Brawley CA to Julian CA
When we woke up this morning we all knew only 140 miles remained to complete our transcontinental journey. The Pacific Ocean and the end of our ride in Oceanside was closing in on us fast. That distance could be completed in one day but we decided two days would be more reasonable. Once in Oceanside there would be plenty to do preparing for our departure for the east coast and home. Large cities have busy roads and they are always best traveled in the light of day for safety.
You know you are getting close to the California shore when you hear “The Surfing Report” on the news channel.
Today the heat of the dessert would not take us by surprise. Our bikes would have plenty of fluids on board this time.
None of us really expected so much dessert to be in California. We had all thought the largest part would have been in Arizona. But most of the Arizonian dessert expanses are actually just south of our route.
We still had at least 50 miles of dessert in California left with temperatures again well over 100 degrees before we would start a big climb to Julian CA.
Unlike the east coast, off-road use by ATV’s and other four-wheel drive vehicles is legal in many places. Along our route we have passed thousands of acres of land put aside for this use. Immense sand dunes and miles of dessert roads are there to transverse. This time of year the dunes are empty though. The off road season shuts down April just before the heat turns on. They start up again in October.
About thirty miles into our desert crossing we came upon the Blu-In grocery store. This is a small store in the middle of the dessert being operated by three friendly women. They told us the store is a very busy place during off-road season but now is slow. A couple of their kids were playing Monopoly on one of the tables. We sucked down glass after glass of ice tea and loaded our bottles with water. The store had a “Go RAAM” sign in front of the building. Remember RAAM (Race Across America) is the route we are following. And in fact we should soon see the first of the bicycle racers going by tomorrow if we are lucky.
The women took our photo for the stores web site being impressed with our adventure. http://www.bluincafe.com/ Is their URL address.
Today our route would take us from below sea level to over 4000’ feet. All of this elevation gain was in one short steep climb off the desert floor up the mountain to Julian.
It is amazing to watch the sparse dessert brush change into pines in just a couple thousand feet of climbing. One of the first things you notice is sweat appearing on you skin. In the dessert our skin was dry as the sweat evaporated before it even had a chance to cool us. This would be the final climb of the tour. From the top of this mountain we basically have a downhill ride to sea level.
When we woke up this morning we all knew only 140 miles remained to complete our transcontinental journey. The Pacific Ocean and the end of our ride in Oceanside was closing in on us fast. That distance could be completed in one day but we decided two days would be more reasonable. Once in Oceanside there would be plenty to do preparing for our departure for the east coast and home. Large cities have busy roads and they are always best traveled in the light of day for safety.You know you are getting close to the California shore when you hear “The Surfing Report” on the news channel.
Today the heat of the dessert would not take us by surprise. Our bikes would have plenty of fluids on board this time.
None of us really expected so much dessert to be in California. We had all thought the largest part would have been in Arizona. But most of the Arizonian dessert expanses are actually just south of our route.
We still had at least 50 miles of dessert in California left with temperatures again well over 100 degrees before we would start a big climb to Julian CA.
Unlike the east coast, off-road use by ATV’s and other four-wheel drive vehicles is legal in many places. Along our route we have passed thousands of acres of land put aside for this use. Immense sand dunes and miles of dessert roads are there to transverse. This time of year the dunes are empty though. The off road season shuts down April just before the heat turns on. They start up again in October.
About thirty miles into our desert crossing we came upon the Blu-In grocery store. This is a small store in the middle of the dessert being operated by three friendly women. They told us the store is a very busy place during off-road season but now is slow. A couple of their kids were playing Monopoly on one of the tables. We sucked down glass after glass of ice tea and loaded our bottles with water. The store had a “Go RAAM” sign in front of the building. Remember RAAM (Race Across America) is the route we are following. And in fact we should soon see the first of the bicycle racers going by tomorrow if we are lucky.
The women took our photo for the stores web site being impressed with our adventure. http://www.bluincafe.com/ Is their URL address.Today our route would take us from below sea level to over 4000’ feet. All of this elevation gain was in one short steep climb off the desert floor up the mountain to Julian.
It is amazing to watch the sparse dessert brush change into pines in just a couple thousand feet of climbing. One of the first things you notice is sweat appearing on you skin. In the dessert our skin was dry as the sweat evaporated before it even had a chance to cool us. This would be the final climb of the tour. From the top of this mountain we basically have a downhill ride to sea level.
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