Record Heat Wave!

While I spent the day in Parker spacing out in my room, trying to return to some semblance of physical normalcy, I got some happy news from the Weather Channel: record breaking heat in western Arizona. I flipped channels until I found a local news station, and got the specifics - 106 degrees on Saturday, 111 degrees forecast for Sunday and Monday. I let that sink in for a second and then made a decision. I'm only going to ride around half the normal daily mileage (25-30 miles instead of 50), I'm going to ride early (5:30 am until it's too hot) and I'm taking a lot of water for that short trek (2 gallons minimum. I talked to the owner of the motel I stayed in last night and he mentioned that people are usually told to drink at least two gallons a day in this kind of heat, and that's just for normal activity. The news had cautioned people to stay inside, or if outside to stay in the shade. So I'm trying to take as few chances as possible while the desert furnace is blasting.

Had dinner last night at a place across the street, typical small town greasy spoon - I had the fried chicken dinner. I need to be careful in these little western towns - I'm burning a lot of calories every day but I'm eating too much meat I think, and every second item on the menu seems to be fried (no kidding, I saw a sign outside of 29 Palms that told me I could have fried Twinkies, yum.) I talked to my waitress about the impending heat wave, and she said she couldn't understand how people lived out here in the summer (she was from California, here for family issues or something.) I don't know how either, though air conditioning must have a lot to do with it, I think.

I stuck to my desert game plan and rode 27 miles from Parker to Bouse, a small small town about halfway between Parker and route 60. I'm at the only motel in town, the Ocotillo motel, next to the Ocotillo lounge; - a place time has forgotten, it looks like it was built in the 70's (1870's, that is.) I had to check in at the bar next door; I was surprised to find a group of older people sitting in a half circle in the bar having a morning pick me up. They asked how far I'd ridden, where I was from, and an older guy (the owner, it turned out) volunteered that he used to bike a lot. I told them about my misadventure of two days before, and the owner told me if I ever had cramps again I should take some Tums - he said that's what they used in the Tour de France if they had a case while riding. He gave me a couple of rolls; if I have the misfortune of another case of cramps in the future, I'll give them a try.

As my trip through the desert progresses, I feel like shelter has become the most important issue. I need fluids, and food, but without shelter of the air conditioned variety I would be doomed, I think. My room is crude - it has a bed, a t.v. with one channel and a night stand, but it has air conditioning and is therefore a palace. So I'm not really roughing it as I would have liked, but I can't really camp - being in a tent during this heat wave would be like living in a pizza oven, extra crispy crust please. I've been told that east of Phoenix is cooler; hopefully that's true.