Day Twenty-Four

November 07, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 24

47.47 miles

1,568 ft (elevation gain)

915.0 total miles

Van Horn -> somewhere on highway 118

Today was very interesting. We started the day fairly early because it was supposed to be a really long day with a fairly difficult climb. The beginning of the day was fairly easy, it was flat with a gradual up hilll and a tail wind. After these flats we started having some bigger hills, these continued to be fairly easy. For this portion of the ride we were on highway 10, the road was really loud so we ended up putting earplugs in. Aside from the noise the road conditions were pretty nice. At about mile 30 we started out major ascent, today we were supposed to climb about 3,500 ft. At the start of this climb it was pretty obvious that Tom wasn’t feeling to good, Dad and I were going faster and had a lot more power. Tom still isn’t feeling very good after his cold so The climb was harder for me. At about 12:30 and around halfway through the climb we decided to call it a day and ride the rest of it tomorrow. Although this was a little disappointing it had a big positive. We were able to go to the McDonald Observatory. This was a super cool stop, they have the second biggest telescope in the world and several other really cool telescopes. We were on a 2.5 hour tour and got to see the whole site and get up close to the telescopes. It was definetly worth the stop. Although today was a little smaller than we hoped going to the observatory was really neat and I’m super glad we got to see it.

Heading out for the day looking like a glow stick again.

Our elevation profile.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Twenty-Three

November 06, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 23

56.24 miles

1,519 ft (elevation gain)

867.5 total miles

Sierra Blanca -> Van Horn

Today was awesome, we woke up and walked the dogs around the Cattlemen's property. The zoo was really cute they had sheep l, deer, an ostrich, bunny’s, snakes, and a ton of cool birds. All of the animals totally confused and horrified Gilligan. We then drove to the traveling tiger truck stop to start our ride. We started the ride on 10 and were on the highway for a couple of miles before riding in the frontage road. The frontage road was a little bit bumpy but significantly quieter than the highway. Our big climb started soon after we began the ride, we thought this was going to take around an hour and a half but with a really nice tail wind we finished it in about 45 minutes. As we were climbing a German Shepard started chasing after us, we had to power up to out run him, since we were in low gears and didn’t have time to shift our legs were spinning really really fast. At the ended of the climb we had a slight delema, we stopped to wait for mom and she did the same but we didn’t realize that we were a mile apart, both of us were waiting for about an hour before we found each other. We had no cell service at this time so it was a little scary for both groups. We then road another 10 miles to lunch, we ate at a small Mexican restaurant in a super tiny town. The rest of the ride was really fun and really fast, we continued to have a big tail wind so we were going really fast! We had a slight uphill grade for most of the second half, but with the tail wind we were going between 20 and 23 mph. On this stretch of road dad and I discovered that we could get the trucks going the opposite direction to honk at us! This was pretty fun, it kept us busy while the riding was fairly boring. Once the second climb ended we descended into Van Horn. In this descent we crossed into the central time zone. Wahooooo it’s awesome to have one more time zone behind us!!! Today we road a fairly short day because tomorrow there is nothing between Van Horn and our ending destination. We have to ride the roughly 90 miles to the next town or else we’ll be camping on the side of the road. Going to bed early tonight so we are all ready for our longbottom ride tomorrow.

Heading out from the traveling tiger truck stop.

We don’t need a bike rack.

Our elevation profile.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Twenty-Two

November 05, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 22

58.02 mile

251 ft (elevation gain)

811.3 total miles

El Paso -> Sierra Blanca

I just add a comment section to the blog so please leave comments, I would love to hear from you all!

