased her willingness to be accommodating.

I decided to take I-8 all the way. It is straight and flat. It seems Pam and I lose contact with each other in some areas. I did not want to take the chance of riding on bike paths or back roads on which Pam would be unable to catch up with me.

The journey was going quite well. I traveled for about 5 hours. The scenery was more of the same. The mountains appeared blue and misty in the distance. The lands on both sides of the highway were in large part fenced in and signs were posted in yellow and black indicating cattle farming.

There were few trains, very long trains moving in both directions. The area was covered with shrubs, red earth and sand, with a healthy supply of cactus scattered across the terrain. The riverbeds were sandy and dry with stones and pebbles of all colors. These dried up rivers were about 3 to 4 feet wide.

The mountains were becoming clearer and the shoulders along the Interstate revealed signs of broken parts of tires. The last time I repaired my tires was in Phoenix. I replaced the tubes in both the front and back wheels.

I began to worry about my maneuverability. It is not as if it is so very frequent, but on this long journey it appears that most of the semis are running on vulcanized tires, or recaps. When they get too hot from too much travel, they fall apart and tires and wires disintegrate and become strewn on the shoulders. With speeds of about 75mph, everything is swept off the highway and on to the shoulders.

Well, guess what? I felt a thump, thump, thump. Thats right. Another flat. A piece of wire pierced my tire.

I did what I really disliked doing. I called Pam. I was so sure it would not happen again, but it did.

We stopped in a couple of very small towns, but it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t have anyone who could fix a tire. A patrol officer informed me I could get the job done in Yuma at Mr. Bs Bike Shop.

We found the shop and they informed me to return about 6:00 pm. We found a Super 8 for the night, went back to get the bike about 6:00 and crashed for the night.