Surrounded!

I didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday (Friday) because we camped at Blackjack Campground just beyond "The Pass", that is, the pass that is 14 miles up from Three Way.  At first we thought we'd camp at the USFS Ranger Station in Three Way, but we arrived there just after 11:00 a.m. and there is absolutely nothing to do in Three Way.  So after getting water and snacks at the one and only Three Way store, we forged on up highway 78.   There are some pretty steep climbs (7-10%) and we were down in our last gear a few times.  But we were fresh after a rest day, so all in all, it was a good day, especially since the weather decided to cooperate -- it was overcast all day and the temperatures were really nice.  Even so, we sweated like pigs going up (do pigs really sweat???).

So we top The Pass, and just a mile or so past that we pulled into the Blackjack Campground.  This is a forest service primitive campground, no water, vault toilets.  Got the tent set up and were starting to work on our "gourmet" dinner of pesto pasta and instant mashed potatoes.  By the way,  the instant mashed potatoes they're coming up with these days are absolutely scrumptious.  We had garlic parmesan ones last night.  Hey, and we actually got COLD for the first time on this trip.  It was pretty chilly up in those mountains.

Anyway, several pickup trucks loaded with kids -- boys age 10 and up -- started pulling into the campground driving around obviously looking for a site.  Then more truckloads of boys starting coming in.  And of course, a pack of them set up camp in the site right next to us.  Rick says, "Looks like a Boy Scout Camperee", and sure enough, one of their leaders came over to apologize in advance to us.  He told us there would be about 100 boys in that night and they'd be running all over the place and get pretty noisy.  We were SURROUNDED!!  But it really didn't matter too much; we were too tired to care and crashed out at 8:00 p.m. anyway.

So this morning we headed out for Silver City.  We got a late start (8:20 a.m.) because it was pretty chilly this morning and we took time to make breakfast (cheese grits) and have hot tea/coffee.  The ride started out very beautiful and we crossed into New Mexico about 4 miles from the campground.

Now I really feel I need to mention this spot just to the left of my cervical spine.  It has been a problem for me ever since we started riding distances multiple days.  It is an irritating pain that seems worse when I'm fatigued and sometimes gets stabbing.  It's been with me so constantly that I've decided to name it "Spot".  Yesterday with all the climbing, Spot was just fine, go figure.  But today starting out with downhill and flats, Spot decided to get mean.  So that, for me, took today's rating down from what could've been a 1.

We made it to Buckhorn in 2 hours, stopped and had brunch.  The store there has pizza and does made-to-order burritos.  Very yummy.  Then we headed off for more hill climbing; not as steep as yesterday, but seemed for longer miles.  We left Buckhorn at 12:40 p.m. and didn't get into Silver City until 5:00 p.m.!  And, just as we reached the Continental Divide, it started to rain.  Arriving in Silver City, we had no idea where to go for a good beer and the kind of food we like.  We ended up at "Diane's" which was very good - good bottled beer and delicious pasta among other things, but fairly pricey.  It was dark and still slightly raining when we left there and went searching for a place to stay.  I said that I required a motel this night.  I really was on my last legs  Spot had been "talking" to me all day, and my right knee started "talking" also and it has never spoken before.

So....safe and sound finally in The Drifters Inn.  We were going to head out to Caballo Lake tomorrow (77 miles) but I'm not so sure about that now....

The Essence of Tranquility

Today was a rest day and THAT is the essence of tranquility.  Oh to let the body rest!  I had the best sleep last night in my sleeping bag, on the ground in our tent at the Essence of Tranquility Hot Springs.  I think Rick didn't sleep as well as I did as he informed me this morning of the cat fight, dog barking, goat bleating, and coyote yipping he heard last night.  I only heard crickets for a few minutes and maybe coyotes once during the night.

