One State Down

Blythe CA to Wickenberg AZ, 115 miles 2600' of climbing. The group split on breakfast 1/2 staying at the motel the rest of us to Dennys. I am trying to eat more before we start out each day. The luggage load was at 6:45 and on the road as soon as you are ready. We are back on I-10 in less than 5 miles. Then stopping at the AZ state line for a pic. Our tandem team goes right on by since the stoker can take all the photos she wants not having to worry about steering. I take my one quick photo and I'm off. I soon catch the tandem and settle in with them. This is not to last as Andrew and James soon come rocketing along. It's off to the races. James needs to make an adjustment to his bike. We leave the Interstate and I go to get some all important gatorade. They are waiting for me and back on I-10 we go passing riders in ones and twos. At 35 miles we exit I-10 to Rt 60 for the rest of the day. The road is arrow straight till the last ten miles then 10 miles of easy downhill twisties. After the first SAG we realize we are going to out run the van to the lunch stop. We stop several times for photos. As we are getting on the road we fall in with Wil and Sandra. Andrew and Sandra get into a sprint comming into the small town where lunch will be. We are early and have to wait about 10 minutes for the van. Kristen the rider who had the sugar/dehydration episode at rap yesterday is pressed into KP duty. She will be back on her bike tomorrow. Lunch is set up quickly. While we eat other riders are comming in. Andrew, James and I are first to leave. The wind is oscillating all the time from almost a tail wind to almost a head wind at on point a dust devil popped up just ahead of us and blew James and I onto the shoulder. We stop to regroup and the backside of the devil blows 180 degrees opposite and is breaking branches on a dead tree across the road. Just as we arrive for the next SAG stop the van pulls in behind us. The plan is to leave Jim and Mike go back in support of the other riders. We refill our bottles and are off. A short time later several cop cars and an ambulance go by the other way. When we get into Wickenberg we go to Safeway for our 1000 calorie snack. Andrew calls the van and two of our riders have gone down. We later learn that Jack hit the rumble strip on the shoulder. His wife Karen couldn't avoid him. She has some scrapes, he has a concussion and is probably going home. We wish him the best. When the luggage came I was off to the laundry. I got back in time for mechanics time to lube my bike. Sandra needed some zip ties to re mount her GPS. Jim only had some thin ones but I had some heavier ones, problem solved. Looking forward to tomorrow.