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2011-02-18 tl;dr: Today's route took me through canyons, farmland and back into the desert. Where I was rained on. I was waiting for dawn when a deer happened upon my tent. With much snorting and stomping of feet she communicated her agitation. I never got a good look.If you ever visit Joshua Tree National Park you owe it to yourself to cross the Interstate at the south exit and drive Box Canyon Road into Mecca. Not only is it a very interesting ride through a canyon with ever-changing sandstone sides, but it's all downhill. For 27 miles. And though it hadn't rained recently there were many flowering plants. Once you hit Mecca the stone and sand of Box Canyon Road are immediately replaced by acres upon acres of flat green farmland snuggled up to the Salton Sea. I suspect they grow everything in Mecca. Except maybe corn. I saw Lettuce, lemons, oranges, grapes, and acres of carefully planted seedlings. Just about every tree or vine was supported by wires or wood and had its own irrigation system. The manual labor involved in this sort of agriculture must be immense. After a thoroughly unhealthy breakfast at an AM/PM truck stop I headed south on Highway 86. Back into the desert. Highway 86 is four lanes of trucks and RVs, but it has a 10 foot shoulder, so it wasn't too bad. Also, the draft of the trucks pulled me along. It runs beside the Salton Sea, though I never really got close to that "unpleasant curiosity". The highway bridges many "ditches". Each has a name. None were very interesting. At Salton City I ate an unhealthy lunch at another AM/PM truck stop before heading west toward Anza Borrego. This is dune buggy country, and I saw a lot of them along with their supporting RV communities. This is when I started hitting rain. I made much better time than I thought I would and pulled into Borrego Springs under a steady cold rain just as it was getting dark. I decided I might try to get a hotel, but when I saw the least-classy motel had rooms left for $120 I decided I would camp after all. After an unhealthy snack at the market I biked a very little ways out of town and set up my tent in the desert. It never stopped raining. My stomach hurts. |
 good morning California  please  Box Canyon Road   Mecca crops   graffiti  dune buggies  it's starting to rain  in Anza Borrego     rain in the distance |