A beautiful and difficult ride today. Started out on quiet roads out of Arvin but after only seven miles the pavement ended just as I was beginning to climb in the mountains. Well shoot I thought! I'm gonna go for it... I mean, that's why I put wide tire on this rig. So I start riding the dirt road and it goes up and up and has large water eroded ruts striping it frequently. Longer I rode the more beautiful the view. But man, I was moving so slowly! The sun was full on and I had only 2.5 water bottles worth of water. I only saw two vehicles on this road all day. It was beautifully quiet. I finally ran out of water just as I started to see homes on the mountainside. I stopped at one to ask for some water and the woman was very kind. So when she asked if I needed anything else I said, "Yes, I could really use a shower and a place to pitch my tent. She said that I was welcome to take a shower and sleep in the spare bedroom. Yahoo! :)