However, the desert is still all around. We take the opportunity to take a ramble on foot as it is so difficult to move across the sand on a bike! Jack Rabbits bounce away from us - they are just like our hares except their ears are translucent, to loose heat.
Tiny lizards nip everywhere and pale crickets hop about.
Back in the hotel, the CNN coverage of Hurricane Sandy shows the east coast weather worsening. The Tall Ship HMS Bounty (a replica vessel built for the film "Bounty") has sunk in the storm. The 16 crew abandoned ship, 14 are saved, one lady crew member drowned and the captain is missing. Eighty-plus homes have burnt down in New Jersey. Devastating.
We look on Google Streetview to see if there is a shoulder to ride on beside the only tarmaced road onwards to Palmdale, but it is impossible to differentiate, in their photos, between sand and tarmac with sand blown over it! As it is, next morning, the road across the desert has a shoulder some of the way, however dozens of red, ready-mix concrete lorries charge past us, just after the shoulder disappears and we really need it!
Then we are passed by a snow plough! Turns out they are used to shove the sand back off the highway.
We cycle across Lake Los Angeles which, like all the "lakes" around here, has evaporated away to a flat salty area. Edwards Air Force Base is nearby, so if one of the test flights misses the runway there is a featureless expanse to land on. The first Space Shuttle landings took place here.
We have been above 3000ft for the last week but after Palmdale the road is mostly down hill. A very enjoyable cycle now along the old, Solidad Canyon Road, empty of traffic as a new Freeway by-passes this valley. The picturesque, desolate San Gabriel Mountains are close by to the south, for miles.
There is one tunnel, but no problem as it is short and traffic free.
Tour miles to date: 3,133
Location:Hesperia to Santa Clarita
