Day 5: Dateland, Arizona

Today's ride was a scheduled distance of 70 miles, mostly flat road.  It started out cloudy and cool for most of it, and then the sun came out and we were in the oven the rest of the ride. 

For the second day in a row, we awoke with an unpleasant feeling of sleeping on the floor.  The mattress had once again deflated during the evening.  Our Coast 2 Coast luck, or lack thereof, with "sleeping on air" continues to be bad.  One of my luxury items, Thermarest sleeping pad, helps a bit.  We had a very nice conversation with Captain about our experience on the 2013 ride, where we had many mattress deflations--Captain joked that he had not accounted for the "Arndts on this ride."  It was one of the turning points on C2C 2013 where we learned to appreciate Captain after at first being incredibly frustrated with him, and no doubt the feeling was mutual.  I say this now only because we love him and his sweet family today and all the other stuff is water well under the bridge, and chalked up to a learning experience.

The route took us out of Yuma and through the Imperial Valley, which supplies most of the United States with winter vegetables. We observed the plowed fields, ready for planting, recently planted fields being watered, workers harvesting romaine lettuce and cauliflower, and fully harvested fields waiting for renewal.  The workers were friendly and happy to get their pictures taken, although their foreman shooed some fellow riders away from another field--something about cutting down on productivity.

After the first SAG (support and gear) stop, Jeff took off for a thirty minute jaunt (at 20 mph) and left Lisa behind to fend for herself with three "older" gentlemen, Ken, Roger, and Udi.  She was in good hands, but had to prove herself in a pace line where it is courteous to take turns "pulling" the group.  She has followed a pace line many times, but never pulled one.  The first attempt was a bit hairy, she took off too fast and quickly dropped 2 of the men from the group--just a bit overzealous!  The second and third attempts were better, but there will be other chances to improve the skills.  However, the men were kind enough to tell her they were happy we were riding with them.  That is high praise coming from seasoned riders.

Tonight we are back in the tents on a lovely, clear night in Dateland, AZ.  We stopped off before getting to camp for a treat of date shakes or cactus shakes, both of which are really sweet and delicious and well earned today after 70 miles.  If the name is not clear enough, you should know this area is know for date groves, which we will pass by many, many of tomorrow.  

This is our home,as viewed from the highway, for the next fourteen hours.

UK Note:  After suffering a flat tire the other day, Graham's troubles continued today with two broken spokes, probably the result of the extremely rough conditions yesterday.