Danny’s Ride

Day Statistics:
Bike Time: 4 Hours, 24 Minutes, 07 Seconds
Miles: 62.87 Total
Average Speed: 14.3 mph
Max Speed: 28.3

Trip Statistics:
Total Time: 20 hours, 44 minutes, 10 seconds
Miles: 297.52
Max Speed: 41.8 Mph
Total Gallons of Water Consumed: 11

We were up by 7:00 a.m. this morning. Ken was busy sorting receipts, Danny was checking email and “Danny’s Wall” and I continued to work on our website.  We even took turns calling media in the Phoenix area to announce “Danny’s Ride Is Coming To Town!”  We hope to set up some interviews while we are there.  Phoenix would be a terrific place to spread Danny’s story and raise awareness for early cancer detection.

It wasn’t until about 10:15 a.m. that we finally started to pack up our gear.  After two straight nights in the same hotel, we (I) had stuff everywhere.  So we quickly stuffed things back into our bags, cleaned our water bottles and filled the cooler full of ice.  We even bought souvenir mugs for $3 each in the hotel lobby.

The white mugs had Blythe written in blue cursive on the front with outlines of a house and cactuses.  However, what was on the back is the part that most interested me. It said Blythe was conveniently located on I-10 at one of the busiest entrance points to California.  So busy, in fact, that it sees more than four million interstate travelers a year.  Now that’s the part that worried me.

Here was our problem.  We were “conveniently” located 3 miles from the Arizona/California border.  In Arizona, it is legal to ride a bicycle on the interstate while in California it is not.  More importantly, although it is only 3 miles from the border, drivers are still not expecting to see a cyclist on the interstate.  Ok, now I’m getting nervous.

So with everything packed, the bikes ready for the road and its riders finally too, we took off around 10:45.  Unlike a couple of the past days, we didn’t have to drive to our previous day’s stopping point.  Leaving from the hotel, we took a right out of the parking lot, took a right at the stoplight and went 0.2 of a mile to an on-ramp for Interstate 10.

As we went up the ramp, I had to laugh as we passed a sign that read: “Bicycles Prohibited.”  I should have stopped to take a quick picture but I was more focused on making it to the border.  I felt like we were making a run for it!

I was pleasantly surprised by the interstate.  Although cars did fly by at 70 mph, the interstate offered a wide and luxurious shoulder.  In fact, it was as wide if not wider than one of the interstate lanes.  This allowed Danny and I to cruise along to border without any problems.  Although I didn’t see it, Danny said a State Patrol car passed us without stopping.  Apparently, he had bigger problems than two crazy bikers heading for the border.

When we got to the Arizona border, we took the standard pictures.  It was a great feeling to have crossed California by bicycle and find a new challenge waiting in Arizona.  About 20 miles into the ride, Danny and I met Ken at a Subway off exit 17 on Interstate 10.

The entire time Danny and I were biking, Ken tried all he could to set up interviews for the day and was growing understandably frustrated.  While we enjoyed a nice mid-ride snack that would hopefully sustain us through the remainder of the day’s journey, Ken made one more call.  Meanwhile, I finished eating before Danny.  While waiting for him to finish, Danny told me to go ahead because I am able to go faster and he didn’t want me to wait on him.

Although the individual Ken called couldn’t help Ken directly, he recommended to Ken a manager at a nearby radio station.  Ken made one last call and with that, landed an on-air interview for Danny that would be aired across ten different stations!  During the interview, Danny told his story, explained why he was doing the trip and what he wanted to accomplish and pushed people to the website.  The interview lasted for over a half hour and had a reach of 150,000 people!

In fact, while all of this was going on, Ken landed another radio interview for Danny tomorrow with even more people!  This interview was on a country station.  Who would have guessed?

Meanwhile, I was fighting a difficult cross/head wind with a majority of the remaining 40 miles at a gradual incline.  It was a difficult ride even for 60 miles.  I finished around 5:30 p.m. and just as I was finishing, Ken pulled the motor home up beside me.  I quickly got in and drank as much water as I could hold.  I’m not sure water has ever tasted so good.

With Ken parked along side the highway waiting for Danny, I went to the only hotel in Salome.  An older woman was working the counter.  As I walked in, her appearance and the office decorations reminded me of my grandmother’s house.  I smiled and began to explain Danny’s story.  As I mentioned Danny was a 69-year-old cancer survivor, she exclaimed, “Me too!  I’m 69 and a cancer survivor.”  So we began to talk about her experience.

