Hi all

Finally we have made it to a library to do what will probably be the last couple of posts to this blog... we have finished the ride, been to Vegas and back, and are currently relaxing in the O.C. before we three separate ways tomorrow and fly out. (you can read between the lines from that that none of us hit it big time in Vegas...). Total kms cycled for the trip came out at 5,370 - from coast to coast.

We would all like to thank those who have supported us in getting to and getting through this bike trip - it turned out a lot smoother than we could have ever expected. Special mention to Carrie & Cody and Jeremy & Rach (our start and end homes).

Below is a brief overview of some of the final days of the bike trip...

Day 53 - 142km - Blythe to Brawley
And it is hot. After getting a taste of the heat yesterday, we rose at 3am this morning to get on the road. First real use of the lights that we had been carrying for the whole trip. After some pretty hard riding through some stiff rollers, we hit the sand dunes. Since it was so early it wasnt too hot yet which was pretty good as we were able to do some actions photos in the dunes before rolling through. We stopped at a lone store before the start of the dunes (at about 9.30am) where Dave made a return to the black gold - downing 2 cans of coke within 5 minutes...

Immediately after clearing the dunes, we came to the imperial valley irrigation area. Lying at or below sea level, this area of roughly 460,000 acres is irrigated by water taken from the Colarado River - producing crops and used for dairy farming - right in the middle of the desert. The irrigation outflow goes into the Salton Sea (and is pretty much the only water that goes to the Salton Sea - the sea was prooduced by accident when engineers didnt quite get the irrigation system right). This cesspool which lies about 200ft below sea level (close to the -300ft at Badwater in Death Valley) is a rich area in terms of birds - about 250 different species gather here to feast on the multiplicity of scum-fed fish... As we were told, farm water feeds the nation - and also means the Colorado is near to empty by the time it crosses the USA/Mexico border.

Anyway, it was actually quite nice to cycle through this area, as the water and crops colled and moistened the air a bit - taking the edge off the dry desert air. That night we rolled into a motel for the night (as there were no campgrounds available in Brawley), which served as a great refresher for tired bodies as we enjoyed a night of comfort of beds and air-con, energising the bodies for the final push towards the coast!

Day 52 - 126km - Wenden to Blythe (California)
The final state of our bike trip. An early start today to beat the heat - we were on the road at sunrise. Another nice downhill as we descended into the low desert. Wasa reasonably smooth ride to Blythe, with a brief strop for the final border photo of our trip. We found out today what people mean when they talk about the heat of the desert - the best way to describe it is "furious heat". Hard to really do justice to it. Someone described the heat as so hot "it jumps out and grabs you". I would say it jumps out and grabs you, bodyslams you, and then laughs at you... it is f'n hot. Luckily we found a pearler of a campsite which was situated next to the cool waters of the Colorado River. A swim and some nicely watered grass to camp on under some shade trees was pure gold.

Day 51 - 161km - Prescott to Wenden
After riding through a bit of forest for the first part of the ride, we descended towards the low desert (after reaching 6100ft at the start of the ride, we descended to about 2000ft. Tomorrow we get down to about 800 and below). The heat was up around 100 degrees later in the day.

Day 50 - 79km - Precott NF to Prescott
A fairly easy ride into Prescott, followed by a lunch at a local waffle house. During lunchtime the weather turned for the worst - the wind picked up and the rain started falling. This isa bit of a 'common' occurance over this area as the hot air rushes up the slopes to higher altitude off the low desert. While popping in to do our brief blog update, we met a local who informed us the forecast was for 55mph winds and thunderstorms and it would be best to stay the night in Prescott. We took his advice and ended up staying at a national forest park just south of Prescott on our route for the next day.