The hot springs is a very funky, 60's kind of communal place.  It is about 6 miles off route so it added 12 miles to our tour.  Definitely nothing fancy but has a certain charm to it.   It did have a communal kitchen and common room and THAT was really nice - I didn't have to break out the camp stove and there was plenty of water to clean up with. We met some nice people there - Clarisse the owner, Charles, David and Lisa, Keith and Daniella.  Everyone made us feel very welcome.  Keith even gave us some green chile this morning (which I added to our grits along with cheese - yum!).  The hot springs tubs range from 98 to 105 degrees in temperature and sure help sooth tired muscles, although when we first arrived mid afternoon yesterday it was a bit too warm to partake.  The soaking felt good last night and this morning though!

One of the tubs at Essence

The communal kitchen

Today was a planned rest day as for the next several days we will be facing the most challenging climbs of this entire tour up into New Mexico.  We toyed around with the idea of starting up the mountain today, but since we slept in and goofed around at the hot springs till after 11 a.m., decided to go into town, get lunch and check into a motel.  That way we can get an early start tomorrow morning and not have to break camp before we leave.

Today's rating:  1  (how could it not be? We're RESTING!!!!)

Traveling Across the Land Fill

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

6% DOWNGRADE NEXT 12 MILES

…BULLSHIT!  The Arizona road department has some weird idea of what is a downgrade!!  This particular sign on highway 60, east of Superior, after Gonzales Pass, just after you reach the sign that indicates 4000’ is just not very truthful.  To a cyclist, seeing that truck downgrade sign is like reaching nirvana – it means your screaming quads, back, and shoulder muscles are going to get a break.  Oh, but not this road.  They start you out with perhaps a 1-2 mile drop which rapidly turns you right back up another mountain  You keep expecting the other part of that 12-mile downgrade but it never really happens until you eventually get to the 4600’ elevation sign near Signal Mountain.

Looking back towards Superior from Gonzales Pass

Then you finally get a drop, then a mostly flat ride into Globe which is a long town.  Today when we passed through it we stopped at a Subway next door to the Liquor Stable Saloon .  Grabbed a $5 footlong sandwich and holed up in the cool dark saloon and some conversation with Donna, the bar tender.  She was very nice, filled up our water bottle and informed u s that Gila County has an e-cola alert out for their water supply, so drink only bottled water or get of out Gila County.  A lot of the restaurants farther into town weren’t open so it was lucky we stopped where we did!  This is a great place to stop for a cold one, a good sandwich next door (which you can bring into the bar) and some local conversation.

So…there are about 63 miles between Apache Junction and Apache Gold Casino past Globe.  Most of them are UPHILL, long slow up hills on a road that occasionally has shoulders with inappropriately placed rumble streets almost 6 inches inside the white shoulder line.  The truck traffic was terrible, about non-stop, although most trucks are very good and pull over into the other lane to avoid us.  But that constant thundering noise and checking back is exhausting.  Then the piece de la resistance….THE TUNNEL.

THE TUNNEL

You are still climbing uphill when you have to go into this dark tunnel  through the mountains which has NO shoulders, but does have an extra right lane.  Oh the noise and thundering of those trucks and cars inside there.  I honestly felt that this might be the place that would do me in before my 57^th birthday; afterwards had to stop in a pullover area to let my panic die down before going on.  This road made the rollers on Highway 78 like child play.

The good things about today:  Seeing a desert tortoise just the other side of a guard rail!  (Climbing up that hill, we felt like him!) 

 .   

Stunning views of the Superstition Mountains up close and personal... And the Apache Gold Casino which, when it appeared out of the desert might as well have been the promised land.  Great air conditioning, wonderful room, comfortable bed.  We were too tired to eat out tonight, so brought food into the room; went to sleep at 6 p.m., woke up at 11 p.m., ate, then went back to bed.

Good Night!

Total miles:  63.89

Time:  6:07

Avg:  10.45 mph

Turn, Turn, Turn

To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose….

