We had quite the rough sleep last night. With constant alarms going off in the fire station, we were awakened many times throughout the night. But hey, seeing the fire men hop up having to take their calls regardless of the hour was pretty inspiring. They are doing something pretty important, and yeah we lost some sleep, but it was also amazing to see their dedication and drive to help people in danger. The crew received a call for duty that rang loudly around 5 AM, which was just perfect because we needed to wake up anyway. We got ready, and the firemen escorted us out as they opened the bay door and waved us on our way!
We began the uphill battle as we do on most days, but knew that we would have a drop in elevation soon, so that kept us pedaling! Soon enough, a fire truck filled with our buddies drove by and they honked at us! It was fun to see them on the street, even though the loud honk shocked us at first. Soon, we got some food, charged our bike lights back up and approached the start of some serious downhill coasting. So steep in fact, that we were feeling quite nervous, and took our time. This meant stopping every few minutes to cool our breaks, singing some tunes, going as slowly as possible, and really being aware of cars flying by because the shoulder was pretty narrow. The road began to make some sharp curves, and we took up the lane so that cars wouldn’t try to pass so close to us. We zoomed around corners, constantly checking for cars in our mirror and praying that we would come out of this stretch alive. AND WE DID!
As we turned off the scary road, we pulled over to sit on some sand, carb up, and relax from that tense situation. We were feeling very thankful to have our Orfos lights that work extremely well even in the daytime. We hopped back on our bikes and soon began to enter the outskirts of Palm Springs. And we didn’t need any sign to tell us that; the houses were making quite the statement. And it was a huge contrast from many of the towns we had previously been biking through. We biked past many gigantic houses, and soon arrived at the one we would be staying at. Naomi’s Aunt Ruthie had a friend who lived in Rancho Mirage. The friend wasn’t going to be home on the day we were stopping through, and they were kind enough to leave us their key to their house. When we pulled up, we couldn’t believe our eyes.
The house was magnificent. It was filled with art, and centered around a bar, with gorgeous furniture and a kitchen to dream of. We took a wonderful hot shower, cooked our pasta, and felt like queens! The sprinklers came on the golf course that their house sits on the edge of, and we ran through them, feeling so silly and happy. We did our laundry, blogged for a bit, and got in bed around 8 PM. It was a glorious night, and just what we needed to pump ourselves up for the last few days of Trash Freeway!
October 21, 2015
Starting Point: Twentynine Palms, CA
Destination: Rancho Mirage, CA
Today’s Miles Biked: 64
Total Miles Biked: 2,555