Gentle Ben and ChowChow

5/4 = 29 Palms, CA (47 miles)
29 Palms, CA was a military town (there's a huge marine base there complete with fake Iraq villages and underground mountain cities). Our first impression (riding in from the east) was of bewilderment... There was an endless stream of abandoned, dilapidated barb-wired houses. SPOOKY. But, the center of town was nice and after chowing down at the local supermarket we met Gentle Ben and Chow Chow (Buddhist Bicyclist and Crazy Ass Dog). Ben offered to have us over for dinner, lodging, and SHOWER! We threw our bikes in his truck, snuggled w/ Chow Chow and off we went on our private tour of 29 Palms. We had a relaxing and peaceful evening of conversation, quesidillas, the BBC, and green tea, then slept in our first clean bed of the trip.