Today we started really strong, we slept in a little bit and got on the road around 9:30. We rode through the rest of El Paso, and we had no problems, all of the roads had wide shoulders and the drivers were really cautious. As soon as we were out of the city we started passing more pecan trees, and fields of cotton, corn, and alfalfa. The alfalfa was being cut and it smelt really good. The whole first half of the day the road was as smooth as butter we also had a pretty big tail wind so we were able to average around 20 mph. As we were approaching lunch I got my second flat of the trip, luckily mom was nearby so we fixed it up fast and we’re back on the road in no time. About ten miles after the flat we were in Fort Hancock for lunch. We ate in front of the tiny post office because everyone we talked to about the area and they said not to just pull over on the side of the road. While eating lunch the sheriff came to the post office, we ended up talking to him for a while and learning a lot about the area, he even recommended a restaurant for dinner. Our original plan was to stop in Fort Hancock for the night but we were all feeling good so we decided to ride another 30 miles to the traveling tiger truck stop. The ride after lunch was fairly easy we still had a tail wind but the pavement got a little bumpier. As we were riding we past the Sheriffs goat farm, along with a about five more goat farms. We also past a farm with a ton of horses, we stopped to say hi, they were really friendly and let us pet them. Today we met some really friendly animals but we also met a mean dog that chased us for a short while, but luckly we were able to speed up and out run him. A lot of the towns we went through today were extremely small with one stop light and there were a lot of delapatated buildings, it’s reay eye opening to see how much lever the there is in the U.S. We ended our ride at the truck stop, this was our original campsite for the night, the sheriff said this would be a safe place to camp. Before we set up our campsite for the night we decided to go to the dinner place the sheriff recommended, it is the cattleman’s steakhouse (not affiliated with the chain). This steakhouse was also reccomended to us by a couple of other people as well. It is really cool it’s about five miles off of 10 and basically in the middle of nowhere. There is a zoo at it as well, also about 6 movies have been filmed there. It was super yummy we had a great Steak dinner, they even gad pecan pie (my favorite genre of pie). As we were eating dinner we were thinking about how quiet the parking lot of the steakhouse was and how it could be an okay camping spot. We asked our waitress and she said the we could camp in the parking lot if we wanted to. It is actually a super nice dry camping spot, it’s super quiet and there is a security guard on duty 24/7. Tomorrow should be fairly similar to today but should still be really fun, the scenery has been really pretty so I’m excited.

Baby peacan trees, and the mountain of Mexico.

The nice sheriff (please enjoy the socks and sandals that I’m wearing).

A collection of the bikers tan that is slowly appearing.

Old buildings.

A restaurant that is definetly not open.

Our elevation profile.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Twenty-One

November 04, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 21

Rest Day 4

El Paso

My cold has made it to all the riders now. Unfortunately Tom started feeling crummy yesterday. He decided that he shouldn’t ride today so we took a rest day, hopefully he’s feeling better tomorrow. Even with the rest day we had a lot of things to do. The next couple of days there are not very many resources so we wanted to stock up while we could. We ran a lot of errands and did a ton of laundry. The pups had a lot of long walks to so they are super happy.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Twenty

November 03, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 20

61.42 miles

780 ft (elevation gain)

755.3 total miles

Las Cruces -> El Paso

Today we started and ended our ride kinda late. The day started with a great breakfast, including zucchini bread sent to us from Barb. After breakfast we had to go to and RV store to buy some parts for the trailer. We then started the ride. Riding through Las Cruces was a little bit sketchy, cars were going pretty fast and there big sections do road work where we didn’t have much of a shoulder. We were all wearing our bright colors so cars could easily see us and would give us as much space as they could. Once through the main city, we were on fairly quiet farm roads. We road the massive orchards of peacans. At one point the trees were so big that it looked like we were in a peacan tree tunnel. We also went through more fields of cotton, and some corn fields. We crossed over the Rio Grande river multiple time today, unfortunately it was less of a river and more of a mud pit. It was really wild to see how little water was in it. The whole first half of ten day was relatively flat we were able to speed through this section really fast. At around the half way point there was some what large hill, I didnt realize how tried my legs were until this hill. After riding two big days previously the hill was not the best. We still got over it quickly and we’re rewarded with a nice down hill. The first have of ten decent was nicely paved and really fun, at about ten half way point the road got really bumpy. These bumps felt pretty terrible on the tushy. After this we ate a quick lunch, and headed out for the rest of the day and the Texas boarder. We crossed the Texas boarder shortly after lunch, we are now done with three states how wild is that! The roads so far in Texas have had really large shoulder and have been paved really well. The next few weeks will be spent in Texas so hopefully the roads continue to be this nice. As we were planing our route for today we decided to take the alternate route around El Paso instead of through El Paso. Everyone we talked to and all the blogs we read said that the ride through the city is super sketchy and busy, so by going around the outskirts we were able to avoid most of the traffic. El Paso is still a little sketch but we’ve avoided most of the super gnarly parts. Overall today was pretty good,y legs are feeling super strong and ready to continue riding.

