Dear whomever,

First things first... WE MADE IT TO SAN DIEGO!

I'll leave the California segment to Jesse but I wanted to gloat a little and leave you with this image of Matt, one of our San Diego Couch Surfers, enjoying the crap out of some delicious Cheetos.

A taste of whats to come

I know it has been a long time since we've blogged; We've been too busy to sit down and write out all that has happened. We'll do our best to recap here and hopefully we'll have some time and computer access along the way to give you some more frequent updates.

Where we last left you we were in Las Cruces preparing to depart... this got delayed in favor of...

That's right... DANCE PARTY
(I'm not sure whose dance moves I was laughing at but clearly they were amazing)

Our Surfers Kenny, Greg , and Greg's sister Alicia, took us out to a place called Grahams where we fought for dance floor space with the employees on a slow Thursday night.

Our lovely hosts Greg "Stanky Legs" Cupit (left) and "Skinny" Kenny Chunn (right)

Our dance moves inspired awe, joy, shame, and the DJ to play music that no one wanted to dance to. We went home happy and ready to sleep.



The next day we departed Las Cruces still a little tired from the dancing and got in a nice day of riding... which went past sunset (as usual). We pulled in late to a rest stop and by the light of our headlamps spotted both scorpions and a black widow around the picnic tables we'd planned to sleep on. I went to bed resolving to shake out my shoes before I put them on again in the morning (Naturally I forgot to do this.)

Jesse tries to fire himself up about our dinner of Ramen noodles and tuna out of a bag.

Expecting to make great time to Arizona we headed off into strong head winds. We made it about 20 miles before I realized that I'd not properly closed my Pannier bag and the camera... had fallen out. We tried to bike back going against traffic but with the drafts from passing trucks and the winds it quickly proved to be a terrible idea. After praising myself with colorful language and giving myself a somewhat harsh assessment of self worth... I decided I would take all the gear off of my bike, sprint to the rest stop, and bike back looking for the camera. Jesse pointed out he was a faster sprinter and offered to be the one to go... lets just say it wasn't a long discussion. With the strong winds at his back and no gear on the bike Jesse got going as fast as 37 mph on a straight away and spotted the camera from across four lanes of traffic about 3 miles away from the rest stop. I was relieved and feeling a bit guilty about the delay but it was back on the bike and on to Arizona.


We'd been riding on the interstate which really hasn't been so bad; Lots of rest stops and gas stations... much better than the nothing highways of west Texas. Sometimes the rest stops are even... well... pretty.

Rest stop in Texas Canyon, AZ

Heading in to Tucson with the mountains and saguaro cacti was beautiful; we biked past the worlds largest airplane graveyard that went on forever and had over 4,000 aircraft. We later found out that they recently shot a portion of the upcoming second Transformers movie there, how exciting. We past about 5 different signs that said we were entering Tucson so we aren't sure when we actually entered the city -- but, whenever we actually arrived in Tucson there was still light left in the day... which surprised everyone including Tori, our friend and Tucson host, who was still at work when we got to her place. We spent a few days there enjoying all of the insane desert flora and the surprisingly comfortable dry heat. The University of Arizona campus was amazing looking but I shudder to imagine just how much water they use to keep the whole campus so lush and green (maybe that is why the tuition is so high?) We had lots of fun with Tori and her roommates and we even spent an extra day due to a sudden nap attack (oops).

Even the sewage treatment is scenic outside of Tucson

On our way out of Tucson we stuck to the interstate when there wasn't a frontage road -- This went fine until two Arizona state troopers whistled us over and told us we couldn't be on the interstate...at all... ever. We were very shocked by this news considering there were signs coming in to Tucson telling bikers to stay on the shoulder; To be fair however, the stretch we were on does not allow bicycles. The troopers wrote us each warnings and tried to scare us by telling us about how semi-trucks drive on the shoulder. He even made us watch trucks pass by to illustrate his point (They all stayed perfectly in the lines). After insulting my drivers license photo, all truck drivers and, inadvertently, themselves... they let us go. Our state trooper mandated detour got us to Casa Grande - a lovely little town where the police officers were not helpful and the locals regaled us with stories of how people who have tried to sleep out in the local parks before had been stabbed, shot, robbed, and beaten. We spent an anxious night stealth camped behind a Baptist church with dozens of motion sensor lights. We got up early and never had to use our alibi -- (Jesse was raised Baptist and I was a mute and godless heathen in need of saving.)

We saw Saguaro Cacti all along the roads - many 20 feet or higher

Due to our continued flat tire spree we were out of tubes heading in to Yuma and were hoping for a stretch of luck for once; we switched our worn down back tires with our slightly less worn down front tires just in case. The day was moving along alright, windy but without flat tires, and we came up on the Gila Mountains outside of Yuma. The climb was steep and fast but it yielded a great view of a beautiful sunset, and a nice downhill as well.

Gila Mountain pass at sunset

We rode in to the city where I breathed a sigh of relief -- a day without flats! A few minutes later Jesse ran over some gravel and picked up a staple that popped his front tire, figures. As Jesse patched his tire under a street light, several emergency vehicles pulled up expecting a motorcycle accident. We all shared a laugh about the flat tire and they gave us directions to the nearest Walmart where we'd be able to get extra tubes if we needed them. We got our tubes and sat for a while at the Walmart expecting that there would be a park or some place to crash, we were wrong. The police weren't helpful and the nearest camping was far away. We turned on our lights and got ready for some night riding... hoping to find a decent spot to stealth camp in a city of almost 200,000. We rode about 7 miles or so when I realized that my phone, which I'd put in my pocket expecting a phone call, was no longer in my pocket... I forgot to zip it shut. After making a series of loud angry grunting noises that scared and confused Jesse, I explained to him what happened and that I would bike with him until we saw a hotel - get a room no matter the price - drop off my bags and bike back to the Walmart and start to search for the phone. The first hotel we found was located very near the airport which meant it wasn't cheap. I threw off my bags and headed off into the Yuma night. I got to the Walmart and slowed my pace looking for the phone. I made it about 4 miles before I got a flat - shit - luckily, when it comes to me and tragedy, I always leave a little room for a situation to get worse. I'd thought ahead enough to bring a spare tube and the pump along. I changed my tire in the dark, laughing to myself a little, and resumed my search. I found the phone only a mile or so away from the point I'd noticed it was missing, smashed and in several pieces... I collected them and headed back to the hotel. The next day I went and got a new phone and we stopped at a bike shop to buy tube liners and reinforced tubes - we were tired of flats. We got a very late start but it was nice to not be expecting a flat tire the whole ride.


I should stop now I've been slowly writing this for hours. Check back for videos of our Pacific new state new time zone dance and Jesse blog -- as my father is fond of saying: Stay upright.

• Times emergency vehicles have been called on our behalf: 4
• Danny's flat tires: 14
• Jesse's flat tires: 15
• Danny's top speed: 42 mph
• Electronic devices Danny has at some point lost: 3
• Favorite warning signs so far: 'Gusty winds may exist' 'Extreme fire danger' ' Strong winds next 49 miles' ' Dust storms may exist'
• Nights of dancing: 2
• Flat tires since we changed our tubes: 0
• Highest temperature so far: 109

Dear mother -- Thank you for giving me life and then staying around to save it constantly (including today) for 24 years -- Happy Mother's Day -- Love you.

-Danny