Bring on the Heat

 It’s Saturday, September 19. 2020 and we’ve parked ourselves in Ocotillo, California. Temperatures have reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit in this desert town. To surpass the dangerous levels of the heat; Tanner and I woke up at 4am this morning and took off from Boulevard at around 5:30am. We dropped down about 3900 feet of elevation and by 8:30 it was already above 90 degrees. It was only a 27 mile bike ride which was a nice change of pace considering we’ve only been climbing until today. 

  Today marks 100 miles into our trip and we can’t wait to see what the next 100 has in store. The next week looks disgustingly hot considering Tanner and I experience winter for at least 8 months of the year in Colorado. I’m sure all of you read my somewhat frantic post about figuring out how to deal with the treacherous heat. Luckily our good friend Denise Benson who we hiked with for over 1200 miles on the Appalachian Trail is able to help us through a 90 mile stretch that has no water, or any places to stay. I texted Denise on a whim hoping she could help us out and without hesitation she’s coming to the rescue. Denise is experienced in the desert because she lives in the desert parts of Arizona, so her skills and expertise will not be taken for granted. 

  Thanks for following our journey thus far and I will be sure to post updates as much as I can. ❤️

  

The Desert

This morning on September 17.2020, Tanner and I woke up at 5am in Pine Valley, California to hit the road by 7am to beat the heat. The climbing wasn’t too bad as we are starting to descend into the desert from the mountains. We made it to our destination at the Backcountry Inn Motel in Boulevard, California this morning at around 10:30am. 

  California has been increasingly hotter as we continue to get closer to the Desert and swerving around the border of Mexico. Honestly Tanner and I have grown extremely nervous as the California heat has kinda stumped us on what to do next. Our original plan was to head to the next town 26 miles away to Ocotillo, but the heat looks like it will be exceeding 110 degrees for the next week. There’s also excessive heat warnings around us, and little to no services including hotels/restaurants. It is definitely unsafe to tackle this next stretch right now, so we are taking another day in Boulevard, CA to plan on our approach to handle the excessive heat. We will definitely not be putting ourselves in danger, so worst case scenario we’ll just ride out the heat until it cools down a bit. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we plan accordingly to tackle the Desert. 

   

The Beginning

A few days ago on September 13.2020 Tanner and I started our Southern Tier Bicycle route. Sorry I’m a little laggy on posts, but we started at sea level and are starting to ride up the mountains. On the first day of our ride during the first mile we encountered an obviously drugged out man who was living under a bridge and we had to ride past him. It was kind of a nerve wracking start, but we made it past because of everyone’s prayers watching over us. About 15 miles in Tanner and I both encountered flat tires from the goat heads which are large thorns that punctured through our tire. We just fixed that problem on the side of road by replacing our inner tubes. We finished the first day doing 21 miles.

   The next day September 14. 2020 it was much hotter and the elevation was much more difficult but we made it 23.4 miles. Tanner’s tire was making a weird noise because we put it on lopsided, so we parked in front of this mans trailer. We got the tire straightened on quickly, but then Tanner realized that he had dropped the bike pump. (What else could go wrong honestly...) I ended up riding my bike back about a mile to find it. Tanner is super lucky because I found the bike pump on the bike trail. I made it back and we met a helpful man; his name was Brian and he gave us water to wash our hands. We also chugged some water and he let us refill our water. Thanks Brian for helping us along the way! We’ll be sure to pass the love to others. Tanner and I took off from Brian’s at around 11am to find food. We made it to this Mexican food place at about 12:30 to reassess how we were feeling after climbing 17 miles the entire time. Tanner and I were exhausted at this point and decided to try to find somewhere to stay in downtown Alpine, California. Unfortunately there wasn’t anywhere to stay and we had to bike another 6 miles in Alpine. At this point Tanner and I had trouble climbing with all of our stuff on the bike so we started walking the climbs and riding the flats. We were both struggling in this California heat and of course we ran into another problem. Our route took us to a road that was not there. So we had to go back 3 miles to get to a hotel we found called Viejas Casino and Hotel. We had to bike 3 extra miles, but we had no choice because we already reserved the room. There were some vulgar language being said by the two of us, but we made it after a long hot climbing day. The staff at this hotel have been so genuinely kind and helpful. They even let us leave our bikes in the staff room instead of leaving them outside where people are more likely to steal them. Thanks Viejas staff! We’ll make sure to pass on the same genuine help, and love you’ve provided to us. 

  Today September 15.2020 Tanner and I tried to make a reservation at our next stop in 16 miles in the town of Pine Valley, California. Unfortunately their was no availability  today, and it is the only place to stay or camp in the town. We are currently taking a rest day and staying another day at the Viejas Hotel. Pine Valley has availability tomorrow so we’ll bike the 16 miles and stay their tomorrow night. We are sore and could use the day off to prevent any injuries anyways so we are happy to take a rest day. Keep following our journey in the days ahead. I’ll keep posting updates as much as I can, so all of you following our journey will feel part of our journey as well. 

    

Biking Across The U.S.

It’s 12:30pm on August 20, and all I can think about is how in 3 weeks I will be getting on my bicycle while carrying all my necessities for 3,022 miles. I know you all are wondering what influenced this kind of crazy behavior. Tanner is my fiancé and we have been together for 5 1/2 years. When Tanner was 17 years old he biked from Seaside Oregon-Virginia Beach all by his lonesome. A few years later we both met each other and completed the 2189 mile trek from Georgia-Maine well known as the Appalachian trail in 2016 together. It took us 6 months to complete and we walked every mile of it on foot. The overwhelming life lessons we have learned from our experiences through traveling has influenced our decision to bike from San Diego, California to St. Augustine, Florida. 2020 has also been a really tough year for me personally with losing my Tia Joann to stage 4 breast cancer in June, having to work through a world wide pandemic, and not being able to get on my bike to train as much as I need to because of the wildfires around where I live in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. I think we could all use some inspiration during these crazy times and I hope that through this blog I can encourage, inspire, and share stories with all of you. This is just the beginning to many posts so save this blog and enjoy the journey with Tanner and I.