What lies ahead

Roger and I are beginning to think about what happens when we return home. But before that, we have two hard weeks of riding to get through. This next segment of our trip has us filled with apprehension. Each day, we look ahead to the next destination, search for convenience stores or cafes along the route, and consider where we will get food and water.  While we have covered a lot of miles, and been through some very sparsely populated places on this trip, the looming passage across the Mojave has us concerned. We have to plan what we will eat and drink, sometimes a day or two ahead of time.

So nice to ride up and see something like this!

For our ride tomorrow, for instance, while we were having our dinner, we had the little cafe here make us some breakfast (oatmeal, that we can re-heat in the room microwave) and a lunch (a chicken and veggie wrap that we'll carry with us) because we need to be on the road before the cafe opens in the morning and we won't have anywhere to get a meal after we pass Ramah, which is probably going to be too early in the day to eat.  We are headed for a motel in Chambers, Arizona - our 28th state (we count Ontario, Canada!) On the way there (an 80 mile day) there will be some stretches of 30 to 40 miles with nothing there.  I mean NO THING. So you can't just wing it. You either carry your food or get real hungry. That I could manage. I don't think either Roger or I would pass away if we didn't eat for a day or two. But we have to have water. That is essential, particularly in this dry climate.

Instead of something like this!

This desert riding is actually pretty cool - I enjoy the scenery, and mostly feel pretty calm and uplifted by the open skies and landscape. But it's nice to know that you have someplace to get food and water, and that has become our primary concern.

An unknown correspondent posted a comment on one of my first blog posts, when I was writing about how we were trying to figure out what we needed to take with us, and the irony of "getting away from it all" when you have to take so much of "it" with you.  His or her post truly rings true for me at this point:

Once you hit the road, most of the importance of "it" will fade away as the importance of simply procuring enough food and drinking water for each leg of the trip and making sure you bed-down by dusk takes precedence!

This is clearly someone who has toured before!