Day 2 - Moreno Valley > Indio CA (89.9 miles)

 May 6 - Yesterday's entry was too long, so I'll try to go shorter today to make the average work for our shrinking attention spans. Obligatory views of the route first (I combined the GPS and the elevation view):

It was another great day! We had a flat route for the first 25 miles, and then we had a pretty good climb for 5-6 miles; Stuart was our pace car up the climb, and he was a diesel engine. The rest of the day was flat or downhill, and the only variable was the wind. When it was behind us, it was a magic carpet ride, and the rest of the time was less fun. We had a rest stop around 38 miles where we waited for the whole group to come together so we could go through an Indian reservation under police escort. The reservation was like all reservations that I have seen: depressing. At the risk of being slightly political, one of the worst chapters in our country's history is what we did to the Native Indians...first, we pushed them West, then we killed their buffalo, and then we put them on reservations to make ourselves feel less guilty. I know that most developed countries have the same version of this , but it still sucks, and any reservation will make your soul hurt. 

Ok, let's be more upbeat now...we saw pretty flowers and clouds and mountains and the sun. Once we got through the reservation, we had a pace line running like a train to Palm Springs, and it was fantastic. We debated eating lunch there, but it was still 30 miles from our hotel, so we decided to keep the express running to Indio. We came in hot and did our daily chore of primitive laundry in the shower and draping our clothes in the best fashion possible to have them dry out - see below:

Stuart, Bill, Raff, and I had a great dinner at one of the previously mentioned Casinos. Great steaks, short ribs, and adult beverages made the sad chapter fade a bit. We tried to put it on the Underhill's account, but it seems to have been closed - if this is not familiar, please watch Caddyshack.

Ok, I have to award the winer, winner, chicken dinner award for best quote of the day to Linda N..."And to those who say adventures are dangerous, I say, try routine; that kills you far more quickly." Paulo Coelho. This is powerful and made me think about one of my all time favorites from Thoreau: "the mass of men lead quiet lives of quiet desperation".  This speaks to an empty life caused by uninspiring work, lack of leisure time, and misplaced values around money, possessions, and pleasing others. Ok, I am not trying to be heavy, but find an adventure and go do it. This is our attempt. If you knew my Dad, you knew that he loved being outside, and I am convinced that this is because things were more uncertain and less predictable outside. I get this, and we experienced this from the time we stepped out of our hotel this morning with our bikes to find it 44 degrees; we also saw a huge, live rattlesnake warming on the highway as we rode by it. We also had people honking at us and greeting us throughout the ride curious about where we were going; yes, we also had many knuckleheads driving too fast and hating on lycra clad bikers. This is the risk that you take on an adventure, and it is absolutely worth it! See the views (memory dividends for Clay) below:

I failed on researching what is unique about Indio, CA, so if anyone is familiar with it or just retired, pls send me something cool about Indio, and I'll improve my Yelp rating. 

Daily spreadsheet:

Tomorrow, we have a desert day, which will be interesting...79 miles, and we are required to have white arm sleeves and Camelbacks. We have knocked the nervous jitters off and are ready to get through each day. Yes, we are laughing and enjoying ourselves - that is THE POINT! Thanks again for your messages and encouragement!