Today was a day of turns…..really, a LOT of turns.  We resumed our route at 7:05 a.m. exactly where we left it yesterday – at the McDonald’s on the outskirts of Surprise.  We had stayed overnight at a motel a little over 2 miles away, but thanks to Rick’s “I”, we rode back to where we left off and continued from there, adding about 5 miles to our total for today. 

So today we crisscrossed through the Phoenix/Scottsdale/Tempe/Mesa urban area.  Our average mph is compromised due to all the stop and go cycling we did today.  It wasn’t a hard day, though; some downhill, a lot of flat, a little bit of rising out of Scottsdale, but overall not a hard day at all.  The weather gave us a break with a lovely cloud cover most of the day keeping the temperature down to the low 100’s.  And, best of all, today we finished Map 1 of the Southern Tier!!!

Tonight we are at the Superstition Inn & Suites in Apache Junction.  We actually had enough energy after the ride to go to the pool and hang out a bit, do laundry, and walk next door to the Waffle House for “dinner” (salad for me, loaded hash browns, and the most scrumptious Pecan Waffle I’ve ever had).  Going back there in the morning for another one before tomorrow's ride!

Total miles:  70.12

Time:  5:26

Avg:   12.91

For those of you following a day or so behind us….

When you get onto the Phoenix “detail” insert, note that the left turn onto Bethany Home Road is a really weird left turn.  You have to turn left onto what looks like a sidewalk going through some shrubs, before you get to the traffic light.  This takes you into a residential area and from there, the directions on the course map are spot on.  If you get to the actual stop light, you’ve gone too far; make a U turn and go through those shrubs.

Also on the “detail” insert, when you get on Oak St., you think you’ve got a straight shot down Oak until you turn right on 68^th.  However, at one point, you’ll see a road sign indicating that Oak St., is “not a through street”.  Keep going.  It’s NOT a through street to cars, but it is to bicycles.  You will get to a place where it seems to end, but there’s a path that goes through a greenbelt and takes you to the continuation of Oak on the other side of the greenbelt at Orangedale.

When we got to the Rio Salada (river), we actually had to ride into the Marina there, go left through the parking area at the end of which we saw a bike trail.  Got on that bike trail for a bit, then exited at Scottsdale Rd. and rode up and over Scottsdale Rd. across the river.  And there at the corner of Scottsdale and Rio Salada Pkwy, is the Matchline for the end of Map 1.

You turn left at Rio Salada Pkwy.  Go about a mile and on the left there’s the Tempe Marketplace and a number of restaurants to eat at and shops for anything you might need (including a Target).

SURPRISE IN SURPRISE

A brick surprised us on the outskirts of Surprise just before Sun City in the dark…

Today I learned why this is called “Adventure Cycling”; you never know what’s going to happen next.   Also I learned for every Yin, there is a Yang; for every action, a reaction; for every “1” there is a “4”….

We started out dark and early at 4:15 a.m. with lovely cool air, downhill, and a tailwind.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  We were cruising along about 17.8 mph, the traffic was light, the shoulders wide.  We even saw a deer (buck) in the bushes along the side of the road.  (I’m glad it didn’t run out into the road and hit us!) 

And then, just before Happy Lane (!!) on the outskirts of Surprise (a retirement suburb of the Phoenix area, as is Sun City)  at 5:20 a.m. we encountered THE GREY BRICK.  Yes, a  brick, in the middle of the shoulder and just about the same color as the road.  Neither of us saw it, but we felt it.  “What the hell was that?” I exclaimed.  A moment later, we pulled over to examine “the damage” while vile expletives poured forth from Rick’s mouth not suitable for publication.    Flat front tire (not so bad), but then there’s that BENT REAR RIM.  Very bad.  Especially on a specialty rim with carefully tensioned spokes.  Fortunately, it was not so bad that we couldn’t limp into civilization in Surprise, AZ, but bad enough that we can’t continue our tour without replacing it.

