Nice view to start the day
Today for a change we started going downhill. We had lots of great descending that help the first several miles of the day fly by.
Eventually all things end and so did the descending. Not however before we turned down a winding canyon road that held several firsts in store. The wind started building pretty heavily. This led to the 1st First for me: pedaling downhill and having to shift into a lower gear due to the wind. Crazy!
Eventually the downhill led to what should have been a pleasant uphill climb out of the canyon. With the wind continuing to build it was becoming increasingly difficult to ride. This brought the 2nd First: riding uphill in 45mph wind.
Windy and windy
Wind gusts of 50-60 mph eventually forced us off our bikes. We walked the last mile or two uphill occasionally stopping to duck our heads and wait out a particularly strong gust.
Eventually we made it to the top and found water at a forest service fire station and chatted with more PCT hikers. We discussed whether we should try the descent into Palmdale with the wind and decided to give it a shot.
Crazy wind!
Ultimately we triumphed over the wind and made it to Palmdale. Over lunch we scoped out the logistics for the next few days. Able to check email for the first time in a couple days, we found good news waiting. We had an email from a warm showers host we contacted a couple days ago from Wrightwood. He would be available to host us tonight (woo hoo, a shower).
After confirming the plan for the next few days, we were able to spend some time catching up on email and blog writing and I was able to make some phone calls for the first time in several days. I was able to get in touch with Julie and catch up a bit. Julie is the cute and understanding woman in Seattle patiently waiting for me to pedal my butt back home.
After grabbing some vegetables to contribute to dinner and sticking up for the next couple days, we headed over to meet Ron.
Ron is a great guy and quite and outdoorsman. In addition to being an avid cyclist, he is also a climber and fly fisherman. He was curious about bike touring and we talked about it for a bit. Unfortunately for Ron we did nothing to convince him that he shouldn't quit his job tomorrow and head out on the road.
Ron was great
Ron's hospitality was great and perhaps we will see him again down the road. He'll be traveling up north along our route next month.
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