Today's Tracking from the Desert to the Lake
Amongst almost daily short rides, we occasionally do something more interesting than haul trash .
Today Jacque wanted to ride over to the "beach" at Squaw Lake which is just around a couple hills from us with a quite low vehicular traffic count. I was working on TV and Ham antenna repairs so she left at least an hour before I did, with both Tink and Lilly in her cargo baskets. It was noon before I got done with my tinkering, and my blood sugar was so low I was getting wacky. While I was eating a snack, Jacque called on the cell phone to tell me how nice the lake was, so I promised to ride on over as soon as I finished stuffing my face.
I needed to get rid of a bag of trash so I bungeed it on the back of the trike and took off. Six-tenths of a mile later I plopped it into the dumpster and continued on around the rocky road to the lake.
We had previously driven this short road so I thought I knew what was ahead, but of course on the trike the trip was a tad more tedious. I was a bit surprised to learn just how long this particular short stretch of road was. First you cross a dam on a paved road that seemingly hasn't been re-paved or improved in the last 40 years or so, and at the other end of the dam the road drops precipitously downward toward the small lake. It was fun smoking down the hill in spite of the curves and rocky rough surface, and then a pleasant short jaunt across the parking lots to the water's edge, with picnic tables available for tired cyclists to sit and cool off.
We are parked in the Sonoran Desert only a few miles from the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground, yet in spite of the volcanic debris littering the moonscape-like landscape, the lower Colorado River is within walking distance, turning the rocky landscape into thousands of acres of fresh greenery, fruit and vegetables as far as the eye can see, courtesy of this Imperial Dam we're parked close to.
It's mind boggling to think this river comes all the way from Colorado, flows through Hoover Dam and well over a dozen other irrigation and power producing dams and waterways, providing livelihood and groceries and recreation to literally millions of people. We old duffers parked in RV's up and down the BLM lands away from or near the river are just specks on the map.
I had packed my insulated 32 ounce soda cup with ice and stashed a full can of Diet Barq's Root Beer in the rear pack, and it had survived the trip nicely. I carefully emptied the root beer into the ice and enjoyed a lot of fizz and burps before I got through with it, sitting at the table's edge with a bit of shade to hide behind to help cool off.
After this short respite, Jacque again left before I did and I followed shortly thereafter when I finished the fizzy drink. The climb uphill was not too bad, but was as usual longer than desired before reaching the top.
We had some shopping to accomplish in Yuma so we returned to the RV house-on-wheels, locked up the trikes, and drove the twenty-plus miles to Yuma.
Here we are "dry camping" without external power or hookups whatsoever along with a couple hundred other Snow-Birds and we find it difficult to avoid a trip to Yuma and the assorted stores every other day or so.
Ride Started: 12:52 PM Ride Ended: 2:17 PM
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5:69
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.5 MPH 5.0 MPH 27.10 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 Hour 37 minutes 1 hour 7 minutes 30 minutes
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