As I get to the point where I can start telling her Danny’s story and the reason for our trip, a car pulls up and in walks a lady of similar age.  The receptionist immediately disregards me and begins gossiping with the older lady.  Finally, after ten minutes of me just standing there patiently waiting, the woman returns to her car and I reopen the reason why I am standing before her.  I again explain what we are doing and ask if she could donate a room.

She said she would have to call.  After a brief phone call that almost immediately turns to more gossip, she tells me that we could have 50% off a room, which would bring the room to $25.  Perfect!  “Does this include a roll away?” I asked.  “Nope.  We don’t have roll ways,” she replied.  So we end up getting a second room.

The good news was it still ended up being a lot cheaper than we had anticipated.  The only problem was Danny had our only working credit card (the other has mysteriously stopped working).  So, I told the receptionist that I would be back when our other rider appeared.  On the way out, I asked, “Is there Internet here?”  “No we don’t,” she said with a smile.  No problem, I thought.  “Is there anywhere around here that has Internet?” I asked.  “Sure.  The library……but it’s closed.”

Wow.  The entire town and no Internet.  This might be a long night!  “Where is a good place to eat?” I asked.  She pointed through the window to a restaurant right across the street.  “That’s the only restaurant to eat at in town.  The gas station down the street has little things as well.”

So I went back to the motor home to wait with Ken for Danny to finish.  Two and a half hours later, Danny is still not back.  Ken and I begin to worry.  So we call him, not expecting to him to answer since he is biking.  To our surprise, Danny answers slightly out of breath.  It turns out Danny was out of water so he stopped at a restaurant.  While there, he realized he was hungry so he ordered dinner.  After finishing eating, three different people stopped him on his way to the door to ask him about his trip and hear his story.

By this time it was nearly dark so we went and got the credit card from him. When we reached Danny, he was only six miles away from town.  We quickly grabbed the credit card and went back to the hotel to rent the rooms.  As we approached the hotel, we found it lit up by creepy florescent pink lights.  Imagine every scary movie that takes place in an outdoor hotel.  This is exactly how it looked.

When I walked into the office, I told the same woman that I would like the rooms we spoke about.  She got out her calculator to do the math, hit the wrong button and had to start over, swiped my card and handed me keys attached to plastic circles with room numbers imprinted on them.

“Do you want TV?” she asked.  I caught my self from blurting out, “Are you serious?” and instead replaced it with, “Yes.”  She reached into a box labeled, “Remotes” and handed me two.  I was stunned.  “We don’t have many stations,” she said.
“Do you have ESPN I asked?” I asked.  The fate of my night hung on her answer.
“Ummm….I think so.  Well, maybe not.  We have something similar.  TNT I think,” she replied.  “Wow,” I thought, “There goes my night.  No Internet and no ESPN.”
“Is that the restaurant that you recommended?” I asked as I pointed out the window.
“Yes but it closed at 8:00.”  I looked at my phone – 8:26.  “Your best bet is to go to the gas station,” she said.

I didn’t think anything could have surprised me at that point but somehow the only restaurant in town closing at 8:00 managed to do it.  So before anything else could go wrong, I took the two keys and remotes and walked down the motor home.  When I arrived, Ken was unloading his things.

We decided I would stay in the single room and Danny and Ken would be in the double.  We threw our things into our rooms.  As I opened my door, I was yet again amazed.  Standing in the doorway with the pink florescent lights shinning in from the outside, I found the lights already on and a partially refinished closet with a dorm size refrigerator sitting unplugged with the door wide open.

I walked to the bathroom.  The shower was a closet covered in tile.  This hotel was old thirty years ago!  Then came the final surprise – no air conditioning.  At this point, I had to laugh.  I went to Ken’s room and we walked down the street to the gas station.  I grabbed a personal pepperoni pizza, a hamburger and two cookies.  Although I desperately wanted to begin eating right there in the gas station, I managed to wait until we got back to Ken’s room.

After I devoured all my food before Ken even had a chance to unwrap his hamburger, we set a time to meet for breakfast and I headed back to my room to begin typing the blog (despite no Internet).

Before going to bed, I went to lock the door.  No deadbolt or security measures here.  Just a knob to turn on the door handle.  Now, I really felt like I was in a horror movie.  As I turned out the lights, I found the pink florescent lights illuminating my room through the hanging strips that resembled a blind.  As scared as I was being alone in the unsecured room in an outdoor hotel along the highway, I had to laugh.

“What could tomorrow possibly bring to top this?” I thought.  I just had to ask, didn’t I?