Auto Immunity: Ocean, mountain, desert... a review

Hello world!
Fearless leader Joey here typing hot on the keys, along with Matt and Nate, about to give you a review of the past 5 days!
Day one, the great, grand beginning! With a breakfast of pancakes, orange juice, and force eating of food thanks to Matts' cousins Chris and Larry, and their daughters Erin and Madison, the trip of many miles began! Starting at the Wharf in Oceanside California, we left at 10:30 am on a beautiful morning. Following a nice bike trail along the river we headed east out of the city and started a trek through the California countryside. Passing along countless orange groves, the best smelling strawberry field, and beautiful landscapes galore the ride was pleasing to all! expecting to do around 50 miles to a campground at lake Henshaw, all was well and on track, until a few wrong turns set us back 14 miles... There were only 2 good climbs on the first day. The first was around 800' and the second was around 1000'. Sadly, during the beginning of the first climb, we had to drop Alex at a little tiny store to be picked up later by my mother. The second descent and pretty much the final leg of the day was an intense downhill of a 7% grade! White knuckled and adrenaline rushed we flew down the mountain making sharp turns and HOO HOLLARIN' the whole time! At the bottom we stopped at Harrah's Casino in the Rincon Indian Reservation where we met Tony and Diana from LA. They turned a corner and saw us stretching out in the shade and came up with ice cream in hand asking us how we were. We chatted them up about our journey and why we were doing it and they proceeded to buy us ICE CREAM! Thanks Tony and Diana, I hope you won it big (and happy late birthday Tony). With a total of 56 miles biked (40 on trail) we got picked up by my mom and cruised up to lake Henshaw Campground for the night. The next morning we would start back down the mountain with 1,600' to climb right off the bat. And we want to give a giant shout out to Matt's cousin Chris Rowe and her family; Larry, Erin and Madison, and the dog shadow for giving us a place to stay in Oceanside while we waited for Nate to arrive in San Diego. They force fed us and made sure we were safe so we did not have to stay on the beach. They also took us out for delicious sushi and made their house our home for 3 days. If it wasn't for them we would not have had such a magical time in Oceanside. They made the begginning of our trip fantastic! Also Larry led us to the bike path from the pier on his scooter. We probably would have got lost if it wasn't for him.

Day 2
This day started with Kate bringing us down the mountain from our campsite at Lake Henshaw. Here Nate took a few moments to talk to David and Crystal who said we could stay in there orange grove the night before but we went with the campground instead. David then gave us $20 for food and such (Thanks a TON). We started a 7% climb of 4 miles that totaled 1600 feet up. It was pretty intense but the views from the climb were astounding. After the initial climb we had about 15 more miles up to Lake Henshaw where we planned on having lunch. Before we got there Joey stopped us on the road and asked us if we heard that sound. That sound was a river that was just below us so we obviously stopped to take a dip. Before we could make it in the river we starting talking to a wonderful gentleman named Jake. He was camping on the river and then procedded to ask us if we wanted to tube down the river. Without hesitation we said hell yea and he let us take a few of his tubes down the small rapids of the river. It was sweet and was way cooler than wolf river tubing for those of you who know what im talking about. Thanks Jake and Ashley it was a blast. After that we made our way to Lake Henshaw for some lunch and started the second half of our day. The second half was a steady climb up to 4500 feet from 2500 feet at lake Henshaw. This climb was pretty brutal on us but we toughed it out and made it to the top. At the top we took a break and took in the scenery before begginging the most ridicoulus thing ever. We started a 4000 foot decent into the desert at 8% grade. The road started fast and then we hit the 25 and 30 mph hairpin turns. With permenant grins we flew down the mountain and soaked in the ridicoulous vistas that lay before us. About half way down the mountain the wind in our face turned from a cool breeze to a hot wind. Once at the bottom we all agred that it was the most intense, ridicoulous thing that we have ever done. At this point we were in Borrego Springs and the thermometer probalby read over 100 degrees. We stopped at a gas station and the lady said that the average in town was usually around 110. The last 10 miles of the day were mostly downhill with a nice breeze so that was a welcome relief. We ended our day in Anza Borrego Desert State Park with about 55 miles under our wheels for the day. We watched a hot yellow sun fade off over the mountains and a gentle breeze turn into a constant but refreshing wind. We snapped some picks of the sunset and Kate made us some spagetti and we went to bed happy, tired, and ready for another 50 miles in the morning. Giving a shout out to the Lake Henshaw family staff for a great spot and a great campsite.
