FW: Jan. 7-8 - $1 Cheese Sticks and Hot Springs

Locations: Blythe, CA and Tonopah, AZ

The ride was not very eventful. Just followed the I-10 eastbound. We had a bit of a down day because at lunch we looked at our route on the map and realized how far we still had to go to get to the Canadian border. We got really worried that we would not make it in time if we take the detour all the way to Tucson to visit our friend. At lunch we basically decided to go straight north tomorrow and not go to Tucson to save time. But we so wanted to go visit our friends. What to do!?
Still a bit down and not in the most sociable mood we rode to our Warmshowers host in Blythe. The address we had was for a Bait shop so we were not sure what to expect. When we arrived the lady in the shop came out to greet us, told us the owner was not here but that is no problem. She showed us our camping spot, shower etc. and informed us that our first beer was on the house and they were ordering pizza for us. Wow! After our upsetting afternoon this was the perfect atmosphere to walk into; relaxed and totally cool. After freshening up we joined the regulars on the patio where we sat around the big wood stove made from an old barrel. The guys were so great, teased each other and kept bringing us one beer after the other. John's dog Riley provided the best entertainment for the night. That dog knows what money is and he understands the concept that these pieces of 'paper' can be exchanged for food in the store. John gave me a $1 dollar bill which I handed to Riley who immediately strode off to the store, constantly checking that we were following him and then stopped infront of the cheese cooler waiting for John to get two cheese sticks out for him. So funny! I have never met a dog that knows how to shop! 

John even told us a story of a family who pulled up infront of the store one time and when they opened the door a bill blew out. Riley snatched it and again walked over to the store to buy himself some cheese. That poor family got a good scare because they thought Riley was charging at them while in reality he was just after their money. Hahaha. 

That evening we reassessed our trip plans one more time and carefully added up the number of miles we still had to cover and it turned out that we should have more than enough time to hop over to Tucson for a few days. Yay!

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU AT THE B&B BAIT SHOP! THANK YOU FOR THE VERY WARM WELCOME AND THE MANY STORIES. YOU GUYS ARE A REAL COOL BUNCH AND TOTALLY MADE OUR DAY. HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN!

The following day was great. The wind was favourable and the road conditions mostly good. The scenery was nice but nothing overly spectacular. A few saguaro cacti appeared on the landscape as soon as we had crossed into Arizona so that was great. We ended up riding 107 miles (172km) all the way to Tonopah, a small town in dry Arizona. The unique thing about this place is that there are natural hotsprings in the area and we had found a Warmshowers contact there who has his own hotspring on his property. Our friends from Beijing had stayed with him when they were travelling in the USA and had recommended him to us. We could not find his address at first but eventually we succeeded. The guy was nice but he was a bit odd and also nudist so we were glad that he disappeared back into his RV after showing us our camping spot and how to operate the soaking tubs. We normally like socializing with our hosts but since he was not too keen on our company we did not mind since we were a bit tired anyways. After setting up the tent and a quick dinner we got ready for our soaking session! Our host had set up two large bathtubs under a mesquite tree and hoses delivered unlimited hot water to them. 

It was a wonderful experience to sit there up to your neck in hot water with the moon shining between the branches of the tree overhead. What a great way to relax after a long day on the bike!