The High Desert: Alert: This page has fairly little to do with cycling!
Our sporadic shakedown cruising with the Bike Fridays has pretty much run down, though we may be back on the bikes in Tucson and seem to be planning a return to Clever Cycles in Portland. (We are hoping they can build us an effective but economical smartphone charging dynamo wheel - stay tuned for updates if they do, and we return to Portland to pick it up.)
We see that folding/unfolding the bikes and storing/unstoring them in their carry bags is just enough of a bug that we don't want to do it every day. The process is not hard and does not take that long, but we do have to protect the seats from being ripped by the head tube, protect the paint on the monotube, strap the handlebar to the monotube, and wrestle the bikes a bit with their form fitting bags. OK, maybe we're just lazy, but this seems like a activity for periodic train trips rather than a daily routine.
For now, here is a vignette of what we found in the desert area of eastern California, stuff that could be seen by cyclists on the ACA southern tier.
Interstate 10 carries on with 4 lanes each way, even beyond Indio. Traffic is heavy, but we think bikes are permitted.
The Salton Sea is south of I-10 and north of I-8. It was formed by an escape of the Colorado River and is something unique. The northern shores have date groves and some grapes, plus vegetables, but the south is barren. Overall, it would not be worth a circumnavigation by bike, and the west shore features a not pleasant freeway.
It's a bit hard to see in this photo, but on the south end of the Salton Sea was "Imperial Cattle Feeders", a shocking operation of acres and acres of cattle standing in metal pens. The cattle were being grown and treated just like grapes. The SPCA must not venture this far south!
Our camp spot at a rest stop on I-10. With the van it's OK, but we have never tried staying at these with a tent. There are no anti-tentwarning signs at the I-10 stops, but we have often seen them on other Interstates.
Joshua Tree National Park is north of I-10, and its most interesting parts are in the areas south of Joshua Tree village and 29 Palms. Going there would be a few day detour for anyone crossing the country on a bike, but it could be worth it!
"Just for fun" I got the GPS function in the Nokia N8 to note our starting position as we headed into the desert on a very short hike. Dodie was not impressed. She said "It's stupid to drag out a piece of technology while trying to enjoy a quiet back to nature experience". Fair enough, but after we had walked quite a while after seeing the last trail sign, what the GPS had to say became of more interest! To be fair, while I was trying to decipher what the thing was telling me, Dodie found a road. Good news, since three young women had decided to follow us, so we were now all lost. Seeing a road, the GPS now gave very clear walking directions back to our van. We were only a couple of miles off base. Score: Dodie 1 Nokia 1
There will surely be rematches as we wend our way across Europe, but unlike the Garmin 800, this GPS seems like a strong contender!
The GPS functions of our Nokia N8 work quite well. Here, they save us from being slightly lost in the desert.
