I've never lived in Blythe. In fact, this is the first time I've ever been in it. I'm here for two reasons: It is as far as I wanted to go in one day. It will allow me to pass all the way through Arizona tomorrow, even reach Las Cruces, NM, because I've been in Phoenix in the summer before. The hotel has air conditioning.
Really I had planned on camping tonight, really. Why I'm not is a good news bad news kind of story.
It really started last night as I got all packed in what has to be considered good news. The bad news is that it took me until after midnight what with getting clean sheets on my bed and folding the clothes I washed along with the sheets I had just taken off. (Getting the bed clean and laundry done is definitely good news.)
But this meant that I ended up sleeping on the couch, in my clothes, not all that well and definitely not all that long. Bad news.
But with all of that going on, I still got out in reasonable time. Definitely good news. Since I remembered going through Kansas in June of last year and feeling that 103 degree heat, I knew I would have to dress cool. Good news! I bought some mesh mountaineering shirts with my REI dividend that wick water away from the skin. Twenty-eight miles into the ride, Woodside, I pulled off to put on another layer and get out the "heat-troller" for my heated gloves. Stopping bad, having something warmer good.
Two hundred miles later, I was too hot. Since it also happened to be lunch time, I cooled off, ate, and took off the layer I had added, opened the vents to my jacket, and switched to my summer gloves.
Fifty miles later, I was still hot. Bad news! Fortunately I still had some cooling things that I could do, including taking off my chaps and opening up the scoop vents in my jacket. Good news. In the process of stowing my just removed chaps, I knocked my helmet off of my motorcycle seat and either the visor bouncing on my foot as I tried to save it or the concrete broke it. Definitely bad news.
Even worse, I rode for the next 75 miles to get to some civilization that might have a motorcycle gear store with my eyes watering from the wind. I asked at my next fill up and the guy seemed confident so I followed his directions. The good news is that I rode five miles each way on a rather fun road for motorcycles but no gear store. I did, however, see a UPS store so I decided to address the root cause and improve my storage by sending a few less needed things ahead. They were very helpful and gave me very clear directions to a Cycle Gear store really close the expressway. I bought a new helmet and was on my way, again. My old one really did need replacing.
The really bad news is that all those delays for cold and heat and storage and breakage, put me in Los Angeles during rush hour. The good news is that California allows lane splitting. The bad news is that I did that for over 30 miles.
At least the wind stopped being directly in my face, which helped my mileage. Of course, it waited to do so until I reached the desert. I was still committed to reach Blythe as not making a distance would throw all of my planning off. This meant that I had to ride after dark. Now the desert and rocky outcroppings are particularly beautiful in the setting sun and twilight. After dark, though, I couldn't read my printed directions on how to get to the tent camping area, which I consider good news.
Even though it costs substantially more, I'm sitting here in air conditioning and have six fewer miles to go tomorrow.
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