Beyond a doubt, Bro Mark and I are mad, as in crazy, not upset. (This statement creates no surprise for those who have known us for more than five minutes.)
After two relatively simple and "easy" rides over the past year (Which you can vicariously experience by checking out previous postings on this blog and entries on Bro Mark's blog http//azpedaler.blogspot.com), we decide to stretch our skills, strength, and sanity.
Prior to opening the envelope, I must prepare you for the news.
Understand Bro Mark took his first breath of air (and month full of sand) from the Mojave Desert. Yep, he was born there. Also understand that Bro Mark, almost from infancy, entertains this profound curiosity about the Early Spanish Explorers of the American Southwest. (This natural inclination no doubt radically fueled by the California public school education system shaping his impressionable childhood.) Understand as well Bro Mark provides the genius (and most of the money!) behind our Big Adventures (So I ain't going to argue with him). Important to note that he also "knows the Territory."
One of Bro Mark's Early Spanish Explorer Heroes occupies a noteworthy place in every history book reflecting on the beginnings of Non-Native presence in the Southwest. Juan Bautista de Anza. First to cross the Sonora and Mojave deserts around 1774. Well, heck, let's go straight to the source. Here's what Wikki says:
"In 1772 he proposed an expedition to Alta California to the Viceroy of New Spain. This was approved by the King of Spain and on January 8, 1774, with 3 padres, 20 soldiers, 11 servants, 35 mules, 65 cattle, and 140 horses, he set forth from Tubac south of present day Tucson, Arizona. The expedition took a southern route along the Rio Altar (Sonora y Sinaloa, New Spain) then paralleled the modern Mexico/California border and crossed the Colorado River at its confluence with the Gila River. This was in the domain of the Yuma tribe with which he established good relations. He reached Mission San Gabriel Arcangel near the California coast on March 22, 1774..."
Bro Mark plans on writing a book about J.B. de A. But Bro Mark doesn't just write books. He provides readers with experiences. He wants his readers to feel the heat and sunburn. Taste the dust. Squint the eyes. Blah. Blah. Blah. So Bro Mark had a couple of options.
(1) Find an Early Spanish Explorer with 3 padres, 20 soldiers, 11 servants, 35 mules, 665 cattle, and 140 horses that he could tag along with across the desert. But not even one such explorer (and suitable accessories) was to be found. Even on e-Bay. (Go to Plan B.)
(2) Find a slightly younger brother who was once a minister (kind of like a padre, even if he isn't Catholic), peels potatoes like a soldier (but escaped the draft in 1972 because he just moved to Canada), has picked up after 8 kids like a servant (Actually, he didn't. But it makes the narrative of the blog go better. Sorry, kids.), and shares embarrassingly obvious comparisons to mule and cattle not to be expounded on at this time, and take him instead.
But in place of horses, bicycles will be utilized.
And so it is decided. And so it will be.
The next Two Brothers' Big Adventure will begin just south of Tucson, Arizona, and as closely as possible follow the route of Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, across the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts to the mission in San Gabriel (near Los Angeles) , California.
Our 12 day trip of 669 miles (1,072 km) in the last week of March and first week of April will take us through Gila Bend, Yuma, Hemet, Riverside, Moreno Valley, and San Gabriel, to name just a few places.
(Unless you are a local to that area, you may not recognize the names of these places. They aren't all big places. In fact, one of the challenges of planning this trip is that we are travelling through mostly unpopulated regions, terrifyingly devoid of convenience stores and fast food -- essentials for our survival.)
We will carry our gear on bikes and backs. Sleep dead to the world (hopefully in a metaphorical way) each night in motels.
So just because I enjoy thinking and talking about it, in future blogs over the next few weeks I will share more about the trip. How we are training. What we will be seeing and experiencing. Etc.
Should one of you readers have some experience in these kinds of big bicycling adventures and believe you have some insights, suggestions, and hints that might just save our lives, please feel free to share them. (You can comment on either of our blogs. Or you can email me direct at kent@bmts.com.)
I'd love to tell you more right now, but today is a "training day" for me. (Training in December was riding my bike on my indoor trainer for a half an hour every 2 or 3 days. For this month of January I have been riding for one hour every other day. I will increase that amount in February and tell you all about that then.) So, I'd better go pedaling fast nowhere, for now.
Stay tuned for more on the Big Adventure of Markos de Maniac and Kentos de Crazy.
