We woke up at 5am again, and hit the road! We climbed our way through the moutains leading up to Yuma, and felt invigorated when we reached the top (we felt pretty good considering the long/ sharp incline and the intense heat). We enjoyed the long downhill, an stopped in Yuma to refill our water bottles. As we crossed the Colorado River, we were able to see the "Welcome to California" sign. It seemed pretty wimpy compared to the signs we have seen in other states, but we took a picture anyway. Less than 1/2 a mile down the road, we saw a much better sign (it also mentioned that we were entering Pacific Time) so we took another picture. We were about to get back on our bikes when a Highway State Trooper pulled up next to us. At first we thought he was going to welcome us to California and tell us how much he appreciated us visiting and spending money here. Instead, he told us that we had to get off the Interstate, despite the light traffic and wide shoulder. He told us that the side road we would have to take for the next 10 miles would "beat us up". We asked him what that meant, and he told us it was crumbling and in disrepair. The road we were forced to take was exactly that - terrible!! The pavement was cracked and bumpy, but we made it. We were pretty happy to get off our bikes. We decided to spend the night with some tribal members. No, not those tribal members - but rather the Quechan Tribe. We had just reached the Quechan Casino Resort. They win the "best pool of the trip" award, hands down! They have a "lazy river," hot tub, and a regular pool with people taking your drink order (we didn't even have to get out of our floats to get our drinks)! We drank Coronas while floating along the lazy river. We met a nice guy named Vinnie before we got out of the lazy river. He told us about the hills we would be hitting, and places he recommended we stay. He told us he would check out the blog and pass it on to his friends and colleagues. We dried off, stopped by our room, and went to dinner. The food was good, and we caught the beginning of the Yankee game on the big TV in the restaurant. We had a free $10 card for slot machines, so we used it after we finished dinner... we won $10.81which was fun. We are going to wake up very early tomorrow to try and beat the heat - its brutal. Our goal for tomorrow is to get as far as possible without hitting the big hills.
Shout out to Joan S. ... Wishing you a happy birthday from your favorite bikers!!!
Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Check out our route at the link below:
Tacna, AZ- Winterhaven, CA
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