The Mar of The Car

The brightening eastern horizon marked the first morning of 2013. Day broke and Laura declared she wouldn't get up until the sun had melted the frost from her panniers. The cold night was cold, but it had prepared us a special breakfast - olive butter. Olive oil had turned into a spreadable delicacy, and we ate it on crackers with chevre and peanut butter. 

The day was warming quickly, and from our high perch we could see the highway stretching south in wide looping curves. After a quiet moment in the rocky desert forest of saguaro, ocotillo, palo verde, and creosote we packed up and hit the road. Shortly we came to the turnoff for the sanctioned campground, and turned down the steep road to fill our tanks with water.

Well hydrated, we climbed back to the main road. The shoulder was wide and smooth, the grade gentle, the weather warm and clear. Designated the "Joshua Tree Scenic Byway", we rode through a diverse forest of desert shrubs, cacti, and the spunky Joshua trees. After the Nevadan landscape, it seemed positively lush. Dark bluemountains on nearly every horizon framed the desert foliage, and the ride through this land would have been transcendent but for one problem - the traffic. Constantly streaming by, cars shredded the still air, providing a background roar that never ceased.

As the day progressed, the traffic built to a steady stream. Were all the people returning to Phoenix from New Year's festivities in Las Vegas? Would the motorized boxes never stop? Why don't the two layers of Chex stick together?

With limited vacation time, we arranged a rendezvous in
Wickenburg, 56 miles from Phoenix, for the final boost to our destination. Meeting Jim and Lois at a Shell station, we creatively strapped our bikes to the top of the vehicle, ate Mexican food, and were transported into the winter-time weather paradise of suburban Phoenix, AZ.