The longest day...

Blythe to Wickenberg-115 miles. 215 miles in the last 2 days..unbelievable, an accomplishment that I never dreamed of actually doing. We averaged 14 mph, spent 8 hours,13 minutes actually riding the bike, and the total day was 11 hours counting sag stops and a couple of flat tire stops (Tom had one and we stopped to help others a couple of times). We had about 5 miles before we hit the Colorado River and officially left California behind and crossed into Arizona. We pulled out our sand from the Pacific and sprinkled a little at the base of the welcome sign to appeased the biking spirits (altho it didn't seem to help Tom). And then we headed into the Arizona desert...We got a little more elevation today and so it was just a tad cooler - maybe I should say not as hot. I think it was probably 1:30 or so before the temp hit 100....We were still on I-10 for the first half of the day before switching to an Arizona highway that took us straight to Wickenberg...straight may be the wrong word here...lots of semi-long climbs and while the grades were never too bad they seemed to go on forever. And of course the ever-dominant sun just beating down. I carried one water bottle that I used for nothing but to spray into my helmet and try to keep my brain from frying. We did get a long downhill-about five miles - coming into our motel tonight I had looked at my computer (bike computer/odometer) just before and saw a long uphill just as the numbers when to 102. I thought how can anyone who has just done 102 miles have to face another hill...So the long downhill was a true gift. So tonight we are both basically trashed-we were going to set up a pool to see who would scream the loudest in the middle of the night when the leg cramps hit. Tom is already asleep and I am not too far away....Sorry no pictures again...maybe tomorrow. We will be climbing into the beginning of the mountains leading up to Flagstaff (our rest day on Sunday) so lots of climbing but only 59 miles. Basically we feel pretty good about the day (there were a few of our fellow riders who had to be picked up and brought in) but are ready for a night's sleep....Sweet dreams folks.