Day 2 - From Alpine To Ocotillo CA
- iowahutch
- Mar 8, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 25, 2023
UPDATE - I originally incorrectly labeled this post as Day 3 - From Ocotillo To El Centro CA Denise again - Hopefully Alan will be able to make his own posts but for now you get my version. He texted that his first night was in the 30s, last night was very windy with an owl outside his tent. Today is supposed to be 76, flat and windy. Below is a large text he sent last night.
I have two pics and a short video. No Wi-Fi here. Steve and I cooked tonight and will make breakfast tomorrow. Tacos were a hit. Today was a rollercoaster ride. Yesterday was all climbing and today we were going even higher. However, there was some road construction so we started the day loading the bikes on top of the van and climbed 2000 feet. We only had 2000 more to climb and it was mostly downhill after that. We went screaming down. Like Arlo Guthrie’s “The Motorcycle Song,” (remember “I don’t want a pickle…”) on one side of the road there was a mount at, on the other side was nothing. At one point that was only gently rolling, we saw the border (with the wall.) Just past Jacumba, we started a very long, steep descent, roughly 2,000 feet. Then the route took us onto the interstate (I-10). In California, the shoulders are about 10 feet wide and bicycles are allowed to ride. However, interstate traffic cuts pretty close. Riding downhill for about 10 miles and dropping another 2000 or so feet at up to 35 mph was both thrilling and unnerving. At that speed you don’t have a lot of time to react to bumps, cracks or debris. We all made it safe to Ocotillo and are camped in an RV park. There is one bathroom with the only shower in it for us to use. Now I’m ready for bed, the wind is howling and buffeting the tent and Dennis told us to check for scorpions before we put on our shoes in the morning. I’m also sending pictures of the van being loaded this morning. Saw lots of border patrol, too. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. Alpine to here is a drop of about 6000 feet. Glad put in the training time. Thank you Zwift!
Below are videos of Nowhere, the Border Wall and Loading the Trailer. Note the bikes on top of the van. They can carry 15 bikes on top of the van.
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