We had a quiet night at the Ocotillo Motor Park and everyone slept like babies.

Our host, owner and manager, Gary did a great job supplying us with a great night’s sleep.

Dan doing his daily stretching exercise before we ride.

We went next door for breakfast and every one ate well . . . well almost everyone.

 

Breakfast Burritos as big as your head . . .

. . .  plus eggs with all the fixin’s. One of our  crew made it back to the to the room just in time for the whole thing to come up out of their stomach!!! We thought it might have been bad sausage. (Tom wanted everyone to know it was not him!)

Of course here is the scene of the night before, the morning after . . .

. . . the multiple ‘pours’ we had from this machine may not have helped!!!!

But soon we were ready to go. What a difference a day makes. The clouds had blown away and we were enjoying early morning temps of 55.

We took the alternate route today through the Yuha Desert to avoid a bad road. Added a few more miles but Mike, from Virginia’s recommendation, was a lot smoother.

Lots and lots of sand . . . as far as the eye can see.

Someone’s oasis in the desert . . . I’m looking for Omar the tentmaker!

This is an area that was heavily guarded by the Border Patrol . . .

If one turned around, you could see the utilities are taking full advantage of the wind coming over the pass we descended yesterday. It’s the same one that knocked Gina off her bike! Glad I have enough ‘ballast’ I don’t have to worry about that.

You can still see the wind generators in the background when we came across this 40 acres of solar panels also generating electrons!

Desert + Water = Productivity.

Lot’s of alfalfa and straw for critters.

We finally made it to Brawley, our home for the night. We pay for our rooms separately. Here the girls had a problem with their credit card and were locked out of their room for a while!!!!!

 

Big day tomorrow, 89 miles into a predicted headwind 10-18mph with gusts to 28mph!

We had a great dinner . . .

. . . and returned to our hotel after dinner with full tummies.

 

Gina had hung around the motel and had yogurt!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: We usually ask for separate checks when we eat meals out and depending on the mix at the table the waitstaff can be confused as to whether there are two couples, four individuals or whatever combination  may come to mind. Margie clears it up by saying  . . . “we are all married, just to other people!” Fun to watch the reactions.

Big day today and the winds ere ‘gently’ blowing as we loaded for the morning.

 

I needed to load my stomach too . . . and went across the street for a little ‘nourishment’.

We headed out of town to Blythe. Lot’s of agriculture in the area, mostly vegetables. Here was an interesting company . . . no explanation needed!

Two stops along the way . . . both would be disappointing.

We passed a University of San Diego science outpost that had been abandoned and made into a ‘kiddie’ ride,

This is the bane of all cross country riders . . the delaminated steel belt radial tire. Usually means ‘lots of small ‘ wires along the road. One of us would find that out today . . . again!

Our first sighting of oranges groves . . . thought I saw Anita Bryant driving a tractor down one of the rows!

None of us had studied the maps well enough to know we were coming upon some dunes to ride through. This was a hint . . .

. . . as well as the band of sand we could see on the horizon.

Our first stop was Glamis, 30 miles out which was supposed to have a store. OPENED. But not to be today . . . the store was closed. As the UPS driver said who stopped by to make deliveries’, “they are usually open every day!” Not today . . . so no second breakfast/early lunch for me. Margie did give me some turkey.

One the road again and almost to the dunes.

We stopped at the monument for a little break. Margie had a little hummus, Dan and I had power bars and Gina finished the “dooby” she had bought at the hemp shop in San Diego. Going to be a VERY mellow day for her!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: As we ate our snacks, Gina looked at me and said, “ . . . you are a big guy, you must have to eat A LOT!”

Here is what supplies part of the irrigation for all the produce grown in the region. We all felt like jumping in for  little swim!

We were in the dunes now and the wind had REALLY clicked into high gear!!!

We should have had scarves over our faces as we were ‘sandblasted’ as we road on. Here, Margie, probably our least weight challenged rider, leans into the wind trying to not get blown over!!!

Gina makes of claim on the dunes, naming the area for our cross country ride.

. . . .ah, not much chance for this today . . .

. . . but we were entering a bombing range with ‘live’ duds. Hopefully no flat tires in this area.

We stopped quite often to rest the old rear ends as we battle the wind. The wind was from the north and we had over 50 more miles of a headwind. We were averaging about 6mph. At one point we stopped for a little break and Margie saw a white ‘smoke’ puff come out of Tom’s back tire. Ended up it was some of his Dr Stan’s tube sealant. Flipping the bike over it was apparent there was a little ‘wire’ issue imbedded in the tire. It seemed to still hold air  . . . so we ventured on toward Blythe.

