Hot Flashes

Casa Grande before the storm

Wednesday, July 27th
Gila Bend, AZ to Casa Grande, AZ

Wow this place is bigger than I'd expected. It's at the southern tip of Phoenix. There's every service I'd hope for from a city: buffets, McDonald's, Walmart, Lowe's, a library, and the like.

My phone is not charging in the heat. It also overheats and turns itself off when I use it. I got into town and had a hard time manually locating a McDonald's for a 59 cent ice cream cone and $1 unlimited Powerade refills.

So I stumbled into a Dairy Queen to ask directions. On a whim, I inquired if they had a free ice cream promotion for crazy bicyclists going coast to coast. The teen performed her summer job responsibilities by the book. Tough crowd. I stumbled back out.

A father of another Dairy Queen summer employee picked up his son at the same time I was leaving. He saw me riding across the street, pulled me over, and bought me a root beer ice cream shake at Whataburger. What a treat!

This root beer shake was ice cold and the large size was, no kidding, large. I downed ice water and shake in rapid succession. My hands were trembling. Blood was rushing out of my limbs to my stomach. In a short minute the inside of my body was 70F colder than the outside. I put my head down. Then I sat out in the 100F wearing long sleeves, shivering. Y'all do the optimal thing and drink warm water on a hot day if you like. But man, that ice cream shake was tasty! And I'd do it again!

Crazy thunderstorms tonight. Lightning spread across the entire sky. The wind picked up as the thunder rolled closer. Then within fifteen minutes, sand filled the air and the road, buildings, cars could not be seen. The sky burst rain.

I got out of Golden Corral at 9 pm when the sand storm approached. I thought, I'm so screwed. Gonna get struck by lightning on my bicycle. Then I'm going to collapse and drown in rain when the storm passes through.

I approached an intersection when the sand picked up. I could see dust clouds stopping light from street lamps. The wind was blowing onto my back, so my sight was temporarily spared. Then gusts intensified and sand whipped around into my eyes. I dismounted Veltro. Soon the city block was a swirling hourglass. Traffic stopped. A business sign crossed the sidewalk.

I looked down at my legs. Sand rushed past them. I felt like I was standing on two massive tree trunks in a hurricane. The sand in the air was so thick that I could not see if I turned my head around, so I walked backwards and looked sideways, seeking cover. Retraced my route to a Walgreen's and ducked inside. When I took off my backpack I saw it was covered in dust. Then rain dumped outside.

An hour later, the storm has passed. Wind continues to gust intermittently with less bravado. Lightning flashes in the distance where the storm travels. Here though, it is cool and dry. How suddenly it strikes and is gone.

Travel map.