Southern Tier, highway 78 Glamis to Palo Verde, Ca

[aesopafd@hotmail.com]

My wife and I rode a tandem with trailer.  We rode this section January 22, Wednesday  about 9am to 2pm.  The traffic on this road consisted mostly of tractor-trailers and large RVs, many with trailers that often came in groups.  The first several miles from Glamis has a great 4 foot shoulder that reduced to 1 foot or less with rolling hills, some steep with diminished vehicle visibility at the hill tops.  There were a few times where this high speed traffic met beside us with no place for us to go. 
Is there an alternate route that could avoid this section of highway?

[Catherine]

I'm about a week from this area, have you heard back from anyone?

thanks,

catherine

[staehpj1]

I just rode Rt-78 for that section when I did the ST but someone suggested an alternate route at the time.  Sorry but I don't recall what it was.  It looks like Blythe Olgilby road parallels rt 78, but I don't think it is paved and do not know how ride-able it is.

I didn't really mind Rt 78, but I have a pretty high tolerance for traffic.

I just remembered that it was Nancy Mercury who suggested the alternate route (if my memory is correct).  She was offering to host cyclists near there (for a fee I think).  I didn't stay there but did speak to her on the phone.  If she is still listed on the AC maps or with warmshowers.org you might look her up and ask her.

[Catherine]

Thank you!

[johnsondasw]

I've been on such roads so many times.  I'd suggest getting a mirror if you're not already using one.  On tours there are almost always sections like this., and they are sometimes unavoidable  Without a mirror, I feel so at the mercy of random strangers who are sometimes texting, drunk, eating....you get the idea.  I don't want to be at the absolute mercy of these folks.  I have left the road to avoid cars/trucks coming way to close.

[Catherine]

Thaks, good suggestion.  I have one partially mounted.  Time to finish the job, it's waitig patiently I a pannier.

[MaryK]

i rode this section heading eastbound on Oct 16, 2014. Yes, there are lots of trucks and a mirror is especially helpful. On the weekends, there is even more traffic as it's a popular area for people who like to ride their 4-wheelers off road in the dunes.

We stayed with Nancy Mercury, a welcome respite as there's not much in that area. Even if you don't stay with her, she's a great source of information. Because of the number of riders she hosts, she asks for a donation of $25 per person or $40 for couple. Nancy is listed on the ACA map, but the phone number is out of date. The correct number is 760-854-1117. This number is also listed in the addenum. She is not listed i warmshowers.

[staehpj1]

We stayed at the Oxbow BL campsite 3 miles south of palo Verde.  It was $15 per vehicle.   We were not sure what bikes were supposed to pay and I forget what/if we decided to pay.  The site was okay as I recall.

[Westinghouse]

On 78 where the side lane disappeared at lengths large tractor-trailer trucks kept coordinating so that two would come exactly abreast of me repeatedly, many times. In organized stalking terms the tactic is called crowding. They were the same trucks over and over timed so two would come exactly abreast of me repeatedly, much too precisely  and repeatedly to be mere happenstance. It was unquestionably deliberate, timed and coordinated. Add to that obscured license plates nearly impossible to read, which were illegal, and there were suspicious goings on on highway 78 going into and through the sand dunes. It was January 2010. There were many many other examples of obviously timed and coordinated and deliberate traffic patterns for the purpose of causing extremely loud, unusual, disturbing, ear splitting noises on the soputhern tier, not necessarily all on ACA's mapped ST route, but these crimes did happen many many many times.

[Westinghouse]

I know I saw another post somewhere about a cyclist going west out of Ocatillo, CA on I-8 and onto highway 80. He too noticed many times how two vehicles from opposite directions would come exactly abreast of each other and himself. It is obviously timed and coordinated and calculated. I have seen such tactics used many times for harassment, crowding and noise attacks. If you run into these criminals, you might want to be careful, wear earplugs, and call the police and try to get to the bottom of it. Where there is much traffic it might be difficult to discern, but when on back roads on a Sunday when you might see one car every fifteen minutes if even that, and two trucks and / or cars  come exactly abreast of you a hundred times, and always in the same kinds of places, e.g., at the first expansion crack going onto bridges, where the side lane suddenly disappears, and where obstructions put in the side lane force you out into the motor lane, the conclusion is inescabable. It is organized, criminal-gang stalking, and I saw it clearly across five or six states.

[Westinghouse]

One of these criminals actually approached me on foot at a store in a western state, and told me what it was about.

[johnsondasw]

One of these criminals actually approached me on foot at a store in a western state, and told me what it was about.

Well, what did he say it was about?

[Catherine]

I just did that stretch a few weeks ago and had no problems or incidents, nada.

[Westinghouse]

78 was the least of it. It was extant in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and into California. One person said there were too many trucks on 78and could have missed the pattern. I admit it took me a while to see it for what is was. Someone else said there was no such problem for them on 78. These criminals do not do their dirty work 24 and 7 but they do it.

[zzzz]

The poster Westinghouse has laid out quite the scenario here for bicycle harassment.

And he has doubled and tripled down on it in his postings now so I'm sure these are deeply held beliefs.

And I have never ridden the Southern Tier route.

And over the 40 years and 100,000+ mile I have ridden a bike I have run into my fair share of drivers of every stripe that were clueless or malevolent and what I am about to say in no way exonerates drivers who put a cyclist's life in danger because they are clueless or stupid or psychotic.

Having qualified all of that, What he has described here does not remotely pass the sniff test.

The claim that over a course of 5 states and 2000± miles there is a cabal that lies in wait (I can only presume for hours) for passing cyclists, while in coordination with another driver coming in the other direction, just so they can pass said cyclist simultaneously on a bridge or some other tight spot for some mysterious motivation is simply not feasible. If for no other reason then the majority of truck drivers are paid by the mile they are not going to sit by the roadside in wait for a rider just to get there jollies(do they throw camouflage netting over their trucks so you won't recognize what is going on when you ride by?).

Everyone is entitled to believe what they want and I'm quite sure Westinghouse will continue believing very strongly that this is happening. But I am writing this for anyone who has not spent much time on the road and wants to know if it's safe out there. You will always be somewhat more vulnerable on a bike than in a car. But the take away I have had and you hear again and again and again from people when the come off a tour is that these long rides reinforce a belief that the vast majority of people are decent and  you will run into a number of people whose kindness will stay with you forever.

Pete