The Brothers’ Bike Ride

76 miles (122 km) – Total so far: 128 miles (206 km)

Well, I didn’t see Erica Kane, but the Pine Valley Inn was a nice motel. I’m not sure the thread count was up to Erica’s standards, but it was OK for me. Thankfully I didn’t hear Tim snore but he said he heard me! Too bad for you, Tim. We each had a giant, good old-fashioned 50s diner breakfast and lots of strong hot coffee. The only thing missing was a waitress asking, “What can I getcha, Hon?”Our ride started a little after 9 a.m. and we had a long climb out of Pine Valley right away. There was a wind advisory for San Diego County; 30 to 60 mph winds ENE. Great. Just what we needed and wanted–more hills and another head wind. Today, at least, Tim got his back wheel on nice and tight.Then, unfortunately, we made a wrong turn. OK, I made a wrong turn and Brian and Tim followed. It was only a 4 mile error but there was at least 2000 feet of additional climbing in those measly 4 miles and it cost us an hour. For those you on the Southern Tier, Buckman Springs Road and Old Buckman Springs Road are two VERY different roads.

We saw the big fence between Mexico and USA and lots of border patrol vehicles. They were very busy today. I-8 was a long, windy, nerve-wracking 10-mile twisty downhill. I finally relaxed and just went for it. Max speed was 32 mph.

We ate lunch in Ocotillo and I had a pretty good Philly cheesesteak. I fueled up on lots of Coke and refilled my Camelback from the ice cold water fountain, then it was back to the road on a very bumpy Old Highway 80 through the Imperial Valley. We were in the Yuma desert one minute, and the next we’d be biking through green, flat farmland. Beautiful spinach and lettuce and grass. We saw quite a few animals–horses and cows, and sheep. Lots of sheep simultaneously lifting and turning their heads to stare at three crazy guys on bikes. My camera battery went dead before lunch so unfortunately I’m a little short on afternoon pictures.

Tomorrow is Sunday and we are taking it easy. It’s a little more than 20 miles to our next stop in Brawely, and we have a late check out from this nice Fairfield Inn, a long lunch, and hopefully an early check in at our next motel.

The beautiful Pine Valley Inn

The inside of Majors Diner where we had breakfast

On our descent out of Pine Valley we had to stop and walk over these water run off thingies

We went through 2 Indian Reservations today

That is the International fence just outside of Jacumba Hot Springs.

These rocks look like they were just dumped on the sides of the mountains and look like they would tumble at any moment.

Looks like the rock from "Galaxy Quest"