Some how this happens everyday to my calves.

Lunch time for us and nap time for the pups.

Our elevation profile.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Nineteen

November 02, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 19

77.53 miles

768 ft (elevation gain)

693.9 total miles

Hillsboro -> Las Cruces

Today was really fun! We woke up at our RV park in Hillborro, a super tiny town with a population of around 100. We decided to go out for breakfast to see and get a feel for the town. At breakfast we met a ton of the locals, they were all super friendly and talked to us for around an hour they even helped us with our route for the day. It was so nice to meet such friendly and kind people. After breakfast we headed out for the day, the ride started with around a 300 ft climb, this climb was super easy compared to yesterday’s climb. I took a slight tumble today, as I was shifting for the climb my chain popped off and I didn’t un clip fast enough. It was a really slow topple so I was injury free. After the climb we had a really nice gradual downhill, we weren’t going super fast so it was fun for me. After the down hill it back fairly flat with just a sprinkle of downhill, at this portion we were able to go fast and knock off some miles quickly. We then road on 25 for a couple miles, the shoulder was wide so with a speed limit if 75 mph we had no problems with cars. We were then in the flats for pretty much the rest of the day, we had an occasional small uphill but it wasn’t too bad. While riding we past a million Chile, cotton, and pecan fields. The Chile’s smelled super yummy and fragrant as we past. We also past a couple of dairy’s, unlike the Chile fields the dairy’s smelled pretty smelly. About halfway through the ride we stopped at the world famous Sparky’s Burgers, Barbeque, & Espresso in Hatch, New Mexico. I ate there famous green Chile burger and an Oreo shake. It was all super yummy but I most definitely can’t recomend eating this and then riding another 40 miles, it wasn’t very pleasant. Once the burgers digested the rest to the ride was pretty anti climactic it was flat with a few hills, and a lot of the same agriculture. Overall today was really good it was the most mikes I have ever riden, I’m feeling really strong and excitedly about the rest of the trip.

Cotton field (it kinda looks like it just snowed).

Peacan trees (there were no pecan pies near us though).

Thanks Barb for the awesome care package and Ginny for all the bread and cookies!!

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Eighteen

November 01, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 18

51.87 miles

4,888 ft (elevation gain)

616.3 total miles

Silver City -> Hillsboro

Today went really well! We woke up to no rain and dry roads, but it was really cold outside. Everything was frosty when we woke up and when we left. We had to wear all of our winter cycling gear, I thought we weren’t going to need it at all on this trip but I’m really happy we brought it. The ride started with about 20 miles of gradual uphill and a few fun downhills. We rode past a massive that we couldn’t even see the bottom of. Throughout the whole day the roads were super quiet, and paved pretty well. After lunch we started our major accent, to the top of 8,228 ft Emory Pass, the biggest climb in the whole trip. The climb it self really was as not that bad, we decided to do it in our granny gears and just take it easy. With dad and I still being kind of sick it was definetly a good choice. It’s really nice to have one of the hardest parts behind us now, it should be pretty flat most of the way now. The scenery through the whole climb was beautiful, we were in massive valleys with a stream on one side of us, and massive boulders and pine trees on the other side. It was really nice to have some trees that reminddd us of tahoe, a lot of the trees along the ride we’re changing colors so that was really nice to see as well. It was also cool to have some chilly weather, I was sick of the heat, it wasn’t nice to cool down. The ride ended with about 20 miles of fast and curvy down hill. It was super fun but a little terrifying, dad and I took it pretty slow and made it down safely. The descent was pretty cold but we had and absurd amount of layers on. Tomorrow we have a fairly large day, so we’re all playing on going to bed early.

