i ended up staying in Quartzsite for a rest day as i met a nice teacher called Kurt who was my age. we went to mexico on saturday to drink a few beers in the sun and listen to mexican music. the border town was quite strange as there were lots of shops selling medicine to all the retired americans. chilled out in the afternoon watching the semi finals of the college basketball tournament. am starting to enjoy american sports much more now.
on sunday i did a big day of over 120 miles. at first the scenery was rough desert terrrain but that slowly turned into flat field of lush green wheat crops with the odd palm tree (I imagine that is what the nile flood plain looks like) and then i travelled through sand dunes at a place called Glamis where there were loads of people riding quad bikes (some of them costing over $100, 000 for the buggies). finally made it to brawley which is in the imperial valley (below sea level).
monday was a challanging day as the wind was against me and from el centro the road was terrible. the bumps indeed vexed me and the steep incline pasted ocotillo on the highway 8 vexe more! it was tough fighting the wind and going uphill but i eventually made it to Jacumba which was a chilled but slightly rundown village. it is supposedly the drug capital of the states being on the border with mexico in the hills but i saw no evidence of any of that instead i met loads of really nice people, one of whom Jerry from yugoslavia, let me sleep in his shop and bought me some beers and a sandwich. he was an interesting man who was very bright and we had a long chat before i slept on the carpet.
