Day 4. Jan 12

Day 4 was a great day of cycling.  Can you say TAILWIND!  We had an 8-10 mph tailwind for most of the day.  Not a strong one but good enough.  At one point the road turned and then it was a headwind for only a couple of miles.  But good cycling and for the first time the temp got into the 50's.  Strange that 50's felt warm but after what we have cycled through so far it felt like heaven.  

The scenery has been pretty much the same over the past few days...  The Sahara to our right and the Red Sea to our left.  The Sahara is different than the desert southwest.  The sand is much redder and course.  The rocks dotting it are black as if volcanic.  It is a rolling set of dunes with not much out there.  There was a house at one point that had a 12 foot fence around it topped with barbed wire.  It had a guard tower with a sentry holding an AK47.  Then just below him on a platform was another with a 50 calibre machine gun.  There were dogs patrolling the compound.  I didn't want to take a picture of it for fear of the weapons opening up.  I am only half kidding about that.  Speaking of AK47s, I have seen more people walking around with automatic weapons than anywhere else.  They seem to safety pin some sort of emblem on there sleeve and it gives them the authority to carry.

There have been mile after mile of finished or half finished resorts and condos all along the Red Sea.  Must have been a huge building boom with a great expectation.  There is a huge number of them that have never been occupied.  The builders have all gone bust.  Economic distress....

Got my first shower sinceThursday.  You notice I didn't say hot shower, beggars can't be choosers.  It felt so good to wash the desert sand off.  The conditions have been far more spartan than I even thought. 

The food on the trip has been absolutely aweful.  They said you would have all that you want.  I think they are erroring on the side of quantity versus quality.  It reminds me of a prison movie where everyone shuffles through the line with a plate and the attendant pulls a big spoonful of stuff from a vat and slaps it on your plate.  You want to ask ... What is it but you know the answer will be ... Food, next move it along.  Tomorrow we head inland up over the mountains towards Luxor.  The shoulder was complaining today but manageable.  Tomorrow is a77 mile day with 3,500 feet of climbing.

This is where we have ridden so far.

Beautiful sunrise over the desert

My home, the yellow one