Rock-Hopping on a Narrow-Tire Catrike??

Today's bouncy slow tracking path
Jacque and I have both enjoyed a bit of short ridings around the rock-strewn desert here in Quartzsite AZ, RV and White-Hair Heaven.  Today we thought we'd like to follow one of the many trails near us, where dozens of ATV's roar by every day, and see how far we could go and what we might see.
The El Paso Natural Gas pipeline road is very near us, so we took off following that to the West.  At a little over a mile of VERY rough and unpleasant rocks and ruts, we encountered a junction with another gravel road, this one heading mostly North and South, which seemed relatively much smoother and flatter.  So we turned North and continued riding, in hopes it might actually get us to Quartzsite, only 6 miles north of us, without having to dodge cars out on or near the pavement of Highway 95.  My bike-mounted GPS was not at all helpful, since it showed NONE of these area dirt and gravel and rock roads, and showed us only riding out in the open across the desert.  This northbound road was MUCH better, but all these roads are so rough and rutted that I found it was often easier to ride OFF the wheeled pathway and up in the rocks.  Cars, trucks, and 4-wheelers beat out a 2-wheeled track between the rocks.  The resulting rutted wheelways are too narrow for the front wheels of the trike to stay inside, and the if the single rear wheel of the trike is ridden in the wheel rut, both front wheels must bounce amongst the blasted rocks bounced up surrounding the track.  So it was slow going, and with the occasional large patch of loose sand or gravel covering the shallow arroyos encountered several times per mile, it was tiresome work.  But, indeed, this relatively smoother road eventually took us right to the outskirts of Quartzsite, where we then found the paved roads this near the townsite actually had SHOULDERS that accommodated us on our trikes and we merrily rode into town and managed to spend some money.  First, of course, we had to find a bathroom, then something to EAT since now it was noonish and we had managed to work up a real appetite.
As we walked out of the service station to remount our trikes, I found a much younger couple standing next to my Catrike, obviously wanting to learn more about it.  The nice looking lady looked at it closely, and asked "Is that thing Automatic?"  I chuckled and told her no, it was foot pedal powered, and NO, it was definitely NOT automatic.  One of my recurring frustrations with our biking and triking is that so many people seem to think we must have some kind of MOTOR on them, and IF NOT, then they invariably suggest why DON'T we put motors on them.  They tend to glaze over when we tell them we enjoy the exercise, and in fact NEED the exercise to maintain our health.
The first eatery we spotted when leaving was Silly Al's Pizza - we'd heard people saying they liked the place.
We were hungry enough to try most anything, and this was close to us, so we crossed the road and chained up the trikes.  One of the waitresses told us we were welcome to bring our doggies through the restaurant so we could enter the outside dining area inside their fence, so we did.  Just about the same time a HUGE motorcycle group rode in from Parker AZ, so we enjoyed a bit of a wait before we finally got served, but BOY, it was worth it.  If you ever stop in Quartzsite be sure to try Silly Al's, it's great.  Jacque had a Pizza and I ordered a taco salad and we should have only ordered either one, since the portions were extra generous and both dishes absolutely tasty to the max.
We had planned to visit the Tyson Wells Stage Stop Museum right next to Silly Al's but after a visit to a leather store the OTHER direction we rode for home, er, that is, the RV in the desert.  Good thing we did, since it took us until a little after 5 PM to finally bounce back 'home' after a full day on the trikes.  Great fun, but we are genuinely TIRED tonight.  RV showers and early to bed... nitey nite.

Still amazed that this little Catrike STREET rider with such small tires can get along so well in such rough territory.  Maybe ONE mile today was on pavement..... the rest on very rough rocks.  I've been doing this over a week now, riding it all over the place with NO access to paved pathways, and no bent wheels or shredded or even flat tires have resulted.  My chain did acquire a twisted link that complicated riding for a while until I spotted it and bent it back into place with my Gerber multi-tool.  Not bad for a fairly old lighter duty Catrike Road.

Ride Started: 9:16 AM Ride Ended:  5:23 PM
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  19.57
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
1.7 MPH                               3.3MPH                   13.5 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
8 hours 7 mins                      5 hours 53 mins        2 hours 14 mins