Bundled up and ready to go (we look like a bunch of glow sticks).

We have no cell service and slow internet, so pictures are taking forever to download, so there are less photos today, sorry.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Seventeen

October 31, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 17

Rest day 3

Silver City

RAIN! RAIN! RAIN! Today we got completely rained out, it was pouring. Starting last night the rain started, it rained all night long, hailed a little bit this morning and continued raining most of the day. We were supposed to do one of our biggest rides today, over Emory pass whos elevation is around 8,300 ft. According to locals the top of the pass was definitely getting snow, so we didn’t want to ride in those conditions at all. All day today was really cold in the 50 degree range and tonight it is supposed to be below freezing. According to the weather channel this is the first freeze for Silver City. Honestly we aren’t super prepared for this weather, we probably didn’t bring enough warm clothes but we’re making it work with a lot of funky layers. Hopefully tomorrow it’s not as cold and the pass isn’t icy. Okay enough of weather stuff. Since we didn’t ride today we took advantage of the resources in Silver City. We washed both of our pups, this was a wild experience. We went on a massive Walmart grocery store run. And we did an insian amount of laundry. After all our errands were finished we went into town and ate lunch and dinner. At lunch mom and I saw two other bikers, we introduced ourselves, and became quick friends. We ended up talking to them for a couple hours and had so much fun sharing our experiences and meeting people doing a bike tour as well. Tomorrow morning we’ll head out for a fairly large ride, and hopefully we’ll stay warm.

Bath time for the pups. Check out those stylish arm guards.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Sixteen

October 30, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 16

Restday 2

Silver City

Today was our second restday, with 2/3 of us being sick it was really nice to have. We slept in slightly, ate a great New Mexico style breakfast, and headed out for the day. We spent most of our day at the Gila Cliff Dwellings. To get to the dwellings we had to drive about an hour and a half on a basically one way windy road, through the Gila National Forest. It was really nice to be back in a similar ish area to Tahoe I was getting kinda getting bored of the never ending desert. The cliff dwellings were absolutely insain, I can’t believe that people were able to build the structures that they did with no modern building supplies. All of the structure were hardly restored and were in incredible condition. The thing I found almost incredible was that you could walk throughout all of the caves and through the structures. They are really hard to discribe and explain but they were just amazing. I’m so happy that I’m riding across the US mainly because I’m seeing places that I never new existed, and wouldn’t have visited other wise. I’m learning about and seeing so many cool and new places. After the cliff dwellings we went to the Gila Hot Springs, this felt amazing and hopefully helped sweat out the cold. We had dinner at Jaliscos, the same place we had dinner last night, it has some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had. During dinner it began to rain, it’s now dumping and is supposed to rain throughout tomorrow as well. Overall today was amazing, I learned so much and had so much fun.

Pops and I in one of the rooms in the dwellings.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Fifteen

October 29, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 15

47.96 miles

4,115 ft (elevation gain)

564.4 total miles

Lordsburg -> Silver City

It was my first day back, YIPPEEE!!! Today was the first day back in the bike after having a fever, I’m not feeling a 100% but I’m definetly feeling better. Today was a pretty big day to jump back in on, it’s one of our biggest climb days. This was a little difficult with a cold but we took our time and took lots of rest breaks. All day we had a really big shoulder that was nicely paved. At the beginning of the day we had a three mile stretch of road work that was nice because the road was extremely quiet and the traffic was moving very slow. The first 15 ish miles was consistently uphill, this was definetly a hard way to start the day but it also meant we had a nice stretch of down hill. The rest of the day was big hills and small amount of down hill. I wasn’t able to pick up enough speed on the downhills to get to the top of the uphill so that was a bit of a bummer. The weather all day was super nice we had a cloud cover and the temperature was in the mid 60s. Overall the day was really good day, it’s just nice to be back on the saddle. Tomorrow we have our second rest day and are going to cliff dwellings so it should be another cool day.

