Clean energy, and a boost for cyclists

If this picture were video, you would see the blades of the windmills spinning away. Winds were about 30 mph out of the west, and luckily we were travelling east. There are hundreds of windmills in this area of California (just west of Palm Springs), and if every day is like today, it's a great place to put them.

I've never moved as fast on a bicycle on level ground. At times, we were going 35mph without turning the pedals. It was loads of fun. One guy in the group tried to snap a picture while flying along, hit a drift pile of sand, and crashed. He seems to be okay, although he needed new wheels and a new helmet. To the scholars at Bridgeport Academy: Remember what you call a cyclist without a helmet - STUPID! If this guy didn't have a helmet on, the result likely would have been tragic.

Tomorrow we ride 105 miles through the desert. Yikes! We're all trying to drink as much as possible today, to be fully hydrated before joining the snakes and scorpions. They prefer their victims juicy.