Bubba warned us about today. We are in the vegetable growing valley of Arizona. He said the ride would start like a march – left, right, left, right. Once we worked our way out of Yuma we entered the map sections of flat, fertile fields. The square sections of acres adjust so that every mile there is a jog to compensate for the curvature of the earth.
The workers are harvesting romaine and were not objecting to a bunch of curious bikers taking pictures of them.
Irrigation from canals from the Colorado River makes this otherwise desolate landscape an Eden of crops.
We returned to the desert landscape and stopped for lunch and the only restaurant for miles. It’s usually closed on Wednesday but the open for Bubba and the Bubbalonians. The motorcyclists heard the place would be open and came too.
The remainder of the day was spent on old 80 and I-8. With only a few hundred feet of altitude gain for the entire 70 miles, it was like riding on a pool table. The temperature in the 80’s with just enough wind to keep us comfortable. A blissful day of riding. I was so enjoying the conversation I neglected to look ahead far enough to avoid a very large pile of mangled aluminum. Thank you Chandler, the bike mechanic, for showing up, providing a new tire and getting me back on the road.
Bert, Bill and Sony, the others in our ride group today, were still going strong after 60 miles. As one of the riders said of the day, “Now this is the ride I signed up for.”
The video from today will be posted as soon as we can get to better wifi.