Ride through the forest, it was a little different then Tahoe’s forests.

Our elevation profile for the day.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Fourteen

October 28, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 14

Day 3 of being sick

0 miles

0 ft (elevation gain)

516.5 total miles

My fever final broke today! YAHOOOO! I still didn’t ride but I’m feeling way better. I’m so glad that tomorrow I’ll be able to ride. This bug was a real bummer but I’m so happy that I’m feeling ready to go! Today we crossed into New Mexico! It’s so cool to have gone through two states already, when you’re riding it doesn’t feel like that much progress but we’re really seeing the progress now. We’re now in a different time zone so it feels like even made even more progress! Overall I’m feeling really happy and excited to get back on my bike tomorrow.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Thirteen

October 28, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 13

Day 2 of being sick

0 mile

0 ft (elevation gain)

516.5 total miles

I’m now on day two with a fever, I didn’t ride today either. I’m really bummed that I can’t ride right now, it’s really disappointing but I don’t want to get worse. The rest is really helpful I think I’m starting to feel better. Tonight we are staying in a bed and breakfast in Duncan. It is a really old building and the owner has a massive art collection. The Bed and breakfast has 13 cats too, it’s super fun to play with them and cuddle them while I’m sick. There’s a really cute orange tabby cat that’s super friendly.

Lunch time.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Twelve

October 26, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 12

Day 1 of being sick

0 miles

0 ft (elevation gain)

516.5 total miles

Last night a cold/flu hit me really hard. I had a fever all night and all day. You know this when your wearing sweat pants and a fleece with a big blanket over you when it’s 85 degrees out. I’m really bummed that I didn't ride today but I didn’t want to get worse. Hopefully tomorrow I’m feeling good enough to ride!

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Eleven

October 25, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 11

50.13 miles

4,364 ft (elevation gain)

516.5 total miles

Gold Canyon -> Globe

Today started out great. We rode on 60 the whole day and it started with wide shoulders and gradual uphill and a super fun down hill section. Throughout the whole day the desert was absolutely gorgeous. We road through massive red rock mountain with big cactus and lots of greenery (it looked as if we were in the movie Cars). After lunch the shoulders started to narrow. We began our biggest climb shortly after lunch this is when the road started to get a little narrow. As we got higher and higher the road got narrower and narrower. We rode across a really cool bridge that didn’t really have a shoulder but lucky there were no cars on it when we rode over. Then came the Queen Creek tunnel, this tunnel went through the mountain with two way traffic and only about an 18 inch shoulder. This is the point when we decided to ride in the car versus the bikes. It was a lot sketchier than we wanted to ride. We rode in the car for about 5 miles until the road widen and we felt more comfortable. At this point we began descending in to globe this was about a 12 mile descent with varying shoulder width, it was and okay down hill (but a little fast for my liking. We are spending the night in Globe Arizona a cool artsy town with a the longest running bar in all of Arizona.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Ten

October 24, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day 10

37.48 miles

671 ft (elevation gain)

466.4 total miles

Tempe -> Gold Canyon

Today was a really easy day. We started the ride at around noon which was not the best decision. At that time it was extremely hot, but once we were riding it wasn’t too bad. Most of the day was on the canal system again. This was really nice because the ride was pretty flat and there were no cars. The last 12 miles was on the road but the road had a big shoulder so we all felt safe. Truly not much to report on today, it was pretty normal.

Many of you requested more photos so...

Cool rocks in the Tempe Botanical Garden (ignore the fence and telephone wires).

The canal trails (check out the extremely stylish rear view mirror).

Hopefully that’s enough photos, I’ll continue to post more.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Nine

October 24, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Also a little late but...