We were now out of the dunes and into the Chocolate Mountains. Another Naval Gunnery area. Several times during the ride we saw low flying jets. FAST!!!

Lot’s of young cactus along the way. They were so evenly spaced I wonder if the area had been seeded.

This was an interesting area. The locals all say this was the start of an ancient pyramid built by either aliens or local Indians that was never finished. It is now a ‘top secret’ military base. Sort of another Area 54 zone. No stopping here!

 

The going was REALLY slow and we stared to wonder if we would make it to Blythe by sunset. Dan usually rode up ahead, I was in the back and Tom, Gina and Margie were in the middle. The three of them decided to ride a paceline to help deal with the strong headwinds. I couldn’t keep up and ‘slowed’ to take  more photos.

This was an interesting monument,  pre-Columbian Indian walked trail between the Colorado River  and areas to thee west. The trail marking posts, obviously a twentieth century addition. I remember on the Trans Am as we got into the west we saw remnants of the old Oregon Trail, in many areas, ruts still still etched into the earth.

Some of the desert plants were in bloom . . .

A couple of miles down the road we came to this Border Patrol checkpoint. No puppies out when I went through.

We were now into about 15 miles of ‘rollers’ still riding dead on into the headwind. It was REALLY getting old.

Eventually I came upon the gang. Tom’s tube had failed and it was time for a change. They had everything they needed, and since I am the slowest rider, I continued on towards Blythe. It was quite a final 20 miles. Palo Verde and Ripley ended up being just about ghost town’s with no services at all.

As I neared Blythe the sun was setting. here were some great looking fields. Maybe ready for the next crop of broccoli?

As I rode straight north, the moon was rising on the east side of the road and the sun was setting on the west side. Really a golden moment of the day. Wish I was in better shape to have enjoyed it more.

The sun set and as I drove into the parking lot of the motel most of the cars had there lights on. Good time to be off the road. Linda had unloaded the truck and went back to sag the rest into the hotel. It was dark!

After showers, everyone was up for some MEAT so we head next door to the Sizzler. Interesting business model. An hour later we were back in our hotel rooms, with full tummies. Linda our server had brought me a BIG dessert with all the fixin’s. Can’t do this everyday but today was a big day and tomorrow is a rest day!! We were all sleeping by 9:00pm. 89 miles + Strong Headwinds + 8 hours of rolling time = No Problem Sleeping!

. . . and now before we return to our regularly scheduled show, time for this commercial.

Thanks to all you have signed up to pledge and donate at my Ride for Alzheimer’s website. It’ great to have your support. Thanks especially to those who have ‘upped’ their donation.  I am reaching my goal of $3.00/mile but have a little ways to go. Every penny helps!

For those who have not signed up . . .please consider. Very worthy cause.

On our rest day, I’ll update the amount raised  to date so you can see how we are doing.

. . .and now back to our regularly scheduled program . . .

Rest day today . . . and we all thought we deserved one!

Usual rest day activities including sleeping in.

No sign of life from the girls room at 8:30am!!!

Even Margie ate BIG today!!

Time to wash the clothes . . .

. . . and bikes!

We needed some degreaser but the ACE vending machine at the motel was plumb out! In fact it was out of everything. Californian’s and travelers must really need their ‘stuff’!

Soon after all the work it was time for happy hour around the pool!

I rode downtown to get a little ‘happy medicine’ and noted they had animal statues all over town. Got a picture of these two.

We went for Mexican tonight, the real thing . . . delicious!

Nice view of our courtyard welcomed us back home as the moon was rising. The lower ‘moon’ is the self serve sign at Starbuck’s!!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:  From Dan who has been nursing a funny stomach for the last two days. At the restaurant he order a burrito and a glass of milk. When the milk arrived, he asked the waitress, ” . . . what are these chunks in my milk!!!!”

We started out the day with a BANG . . . literally as Dan was pumping up his tire and it went of like a bomb!

 

The horror . . . the horror

Another Dr Stan’s tube bites the dust.

This was a cook breakfast place we saw on the way out of town with palm trees growing right through two vents in the roof!

We crossed into Arizona today . . .

but had to roll on about 5 miles before we saw their state welcome sign . . . there sign doesn’t say, ‘open for business’ like our state.

