Day 4 - 29 Palms, CA

Wind initially blew the canopy away :)

Sitting in my 'corral' with my laundry hanging in the evening sun after another tough 100 mile day but much better than yesterday. Better roads, better scenery, still a nasty headwind for the middle 50 miles though. Started out being 'sheparded' out of Victorville by probably 20 different German Shepards (accompanied by the occasional chihuahua) that would throw themselves against their fences in their enthusiasm to greet us. Rolling through the Mojave saw a coyote, and lots of mountains, and a large caterpillar crossing the road. Strong headwinds in the late morning and afternoon made the middle 50 a battle, and a lot of climbing didn't help. Things turned after a hill at about 70 miles that almost made me puke but the van was at the top with a cold coke - 10 miles later we had a serpentine 35mph descent into the Yucca Valley, turned sideways to the wind and felt like we could bike again (seriously, with the headwind it's 2 additional hours in the saddle and the shoes each day - which sucks - but tomorrow we should have a tailwind). 

29 Palms is the gateway to Joshua Tree National Park (which unfortunately we'll be skirting in favor of the road to Parker, AZ which goes through Sheephole National Forest but not exactly the same) as well as home to a Marine base that is known for it's use of exercises and combat orientation training pre-deployment. You can guess how it was named... Last night in California!

Laundry in my rooms 'corral'

Wish these guys would stop following me

Bee in a desert lily

The Joshua Tree