The Thin Blue Ride - Part 1 - Days 7 & 8

Grand Canyon, AZ to Needles, CA:  235 miles (RV)

Ride Report:  23 miles,  69.4 total miles, 18.6 mph avg, 1,784 calories, 1,099 ft. climbing.

Delta and I went East toward Desert View for several miles before turning around and eventually exiting the park on the way to Tusayan where I met Susan.  A fun ride -  downhill on the return leg, so I was able to run 35 mph for several miles .   :-)  But the important part is that the views of the Canyon from highway 64 were (again) spectacular.  See below...

Delta thinks some of the colors of the rock compliment his paint scheme.  (Sigh) Vanity thy name is Delta.  He thought the same thing about the bluebonnets in Texas.

OK - chalk this one up as a learning experience.  Delta says that when asking non-riders to take a pic. always specify that Delta is to be the center piece of the pic.  Great canyon shot tho...  I don't think I look so bad myself - other than being old.

Lesson #2 of the day.  Its best to sneak these when Delta isn't looking.

This time Delta asked me to talk with the (volunteer)  photographer and straighten him out before taking the pic.  The guy looked at me like I was crazy.  Apparently people who don't ride bikes don't get out much.

This is what its all about...

OK - internet bonus points are in play again.  This time they go to the reader who can name the rock jutting up just to the left (the reader's right) of my head.  Hint - think "avian"...  Good luck Darcel - I mean, Spedteacher.

I took no pics on the return leg - too much fun going fast...  So, the next thing ya know, we were on our way to Needles, CA.  I was driving, and as Susan was relaxing in the passenger seat (A Teamsters rule: when co-driving the non-driver "relaxes".)  I prodded her awake just in time to take this.  I believe I said, "mmmmhh, mmmmhh, its a... a... mmm... TAKE A PIC!  She came thru...

'57 Chevy

Plenty of this again.  Kinda cool.

For 70 miles!!!!! I have a friend who hunts elk and claims its a difficult thing to bag one.  As a result of this sign I propose a new strategy.  Place the members of your party 5 miles apart standing on the shoulder of I-40.  Have them all face the same direction and simultaneously fire a round straight down the highway.  I've already cleared this with the game and fish people here in NM, so just go for it.

The Colorado River when passing from AZ to CA.  It doesn't look 300 feet wide to me.  Either those Park types at the Canyon were lying or somebody stole a bunch of water.  Maybe AZ and CA should establish a board of some sort to look into this.  I'll contact some legislators and propose it.

So - shortly after crossing the river comes the obligatory "Welcome to" sign.  Very nice.  Not as inspiring as was Arizona's sign, but it will do.

And shortly after came this...  Really?  Who does this?   More importantly, who stands still while it's done to them?  And how would anyone know?  Does one show it off afterwards?  I don't understand Californians.

And finally, our bed for the night.  The back of the parking lot behind the Shell gas station/truck stop in Needles, CA.  As I told our son Keith when we talked with him on the phone tonight, I went to bed a little early while Mom stayed up playing poker with a few of her Teamster buddies.  Nothing to worry about, she tells me Teamsters always play for peanuts.  Hmmmm...  that must be why she bought the "grande" size of mixed nuts to take along on the trip.

Till next time...

THE NEXT DAY

Needles, CA to Bakersfield, CA: 272 miles (RV)

Ride report: None.  We were busy dealing with on the road issues.  More on this later...

Today was mostly a  road day.  And we both saw some new things...

These were scattered about in several locations.  I speculated that they were Joshua trees and later had a chance to Google some pics of same.  Yup.

Wow.  Sand, sand and more sand.  We didn't see a cow for Miles and miles. I think I'll contact the Dept. of Agriculture here in CA and suggest they talk with the guys in AZ who have cows that eat sand.

Welcome to California!  Highway 58 between Needles and Bakersfield.  We had just passed thru a construction area.  These poor sots were on the other side and as this pic was taken were still 4.5 MILES from said construction.  They'll get where they're going...on Saturday...

What goes up...

Looks impressive from the top, but...

Must come down.  Susan was driving here because she wanted a chance to do so in steep terrain before we start the cross country ride.  It was good practice and she did quite well.  Must be in her blood what with her Dad and a couple of brothers having been involved in trucking for years.  (Note that the author didn't mention Teamsters.)

It looked kinda like this, except that it was real and it was steep...  She did great.

Then came lunch and...this.  Its already off the trailer and mounted where the spare goes so we can go get a new one.  I have a habit of checking the load on the trailer and all the tires at stops.  Fortunately this was facing up and to the rear when I looked.  Being the planners that we are, I had a spare AND an extra tire of the same size.

My own design.  It worked well.  I had it in a bay under The Rig - ready for just such an occasion.  BTW (Jim)  I blame the California highway system for this one.  There were some absolutely terrible bridge underpasses.  It seems that they maintain the roads relatively well here in CA, with the exception of anything going under a bridge.

Then we had to find some place to get the extra tire mounted.  I was grumpy by then.  Just ask Susan.  But shortly, we were back on the road.  Only to get held up for 10-15 minutes to clear this...

A roadside fire started when a truck (which is out of the frame) caught fire and spread to the grass.  I'd think they take that stuff pretty seriously hereabouts...

And finally this.  No pic of The Rig in our slot tonight, but when we went for a walk we saw that Spedteacher has family here?  Well???  What's the story?

There - I'm all caught up!  WOOT!

Till next time...