Our day started with a complimentary breakfast at
Holiday Inn Express Globe AZ. There were more patrons than there was space to
accommodate us, but we made do.
Saying goodbye to Globe was only temporary. We will be
returning through here, but next time we will be riding bicycles. In driving
into Phoenix on the same road as our bike route, we discovered that a 15-mile
section was not suitable for safe cycling. We have a week to decide what to do
about it.
The drive was very scenic in spite of the safety
factor for bicycles. We entered the Phoenix area from the east at Apache
Junction and exited its west portal at Buckeye. It was a one-hour drive from
there to the tiny town of Salome. We will be staying in all three places next
week. Salome has 200 residents in the summer and 1800 in the winter. We
discovered those facts and why there was a disparity when we stepped out of the
car to buy gasoline. The thermometer read 90 degrees. The blistering heat made
walking into the station a chore. I can only guess what it will do when I am
peddling 60 miles into here one day and out of here then next.
The attendant was a bearded young man just shy of
thirty. He was very talkative making me wonder if we were ever going to
politely leave his presence. He came
from NJ with his “Ex”, whose mother lived in town. After the couple came to
Salome, and after the two separated, he decided to stay. Susan and I debated whether he owned the
business since there was not much else to keep him in town.
US highway 60 runs 39 miles to the southwest out of
Salome to the junction with I-10. Heading west on the Interstate for a similar
distance brought us to the California, Blythe. It is another stop on our cross-country
journey. From there we headed south toward Brawley. Halfway there just south of
the town of Glamis, we entered Sahara-like setting. Nothing grew on the sandy
terrain. As we arrived at the dusty town of Brawley it was being pelted by sand
driven by a 30 mile per hour south wind. It comes as no surprise to me why
everything in town has a dingy colorless look to it. We ended up spending the
night 15 miles south in El Centro.
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