For dinner there is a choice of chicken or beef grilled over charcoal, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, salad, and for dessert, carrot cake baked in Dutch ovens. Even without a bicycle ride to build an appetite, dinner is excellent. We have been forewarned that the progress of the trip will be marked by improvements in the showers each evening. Tonight there are public toilets and wash basins, but no showers. It's dawn and coffee is ready.
Breakfast is followed by a route-talk about what to see and do on today's ride.
A long graceful ride takes us down and across the green, north end of the valley. We work our way up the other side of the valley and climb to the rim of Ubehebe Crater, a half mile hole that was blown out of the earth thousands of years ago when molten lava turned ground water to explosive steam. The 500 foot sides of the crater are patterned with desert earth tones, sculptured by erosion and highlighted by splashes of tiny yellow flowers. We ride back down and across the valley then up, then up some more to Scotty's Castle. At 3,000 feet above sea level it is cool.