Kingman, Arizona

There's something about riding into the fastest headwinds of the trip in 108 degrees that makes you think you're in hell. The desert is a peculiar place with the fluctuating temperature extremes. I woke up wearing a sweatshirt, curled in my sleeping bag and still a little cold. Something about the fresh air of camping gets me going in the morning. So while everyone was sleeping through the 5am wakeup call I was cooking homefries in a skillet that I had partially cooked in the campfire last night. I put on water to boil for oatmeal and I still got all my stuff packed up, finishe my morning routine, and did a full warmup and stretch before we left. If I could ever wake up from my bed back home without turning my alarm off in my sleep, I would definitely be more of a morning person. As I have been doing, I took some time to appreciate the color painted sky of a sunrise viewed from a picnic table. By 640, it was back to my regular routine of sweating like crazy which only stopped during the day because the wind was so intense, the second liquid came out of my pores, it was immediately wicked away by the wind. Around mile 26 we tried to make a detour to grand canyon caverns, an exploration tour that leads you down 200feet under ground via an elevator. It was $15 and didn't open for another half hour from when we got there. So we tried to leave but we encountered three sketchy mexicans who stopped us and asked for money. They tried to give us hugs and awkward hand shakes and were definitely on something. I can almost confirm this because we saw them get pulled over about 9 miles down the road. Up to mile 70 of the 87 mile day I was in tip top shape. I was having great coversation to distract me from the asphalt peaked seems every 12 feet in the road that had already made everyone miserable by mile 30. The heat was intense to a point today that I've never felt before. I made three stops at gas stations to fill up my camelbak with ice. Then as mile 70 and the midafternoon heat picked up, my energy went. I still felt ok and able to cycle, but I couldn't divert any extra energy to talking. I needed a pick me up which came in the form of a self carwash. For two dollars in quarters, you can get the instant satisfaction cool mists of water provides. I've never invested quarters into a better idea as I was so pleased to strip down a little and dance in the water or a few minutes. That brings the final score of the day to heat 1, Brian 1.