Newlyweds Bike Across America!: The first days!

Wheels in the Pacific!!

Jason of Newport Velo set us up!

Here we are in Desert Hot Springs. Most people riding across country across the "Southern Tier" leave from San Deigo and parallel the I-8 corridor for a while before heading north the the I-10 corridor. We wanted to go to Joshua Tree and leave from LA so we elected to head along the I-10 corridor the entire time. Now we understand why this route my not be the most advisable... But here we are!

Everything started great with about 30 miles on a bike path paralleling the Santa Ana "River". Jason at Newport Velo did us a huge favor by accepting shipment of our bikes and helping us set them up when we got there! He gave us great vibes and encouragement as we pushed off to start our journey. We then had about 20 miles of city riding through Corona where most bike lanes were staging areas for construction equipment.

Back on the bike path for the last 15 or so making a very pleasant and tiring first day in the saddle. We had great hospitality with a friend of a friend in Riverside, CA. Grilled sous-vide steak, carne asada, guacamole, beers, showers, and a place to set up our tent was all we wanted
and more! Thanks Dan and Nathan for setting it up!

Then came day 2.... Luckily we had a tailwind to help us navigate the 70 miles or so that got us here from Riverside. We rode the last 3 miles of bike path along the Santa Ana and then heading into the wild that is rural backroads. 10 miles on San Timeteo Canyon Road was hot, uphill, and devoid of a paved shoulder for riding... Fortunately we passes though miles of citrus groves so we had plenty to snack on! We then cruised down though some "highway towns" and had some decent I-10 frontage roads. We were flying with steady winds at our backs and set our sights on Desert Hot Springs, some 25 miles ahead.

After getting turned around outside the Morongo Native reservation because of their policy of no bicyclists we headed to a dirt frontage road along I-10 as it was the only other road in the valley to get us east. We thought that was bad until we found ourselves climbing a 3 mile hill up into a giant field of wind turbines riding up rough gravel and sand with no end in sight. As the sun started to set behind us we crested out at the top of the turbine field clutching our GPS enabled phones and counting down the miles of gravel road. By 7 PM we had exited the fields and had a "easy" 8 miles cruising into Desert Hot Springs with the last of our energy.

Pizza and wings, a hot mineral bath, and 9 hours of sleep and we are ready for day 3!