So by 7:20 a.m. we rolled into McDonald’s in Surprise to fire up the Internet to see what bike shops were in the area (probably not open early Sunday morning nor carrying a heavy-duty 36 spoke rim).  While there, we had a really nice conversation with a couple of local cyclists, Kingsley and April who were out for a Sunday morning cruise.  They were very helpful, told us where the nearest bike shop and rental car agency were.

 

We ended up calling Budget Car rentals which just happened to be open this early Sunday morning, and only until 9 a.m.  They came out and picked us up;  we rented a Mazda CX7 SUV, stuffed the bike, trailer, and bags into it and headed the 100 miles BACK TO BRENDA. (Buzz and Pam were surprised to see us again!  Rick had another set of wheels in the truck there; he switched them out this afternoon, we had a quick beer with Buzz and Pam (thanks again, guys!) then headed back to Surprise.  Along the way back we stopped in at the “Horsepitality RV Park” in Wickenburg and visited with the group with Adventure Cycling who are on the same route about two days behind us.  It was good to see Ed, John, Kathy, and Olaf again, and meet Buster, Neil, Greg, Arthur, Errol, Kelly, Berit, Joe, and others with the group.

Tonight we are safely tucked in at the Days Inn in Surprise.  We’ll head out tomorrow morning, traverse our way through the Phoenix metro area, destination Apache Junction for tomorrow night.  Tuesday we’ll push on past Globe to the Apache Gold Casino Resort.  Tomorrow is supposed to be the last day of triple-digit temperatures, the rest of the week only in the mid 90's in the Phoenix area - wahoo!

Our thanks to the people who were going to host us tonight in Scottsdale – Steve and Jan; and Monday night  in Superior – Charles & Mari.

Total miles today:  30.78

Time:  1:41

Avg mph:  18.29

Today’s rating:  2

 (would’ve been a 1 without the bent rim)

We're On a Vacation, Going to Visit Relatives, Happy Birthday Neil!

I learned something today.  For every bad day, there’s a good day.  Actually, there’s way more good days than bad and today was a GOOD day. 

Our thanks again to Buzz and Pam Comer for putting up with us (and letting us park our stuff at their place in Brenda).  Last night they gave us a nice respite from the heat in their lovely home before we had to head back to our RV for an early bedtime.

So today…..on our scale, we give it a 1.  It might’ve actually been a 1+ if there had been a good breakfast in Aguila instead of a fly/cricket infested convenience store, “Woody’s”.  Does Aguila mean “flies” or “crickets” in Spanish?   What do crickets eat anyway?  There were thousands of them hanging around this store at 7:30 a.m. this morning – what do they survive on?  And the flies!!  The good thing was we only stopped long enough to get water, coffee/tea, honey bun and move on.  (If you’re following us on a tour, keep going and stop at the Cactus Café – it was open early and has got to be much better.)

Fly/Cricket City in Aguila, AZ

We started today’s trek at 3:15 a.m.  It was great!  The sky was filled with stars and Venus was rising in the eastern sky.  It was COOL (literally and figuratively).     We rolled into Wickenburg about 10:15 a.m. before the heat has really built up.  Stopped for breakfast at Ike’s Cook Shack (go somewhere else if you’re following us), then checked into the Best Western Rancho Grande at 11:30 a.m.   This is a really nice place to stay.  Pat in the office was very, very nice and the motel is conveniently located within walking distance to grocery, shops, bars, and restaurants.   Walked over to Basha’s to get beer & wine, chips and salsa, and check out a few restaurants/bars for later today.

Did I mention we found a dog?  According to his tags, his name is  “Dinky”.  He rode with us this morning on  top of the bags on the Bongo.  About 10 miles before Aguila we got pulled over by a highway patrol because the harness and leash were dragging behind the trailer.  The little guy probably kept up with us for 20 miles or so. 

This must be a VACATION!  Happy Birthday to Neil, my brother.  And...I really like the Yucca plants out here in the desert....

Total miles today:  72.15
Total time:  5:41
Avg:  12.70

Arizona Yucca