Concerned about desert heat, and admittedly a little ashamed of chilling in Palm Springs for a day, I was up at 06:00 and on the road by 07:00. After flying down the rest of Palm Springs and on through Indian Wells (avoiding the multitude of retiree dog walkers and attractive joggers who appeared to be the sole residents), I was out into the Mojave desert proper by 08:30.
Essentially the day was a 90 mile slog down the hard shoulder of the CA-86, with hundreds of 16 and 22 wheeler trucks for company (despite warnings before I left that they would "stop for nothing," in general they were great, lots of waves and almost to a man they gave me a wide berth). Bar stops for water and lunch (bizarrely next to 3 convicts in leg and hand shackles, plus warder) it was on all day.
Much of the desert was greener than I'd expected, especially the 10 miles of vineyards and date farms in the North, and the agricultural heartland of the Imperial Valley in the South. However in between was pure desert: hard, hot and flat.Bar a headwind for the final 3 hours I made good progress and the roads were not bad, and I made the full length of Salton Sea (a big geographical claim, but a large lake no doubt) in a day. However I've definitely learnt some things about desert riding: 1. Take twice as much water as you think you need; and 2. Leave as early as you human can, the heat of the day is 14:00 not 12:00.
With that in mind I've turned into my dodgy motel early tonight, slammed the aircon up full blast, bought in 3 litres of extra water for tomorrow, polished off the beef jerky, and I'm waiting for the Dominos pizza to be delivered to my room, because I can, and because I'm a classy guy.
Route - Palm Springs - Indian Wells - BrawleyBreakfast - M&Ms cookies and apple juice in the motel at 06:30, iced honey bun and powerade at a Chevron at 08:00
Lunch - Grilled Chicken sub - Subway
Snacks - M&Ms and G2 Gatorade
Supper - Pepperoni pizza - Dominos in front of the TV in the motel