Day 9

76.11 miles

852 ft (elevation gain)

428.9 total miles

Wickenburg -> Tempe

Today was a fantastic day. We started the ride fairly early and had a complete of hours without it being to hot. The first 20 miles was super fun and fast. It was all down hill and had a nicely paved wide shoulder. It was also kinda cold so we had a great time. It was best and most fun I had on the ride so far. The rest of the day was also really easy. It continued to be all down hill and we were on bike paths for about 30 miles through Phoenix. It got a little hot towards the middle and end of the day, it was about 86 which is way hotter than I’m used to but with lots of water I was fine. The bike paths were beautiful some were dirt but we followed the canal system all the way through the city. It was nice not being on big busy roads. We ended our ride at the Tempe Botanical Gardens, right as it started to rain. The rain was a nice change from the heat. It also caused a beautiful sunset. Tempe/Phoenix is beautiful, the big rocks and mountains with tha cactus is super cool. After our rest day we all are feeling well rested and ready to go. It really helped our tushies. My neck still hurts a little but isn’t too bad. The new problem I’m having is that all my bike shorts have latex grippy tape around the thighs cause me to get a some what gnarly rash but we’re figuring out alternatives (if you have any ideas about this let me know). We’re doing another short day tomorrow so it’ll be nice to rest up again.

Chihuly glass scultures and cactus at the botanical gardens.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Eight

October 24, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

A little late but...

Day 8

Rest day 1

Wickenburg

We spent two nights in Wickenburg, and spent our first rest day here. We thought we were going to be actually resting but we had a lot of errands to run. We had to clean and do some maintained on our bikes. The car needed to get some work done as well. We took a massive grocery store trip, because we are dry camping for the next few days. Wickenburg was beautiful the dessert was super green. The rest day was definitely needed and we are already to go for tomorrow.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Seven

October 21, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day Seven

57.17 miles

888 ft (elevation gain)

352.8 total miles

Salome -> Wickenburg

Today I felt like I started pretty strong. We stopped for lunch at 25 miles which was really nice. During lunch I had a lovely suprise, my grandma surprised us and followed us the whole day. We road on highway 60 the whole day, with a big cross and head wind which was definitely a little exhausting. After lunch I was definetly tired but we continued on at a slower pace. The last ten miles of the ride was down hill so it gave us all a nice break. Today we started to feel some aches and pains our butts and necks are a little soar but tomorrow is a rest day so we should feel a lot better the next day.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Six

October 20, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day six

55.90 miles

2,634 ft (elevation gain)

295.6 total miles

Blythe -> Salome

Today was a pretty great day. We woke up and had the Colorado river right out our door at the camp ground we were staying at. As we road out of Blyth, we crossed over the river and road into Arizona. It feels great to have one state under our belt only seven more states to go. Shortly after lunch we discovered that I got my first flat. We got it fixed quickly and headed out for the second half of our ride. Most of the day we were on the 10, which wasn’t bad because of the big shoulder and smooth road. The day had a lot of slow climbing with a head wind. Lucky the head wind wasn’t nearly as bad as it was the yesterday. Between miles 40 and 50 the road got pretty bumpy but after those ten miles it was smooth sailing to our next camp site. The Arizona desert is absolutely beautiful right now, after the rain a few days ago all the cactus and plant are bright green. It’s suler nice to look at all ten scenery as we ride.

Our route for the day.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS

Day Five

October 19, 2018 by Tatum Bunnett

Day Five

61.48 miles ish

1,015 ft (elevation gain)

239.7 total miles

Glamis -> Blythe

Today was a really rough day. We started by heading out of the sand dunes in Glamis with a massive head wind. We were all switching off breaking so it wasn’t to bad though. Once out of the sand we started going through hill country. This meant that we were going up and down big hills. Unfortunately, the shoulder on the road was extremely small and we had massive trucks driving by at top speeds. After 16 Miles of these hills I decided that I didn’t feel comfortable doing the rest of them. I’m not used to riding through areas like this especially with the massive trucks driving by. This meant that I rode in the car for the rest of the day with mom. I’m a little dissapointed but I’m glad I listened to myself and didn’t push it to far and will make up the lost miles later in the trip. It was a good rest day for me as well, so hopefully I’ll be well rested and ready to go for our ride tomorrow.

Please help raise funds for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) at https://www.firstgiving.com/event/rsds/Ride-Across-The-Country-For-CRPS