WI is thinking of allowing companies to ‘sponsor’ our state parks in the upcoming biennial budget. Looks like AZ already allows this . . .

. . . but it must not work out all the time!!!

Must have been some kind of party!!!

Today was a BIG day of headwinds AND interstate riding AND a gradual uphill climbing averaging 1.5 % ALL DAY!!!! Grueling, but we finally did get off the interstate and onto some nice riding roads.

Entering AZ, we also evidently entered RV land . . . they are everywhere! So many in fact, they need to have ‘specialists’ involved in caring for them!!! Crummy job but I guess someone has to do it.

We stumbled upon this used car lot that sold literally anything that moved and had an engine of some type. Most of them restored . . .

Including this beauty . . .

. . . you can pick up for a song!!

Some of his other inventory. Don’t need to worry about rust here!

Here is the owner, Billy, presenting Gina and Linda with two grapefruit he cut right off the tree for them (we all got one).

Lots of RV parks around the city of Quartzite. This is an example of how many of them look. Most all had an American flag flying from a high mast. We had lunch in Quartzite and the girls decided to go shopping so I headed for Salome, our home for the night

We were definitely entering cactus country. Very Nice!

After a twenty mile grind into the wind and up hill I passed through Hope. Really just a spot in the road  . . .

. . . but with a great exit sign!

One last pass to climb and we headed towards Salome . . . here was a GREAT iron worker. . .

. . . lots of inventory . . .

With these three beauties too. I’m thinking of you Smoochie . . . one,

two,

three. Keep your eye open for a UPS delivery!!!

We pulled into the Westward Motel a very unique place to stay for the night. Wish we had more time here!

The courtyard . . .

full kitchen for our use . . .

nice room . . .

and a very nice collection of ‘stuff’ he has collected and decorated.

Randy joined us for beer in the backyard.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: We went to the only cafe in town for a fish dinner and were discussing our motel bill and whether we had enough cash (no credit cards accepted.) Gina said, ” . . .  not to worry because the girls could ‘put out’ !!!!

Big day tomorrow 80 miles, 40 of which will probably be into another headwind, and then 40 miles down to Surprise, AZ . Yippee!

We’ll have a big day today. 90 miles from door to door, with a predicted headwind for the first 60 miles.

There was a sort of frenzied panic as we all scrambled in the kitchen at 7::00am to make our lunches and hit the road early. Tom and I went for breakfast at the same café we had eaten at last night. Seemed like good chow. Tom had the Denver omelet and I had the Southwest version. Both came with hash browns and toast. Tom and I were on the road by 8:00am with a beautiful sunny sky greeting us but with that head wind still there.

All the hotels and motels in Salome seem to have an artistic bent to them. Must need to do it to stay competitive.

Here was another truck body that Randy, from the Westward Motel, bought and is looking for a place to install at his motel!!!

The ‘river of life’ for the desert area around Salome. Add water . . .

. . . add some seed, and away you grow!!!

. . . no water available, and this is what comes up.

And here is the famous Arizona Maricopa County line. Hope we don’t get arrested!!!!

We met Emily, Sam and Lisa heading west to San Diego. They started in North Carolina on December 7, headed south to Florida and picked up the Southern Tier. I asked them if they had stayed last night in Wickenburg and they said, …”No, we just spelt off the side of the road.” Great traveling flexibility when you go self supported. This trip will be something they will remember for the rest of their lives.

There is other life in the desert other than bikers . . . no road kill though! Gina did see a coyote run across the road the other day.

A long 25 miles down the road and we came to Aquila. Pretty quiet in town today considering it is a Saturday.

Finally we arrived at Wickenburg, our 50 mile point, we crossed the river and had lunch. Then a nice Surprise! What a difference a 90 degree turn can make. Hwy 60 turned south and we had our first prolonged tailwind of the trip. AND a twenty mile downhill for the next 30 miles to Surprise, AZ our home for the night.

Along Hwy 60 there was a multi purpose river. Kayaking when there is water, ATVing when there is no water!!

Nice views along our roll into Surprise. Gina, Tom and I raced each other towards town at 20 miles an hour!

Another seasonal water event, out of season now.

It was so dry around Surprise, AZ that they were actually watering the cactus!!

As we rolled through Surprise, we were surprised by the name of this garage door company. I guess Arizonians have a sense of humor!

Gina and Dan chat with Tom, from Pittsburg, who is also on a cross country trip heading east!!

