Yucca Valley, CA - Twentynine Palms, CA

Today was one of my favorite days of the trip so far,  mainly because of the low mileage and lots of free time. We had a late (7 AM) wake up, and had only 21 miles to ride that day into the adjacent town of Twentynine Palms. Most of the pacelines decided to race that day--I forgot where my paceline finished, but we finished the ride in one hour and two minutes. After everyone arrived, we had free time for the rest of the day, which I spent napping and listening to music. A few of us went to the 7-11 to get Slurpees to beat the heat, while and other group went to the pool to swim around for a bit. 

For dinner that night, our Project Manager, Paul, decided to take us all to Joshua Tree National Park to grill some burgers and hot dogs. The park was beautiful--there were lots of really cool rock formations, and, of course, Joshua Trees. While Paul and a few of the guys got the food ready, a few of us decided to do some bouldering and rock climbing. I was surprised at how well my Sperry's held up while climbing up the rock formations. Some of the climbs we did reminded me of scenes from 127 Hours, so we were sure to take caution in our climbing. Once the food was ready, we all climbed back down to our picnic site and ate burgers, hot dogs, and watermelon. When we were all done, we went back to lodging (which was infested with cockroaches) and got some rest for our long ride the next day.