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Cartoon cacti really do exist. We hit the desert in Arizona this week, and instead of having bushes and trees in their front yars they have Saguaro Cacti. I wondered if nusries here sold cacti plants instead of shrubs, but have not had the time to investigate. I have been worried about the Arizona desert since the beginning of the trip, but it was actually in California that we hit our hottest temperatures. Today we rode 90 miles from Blythe to Brawley and I was sweep. We left the church before 6am, and when I arrived at 2pm the bank thermomiter read 104 degrees. We rode across the Empirial Sand Dune and it was beautiful, but I was diestracted by the fact that I was in the desert on my bike and it was hot. 6 miles from the church some of my fellow riders were stopped sitting under a tree. As sweep it was our job to be the last people into the church, but I really did not want to stop. We had been pushing it hard so that we could get out of the heat as soon as possible. But after running through the sprinklers on a stranger's lawn, life seemed so much better. Instead of the last 6 miles being tourture they were actually quite enjoyable. Then once we got to the church everyone took naps to try and recover from a very long day. I decided that of the places that I want to live some day the desert is not high on my list, but I also decided that air condtioning is amazing.

We have only three days of riding left till we dip our tires in the Pacific Ocean. I still can't believe it when I look at a map and see how far we have gone. I have rode across the country to a place where they have Palm Trees and Cacti.