Today we journeyed from the Apache Gold Casino to a hippie hot springs in Safford, AZ (that charges money for the experience).
I learned about chip seal today. I HATE chip seal, especially when they leave big piles of gravel on the shoulder that skinny tires don't like. About mile marker 278 on highway 70 it began and went on for about two miles. We tried our best to crash once in the deep gravel they had wasted. Note: by the time you get to this section of road, fellow cyclists, there will probably be 4-5 miles of fresh chip seal - they were still working on it today.
OK, now here's the scoop on the title. Today we rode through the San Carlos Apache Indian Nation (reservation) for about 40 miles. They were trying to give everything back to the land by breaking every glass beer bottle and throwing it to the side of the road, along with every other piece of trash. It was really a sorry sight. We do our best not to be prejudiced and this is only a small percentage of the population on the reservation responsible for this mess. It was amazing when we finally exited the reservation how much less trash was on the roadsides. It makes me wonder what has happened to that Native American respect for the earth?
On our route today, we passed through the town of Pima, AZ There's this crop that we've been seeing actually since Imperial Valley and I've wondered what it is. Well, today I figured it out -- it's COTTON. Every heard of Pima Cotton? This area (Pima to Safford) is a big cotton growing region. Those white "flowers" on the plants were actually cotton bolls.
We are thinking about renaming our "Bongo" trailer to "Rumble" as it has been bouncing along the rumble strips on the narrow shoulders.
Well, we survived today, amazingly enough after being so tired yesterday. And tomorrow is a REST DAY!!!!
Total miles: 77.24
Time: 5:55
Avg: 13.05 mph
Today's rating: 2
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