 |
| Trailer park ghost town |
I was originally thinking that today’s ride would be a relatively flat and easy 70 miles from Yuma to Dateland AZ.
But I didn’t have a paper map for this section and the ACA navigational app took me north out of town into a howling headwind that morning, and then rounded a 20-mile circle of sorts that brought me back almost to Yuma before finally heading east on Old 80.
So that 70 miles turned into 90, and I barely made it to the no-frills-sorry-pal Dateland RV park before dark, and the last stretch of the route was on the shoulder of the heavily-trafficked I-8.
I might not have minded the unexpected additional milage had the wind not been blowing so fiercely today.
But as it was, I definitely had been counting on an easier day.
Out on the loop, I had two serious dog encounters. In the first case, a pit bull mix chased after me into road but retreated after I hollered at him.
In the second case, three large dogs traveling in a pack, with no humans around, surprised me near an abandoned trailer park on a remote section of Laguna Dam Rd. They emerged from the roadside shrubbery, growling and baring their fangs as they charged.
But they did an abrupt about-face when I gave them a blast with my boat horn. One toot and those dogs were in full retreat up a hillside. When they started to slow down, I gave them another toot, and they stepped on the gas. Thing hurts my ears, even with the horn pointed away, though. So I hope I don’t have to use it too often. But it sure is a relief to know it works.
Steve, a westbound cyclist I met later, told me Simon, who is now riding with another cyclist, is a half day ahead.
I met another eastbound cyclist, Scott, in the Dateland RV park tonight. He’s from Boulder CO and is trying to do the whole 3,000-mile ST route in 30 days.
The Dateland RV park is truly basic. There wasn’t even a picnic table in my campsite.
When I was brushing my teeth that evening, I noticed that the campground’s water supply had flunked a recent e-coli test.
So I bought a gallon of water in the gas station/convenience store.
The store also served pizzas and date milkshakes, and that’s what I had for dinner.
DM:90.4; TM: 306.9; 9:56 hrs ride time (ugh!); 4,220 ft climbing; avg. spd., 9 mph
 |
| Steve, a westbound cyclist |
 |
| Dateland RV park site |
 |
| Scott, an eastbound cyclist |
No comments:
Post a Comment