Lon Haldeman, the tour organizer and ultracycling legend, said "To me the tour begins today." Yup, we got the open country, no traffic, Bagdad Cafe and of course the 25 miles of torn-up pavement to ride on.Today (4/22) was a short day. 52 miles of not so hard riding from Barstow to Ludlow, CA. We stopped at the Sidewinder Cafe at about mile 22. This cafe was the setting in the movie Bagdad Cafe. The original city of Bagdad is no more since I-40 was constructed and bypassed this small town.
The highlight of the ride (besides it being very hot again) was the rough 25 miles where the pavement is completely fractured and riding in dirt seems better. This inspired me to use the extra time on hand to write a letter to our beloved president.
BTW I wanted to mention that the tattoo picture was taken by Jim Bradbury...otherwise he will complain for not getting credit.
Below are some pictures I took in Daggett...it's actually a "ghost" dwelling at an intersection.
A letter to the president...
Dear President Obama,
Please consider this as a strongly worded letter to spend some of the stimulus money to rebuild part of Rt. 66 (parallel to I 40) – from about mile 25 west of Barstow, CA to Ludlow, CA. As you know Rt. 66 was the first major road connecting Chicago (your beloved home town) to Santa Monica (near your old school). This is my third bicycle ride on Rt. 66 (2001, 3 & 9) and this road is getting worse each year. We would prefer not to have this bone-jarring experience year after year. Additionally this would have economic and “green” benefits by creating better access to the solar farm near there. Additional solar farms could be created by displacing several Marine bases in that area that may be up to no good. As you may be aware Rt. 66 here is also a National Trails Highway so there is a historic preservation bill in here some where.
We in the cycling would be very grateful for your prompt attention. Of course, as a fringe benefit, you could also join us on this ride once you are retired, hopefully in 7 years at the young age of 53. The reason you could not do this trip before retirement is that the small town of Ludlow, where I write this note from, does not have enough rooms to accommodate the Secret Service staff.
For more information about riding Rt. 66, check out http://www.pactour.com/
Yours Sincerely,
Anurang Revri
On Behalf of Many Cyclotourists.
Please consider this as a strongly worded letter to spend some of the stimulus money to rebuild part of Rt. 66 (parallel to I 40) – from about mile 25 west of Barstow, CA to Ludlow, CA. As you know Rt. 66 was the first major road connecting Chicago (your beloved home town) to Santa Monica (near your old school). This is my third bicycle ride on Rt. 66 (2001, 3 & 9) and this road is getting worse each year. We would prefer not to have this bone-jarring experience year after year. Additionally this would have economic and “green” benefits by creating better access to the solar farm near there. Additional solar farms could be created by displacing several Marine bases in that area that may be up to no good. As you may be aware Rt. 66 here is also a National Trails Highway so there is a historic preservation bill in here some where.
We in the cycling would be very grateful for your prompt attention. Of course, as a fringe benefit, you could also join us on this ride once you are retired, hopefully in 7 years at the young age of 53. The reason you could not do this trip before retirement is that the small town of Ludlow, where I write this note from, does not have enough rooms to accommodate the Secret Service staff.
For more information about riding Rt. 66, check out http://www.pactour.com/
Yours Sincerely,
Anurang Revri
On Behalf of Many Cyclotourists.
I'll sign up for any century you choose if you send that letter to the Prez.
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