This was the "Glass Elevator" 4,000 foot descent done by motorcyclists... we did this on bike!
Day 3.
Welcome to HOTT! Anzo Borrego State Desert! Morning of day 3 we tried to wake up early but no one set an alarm besides me (Joey) and my phone just so happened to die while I was asleep. We started off biking straight for about 35 miles on California 78 through...desert. We biked until about noonish and then decided to try and beat the heat by finding some shade... HORRIBLE IDEA! For about 5 hours we sat under some shade off the highway simply sweating profusely... Played some scrabble and I took the win! (although my mom helped me play "cignot" on a triple word). After setting off again in an even hotter air than when we stopped we only had about 10 miles to Brawley California. HOT! We got about one mile from Brawley and Nate had to take a breather in some shade because he was getting light headed and numb... The desert can do some bad things if you don't know your limitations... Luckily, Nate being the muscle, sat for awhile and drank some water and chowed down some M&Ms until he was ready to push it to Brawley! Once in Brawley we went for a dip at the local recreation pool and it was glorious! Water stretching was simply amazing! After the pool we crashed at a local church in their yard, just cruised up and pitched out tents. We ate some Little Ceasars pizza and it was pretty tasty! Then off to bed for a quick start in the morning to try and make it Palo Verde California!
Day 4.
We awoke early, 5:15 am, to be able to set off by 6! Once on the road the wind was at our backs and it was a pretty nice ride! We cruised for 66 miles on DAY 4! We passed a lot of desert farming... DON'T FARM IN THE DESERT! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE! After passing the weirdo desert farmers we strolled into Glamis Sand Dunes! WHAAAA! Did you know that in the desert, they have plow trucks for...SAND! Backwards... It was quite an amazing sight to view though, those rolling dunes with mountains splayed in the backdrop... Something Nate, Alex, and I had never seen before. (Matt has seen them in Indiana by lake Michigan, like he's cool or something). After the dunes it was some fun sailing up and down dips through until we reached just before Palo Verde where we camped at Emory's! (Thanks mom for the gatorade and limes during the ride!). We had a beautiful spot next to water with a lot of shade and the place to ourselves, besides Emory of course. With a great diner of chicken and rice with mushroom and onions, we quickly crashed due to a weird tiredness that comes after biking 65+ plus miles...
TODAY.
Whew, we thought we would have a simply 23 mile ride today, until we met a constant that isn't always around. WIND. Yup, try biking 23 miles into a constant wind, it's pretty dang hard, even with drafting! We cruised into Blythe California around 11 am and started setting up camp at a KOA! Here we had a sort of rest day fit with swimming in the Colorado River, Starbucks, and a little frisbee! and a SHOWER! Huge shout out to Jason Salazar who has an awesome job at the KOA! He showed us a place on the river to go rock jumping! Just a nice guy in general! Keep doing it "bad" in Cali! Recently just had the best shrimp burritos at a little place called Garcia's! WHEW, Sorry Mazatlan... Now we are gearing up for bed for the 50 mile trek to Parker Arizona! After that, its 150 miles of desolation in the hot Arizona desert... So glad we have my mom around! Thanks to all for reading and as always, tell your friends, family, and foes! donate today! Help us reach our goal! and oh yea, almost forgot: Shout out to Casey and Joe! Met these two at Garcias and they asked if we liked cheese. perfect! Keep those solar cells coming into AZ Casey! P.S. Nate will be looking for a job in the future!