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The plants of the desert are dry, vein-like strings that reach towards the merciless skies and pray for moisture like so many parched faithful. As if on cue, our entrance into the desert triggered a waiting tumbleweed to scurry across the road before our arriving vehicle. Later in the day, after filling-up with gasoline, a road runner charged across the parking lot of the station.

And now the sunlight is beginning to seep behind the desert mountains as Lou continues his quest just North of Salton City. The shadows cast by the setting sun are as long as the road that lies ahead for all of us this hot evening.

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But I digress and wallow in cliches.

Lou is doing well and when I asked him how he was doing when he took his first break of the day after 9 hours of power-pedaling, he started quoting me the opening lyrics to Madonna's 1980's classic LIKE A VIRGIN.

I made it through the wilderness
Somehow I made it through
Didn't know how lost I was
Until I found you

I was beat, incomplete
I'd been had, I was sad and blue
But you made me feel
Yeah, you made me feel
Shiny and new

Like a virgin
Touched for the very first time
Like a virgin
When your heart beats
Next to mine

Thankfully, Lou simply recited the lyrics and did not actually sing them to me. It was only the first line or two anyway, but just thought I'd remind you of the rest of the song.

Back to the road. The sun is setting in a yellow blaze behind a dip in the curtain of rock we call mountains. In the distance, Lou's butt shimmies towards the horizon.

Scooter McCrae, reporting.