Scoured

I never realized how windy the desert can be until today. I'm mean, I've watched western movies in which the wind is always yowling, but I thought that was just for fun, a stylistic decision. It isn't. The wind was in my face pushing me backward, blowing at me from both sides trying to knock me over, and occasionally blissfully pushing me forward as it blew down from the mountains from the south and northwest. Thankfully it wasn't blowing all day, but it blew long enough for me to have sand everywhere: up my nose, in my eyes and ears, in my hair, my shoes, my shorts, my shirt: you name it, the sand was there. On the bright side, I got a free facial scrub and my bike trailer, which was looking a little ragged, was also scrubbed almost completely clean.
I'm really in the desert now - I rode one stretch that was easily 40 miles long with nothing but sand, yucca trees and the distant mountains, with no stores, no gas stations - a few houses scattered far from the road, close to the mountains. A little scary, though there was a steady stream of traffic in both directions. It was 90 degrees for the better part of the hours between 11am and 3pm, so I'm glad I'm doing this now.
I had what I thought was a lot to drink today, probably about a gallon of water and a gatorade or two, but my throat still felt like hamburger in the middle of the day and my lips got pretty chapped up. I think I probably lost about a pound today, just from sweating and not wanting to eat much - I really have a hard time eating when it's hot - had a half a burrito left over from the night before and an orange for breakfast, a banana and a Snickers bar on the road, and a burrito from Taco Bell for dinner. I'm glad I like Mexican food, I can tell you that. I'm trying to mix it up - tried beef tongue last night for the first time but couldn't really deal with the taste; it had that bitter organ meat taste so I stuck with chorizo.
Camping out tonight in Black Rock Canyon Campground, a few miles south of Yucca Valley. Not very many campers, but still a lively place full of quail and jackrabbits and who knows what else. Older guy came over to my site just before I pitched my tent to let me know a black bear had been sighted not far from camp, but thankfully I never saw it. And he told me he was keeping an eye out for a great horned owl he'd seen the last time he was at his site; I saw it just before dark. I could see its silhouette against the twilight sky as it sat perched in a tree looking over the older guy's RV. I'm guessing the owl knew all about the jackrabbits.