Day 5: Freezing in the Desert

We woke up in Amboy and began biking around 2:15 am in an attempt to beat the heat.  It was quite warm as we started out for the first 6 miles and then turned up to head to Kelso the first and only real town in the Mojave National Preserve.  As we began the long ascent up the climb to Kelso we first noticed the cooling temperatures as we climbed.  Since we were riding in the blackness it was very difficult to tell how far we had made it up the mountain which was both a blessing and a curse.  We had an amazing chance to turn off our lights and look at the stars in ways that none of us had ever really experienced in the complete and utter blackness of the desert night sky.  We did notice a few small lights moving on the mountain which at first Lyle thought were fireflies, and then later were realized that it was tractor trailers on I-40 which was so very very far away.  We climbed 12 miles till we wend underneath the interstate and entered into the preserve and the sun began to rise.  The desert is quite beautiful in the morning and provided us with amazing views and cold temperatures which dropped to 49 degrees at one point.  After a few more miles of light grade into the desert a strong wind began to pick up which forced all of us to stop and put on all of the clothes to escape the cold.  Brian in Anza had told us that Sunday was supposed to be unusually cool and his forecast proved to be correct.  Granted we had climbed 4,000 feet and it was 6 in the morning but none of us ever expected to be so cold in the middle of the desert.  We then rolled down to Kelso which has a restaurant in which we feasted on freshly made ham and turkey sandwiches.  We also met a man named Mark who showed us an elevation map and gave us hope that we could successfully make it out of the desert by the end of the day.  From Kelso we went up a very long but light grade for 20 miles Cima which there was a run down store and nothing else around and from there we coasted down through the desert as we watched the scenery fly by and our milage count go up.  The temperatures really never  increased above 75 which was great for us and allowed us to escape the grasp of a typically hot hot desert. Upon exiting the Mojave preserve we had one final obstacle before reaching our end goal of Primm Nevada, the climb to the interstate.  Although alot smaller than any previous climb we had a very strong headwind and a full days worth of mileage under our belts.  When we reached the top we rolled down I-15 for ten miles into the town of Primm which was surprisingly large with casinos, fast food, and outlet stores.  We were exhausted after a long day and really wanted to avoid taken the interstate into Vegas and so we were picked up by a friend of Steve's named Marco who drove us the last 40 miles to Las Vegas where for the first time in two days we were given beds to sleep in, good food to eat(including cereal which Lyle had been craving all day), warm showers, and a chance to do our wash.  In closing we were excited to have crossed our first state line and been well taken care of for the first time in a few days.

91 Miles, High of 75 degrees