Day 6, March 11: Blythe, CA to Salome, AZ

64 of 64 miles
Temperature range from low 50's to mid-80's

Immediately upon leaving Blythe we crossed the Colorado River and entered Arizona, our first state line crossing. We contemplated diving off the bridge but, not being rule-breakers, we thought better of it.

We passed through the Colorado River Indian Reservation and entered I-10 for an 18-mile stretch that was marred by a fatal car accident—several riders saw the car weaving down the highway at high speed with the state police in hot pursuit. Michelle, our trip leader, pulled up to the accident just as we went by, her heart in her throat in fear that one of the riders might be involved. Thank goodness, we’re all safe.

We exited at Quartzite, a town well known to rock collectors. It is a typical western desert outpost with tacky RV parks galore, although our Arizona rider commented on the decreased volume of tourists in the area for this time of year due to the economy. Unfortunately, we missed the local legend who is usually found wandering the town sans clothes. I, for one, was cruelly disappointed. We had our first break of the day at Sweet Darlene’s where the so-called ambiance of the pre-fab building belied the taste of the sticky buns which, I am told, were delicious.

We re-entered I-10 for another 11-mile section, lined beautifully with wildflowers along the roadside and mountains across the desert in the distance. We also had our first saguaro sighting.

During the next 20 miles we had a stiff headwind and a very bumpy and noisy road surface. I began to tire and fell back from my first group of riders, to pulling the next group, to being pulled. I was getting discouraged when, finally, I realized that I had a flat that I had been riding on for quite a long time, unnoticed due to the road conditions. We changed the flat and, in no time, made our way to Hope, where someone is in dire need of a grammar and spelling lesson.

I was completely exhausted when we reached our motel in beautiful, downtown Salome, as were virtually all the other riders. While it didn’t seem that we covered any dramatically uphill sections, we did have a vertical of about 2600’, and the combination of headwinds and bad road surface was very tiring.

The Sheffler Motel is not, as they say, AAA rated, but I quite liked it. We had 50’s style metal rocking chairs on the veranda that, once sitting in them, folks had a hard time getting up.

As we had crossed a state line, we had the traditional margarita cocktail hour before enjoying one of Chef Linda’s wonderful dinners. Lights were out very early tonight.