Wickenburg, Arizona and Steer Roping

Wickenburg, AZ.  It was a 55-mile ride from Brenda, Arizona to Aguila, my target for the day.

On the map that stretches from Palm Springs to Phoenix,  Brenda isn't shown but is a tiny village 17-miles west of Hope. Aside from desert and collections of RV campers there is very little along this route.

Stopping for lunch after two hours riding, I phoned ahead to the motel in Aguila.  To my chagrin the manager reported that all his rooms were occupied by farm laborers. He suggested that I enquire at the RV village at the edge of town as they might have a camper that could be rented for the night.

As the lonely ride dragged on, I realized my options were limited.  There was no way that I wanted to go on to Wickenburg, 24-miles past Aguila.  Pulling into the lot of the RV village, the noise from  flock of grackles in the lone tall tree may have been sending a message.

The sign on the office door said 'Closed' and the man who pulled out from the camp in his pickup truck said the  owners were in Phoenix and wouldn't be back for some days.  The man in the truck was a large man called Willy. He asked what I was going to do and I replied I wasn't sure. Perhaps, I said, the motel would give me a blanket and allow me stretch out in the office overnight.  At that Willy said he would take me to Wickenburg for $100. We agreed on $20. Minutes later the bike was in the back and I was in Willy's Dodge Ram on the road to Wickenburg.

Willy is a team roper, a cowboy who competes in a two-man team to determine who is most skilled in roping steers. Wickenburg, he assured me, is a center for the sport and Willy comes down for the season from his home in Elko, Nevada.  Willy, a Shoshone Indian, is 78 and says he is not the oldest of the several hundred ropers in the region.

Wickenburg's weekly newspaper announces that the $100,000 National Team Roping Finals are this weekend.  Willy didn't say whether he is competing.

For the day I rode 58-miles, bringing the total since Long Beach to 272-miles.

Blythe, CA to Brenda, AZ

Brenda, AZ.  There's an I Love Lucy episode from the 1950s in which Lucy and Desi stop at a motel that is so close to the highway that the lamp on the table rattles so loudly when traffic goes by that they can't sleep. My motel in the village of Brenda wasn't that bad, mainly because there were not that many vehicles going by at night.

When the rain came in at 6 p.m, luckily  I was inside the Buckaroo Restaurant, a half-mile down the road from the motel. I had hurried back to get inside before the Buckaroo closed at 7. There was neither a restaurant nor a store for ten miles.

It had been a longish day but a satisfying one. I was back on the road after a two-day hiatus and things went well. The day began in Blythe and continued the short distance east to the Colorado River that forms the border with Arizona. Given recent rains there was a considerable flow in the south-flowing river.

I wasn't sure how far I would get. My first target was Quartzsite, a small town on interstate 10 20 miles from Blythe. Riding along the shoulder of the interstate I took the exit for Quartzsite to get information for what kind of accommodation I might find farther on.  As I entered the lobby of the Super 8 motel I was surprised by the sign on its door.  It read, "If you're walking outside the motel be aware that this is the season that snakes wake up and are coming out. If you see one on the motel property, DO NOT BOTHER IT, but report its whereabouts to management."

Riding on, the wind had dissipated and there was no immediate threat of rain.  I continued on on the interstate and took the Adventure Cycling Association route that departed the freeway at exit 31. From there it was only five-miles northeast to Brenda where I spent the night. I was tempted to go on but gave up the idea when I learned there wouldn't be another motel for 30 miles.

The day ended with six-hours of riding that covered 45-miles.