Here I present Tom with the special concierge towel service available only at Motel6. $100/night per room and that does not include wifi!!!

It does include a working toilet though which someone used, several times, to empty their stomach, still full of breakfast potatoes that had been rolling around all day. (Dan wants everyone to know it was not him).

Same thing happened in the girls room. (Gina wants everyone to know it was not her).

The remaining three of us hope we are not passing something around to each other!!!!

ah . . . the adventures of living on the road!!!

And how long do this adventure last . . . to illustrate the passage of time on my cross country Trans Am I shaved my head and beard and let it grow back until the end of the trip. This is what it looked like.

Lorraine in Williamsburg, VA ready to do the ‘buzz’!

 

This trip is only two months and I am using my cut fingernail as an illustration. I nicked it just before we left while chopping  vegetables at Agrace Hospice, where I volunteer every week. It finally cracked WAYYYYYYYYYYYY below the nail line and I am wearing a Band-Aid over it every day so I don’t rip it off.

Margie estimates about three weeks before it grows back and Dan says fingernails grow faster than toe nails. Oh . . . the time and subjects one can discuss when you have all the time in the world!!!

Stay tuned for more interesting personal hygiene facts as we travel across the Southern Tier!

Well we all got through the night OK, with no urgent runs to an urgent care, but two folks did ride in the truck today.

The rest of us started off about 8:30am, along with Pittsburg Tom, for a leisurely ride through the cities of: Peoria, Glendale, Scottsdale, Phoenix and finally Tempe for a grand total of only 35 miles and 571 feet of climbing! It was what a Sunday ride should be all about. But there was a lot to see and do.

But first . . . you may remember the ‘mysterious pyramid’ structure we rode by out of Brawley several days ago that is now a ‘secret military’ base. Well we finally found an aerial view of what was found inside the pyramid structure and here is.Glad we are LONGGGGGGGGGG past there!!

Today we would ride 23 miles on the Arizona Canal Trail a wonderful biking, running, jogging and just walking trail the city of Phoenix and it’s suburb’s have put together forth their citizens. A really great system of trails, on both sides of the canal, stretching for miles. Of course, we had to first get on it which proved a little trying even with a map and two GPS’s . . . but soon we found out way.

Along the way to the saw many boulevard and lawn shade trees of the orange and grapefruit variety. The kids stopped and picked up a few from peoples yards!!! Hey . . . we are obviously not in WI anymore !!!

We all talked about stopping here and taking a ride on the ‘loop de loop’ but the place was not open yet.

Lots of bird along the way. Here is a ‘special habitat’ structure provide by CVS ( a stolen shopping cart) being put too good use in the morning sun.

It wasn’t far down the canal before we had the first unexpected event of the day . . . Dan had another flat!

After taking the obligatory photo of the event, I had a nice chat with Claudia, a resident of Glendale, who wished she could join us  on the ride but her bike had a flat too!!!

Soon we were rolling again. Beautiful day, no wind, a nice canal to bike by and a lot to see.

OK, well some of the canal was a little dry.

We rounded one bend in the City of Peoria and were surprised to see the WI Brewers practicing across from us at their spring camp. Who would have thunk it!!!

A nice terrace that probably looks better with a little water cascading over it.

Here Pittsburg Tom is getting some directions from a local on where he will travel later in the day once he leaves us.

This mini-storage must be owned by a veteran or someone very patriotic!

I mentioned that when I rode the TransAm we all bought white shirts to wear when the sun is SOOOO . . .incredibly hot that one just needs to keep the sun off your arms. Several thought it was a good idea, so we puled into a St Vinnie’s along the way to check out what they had in inventory. I asked them if they new of Nancy from WI and of course they did!!! I met Spencer, above, who was volunteering with the Boy’s Team Charity to help clan up around St Vinnie’s. A really nice young man who likes to play lacrosse.  Once he gets done at noon he was meeting up with his buddies to do homework!!!

Gina, Linda and I bought shirts but Linda couldn’t stop shopping and bought this ‘Tickle Me Elmo’ to fasten to her backpack during the ride! Matches her bike.

Gina shopped some more too and ended up looking like a dark haired Bo Derek from Bolero!!!!

Sharon helped me pick out my designer white shirt. I told her she looked like Vanna White!!!

Of course we had to stop at a local bike shop we passed along the way and each spent about $60 on stuff we probably didn’t need. Jim the manager thought we were a hoot. Just like kids in a toy store!!!

Just outside the store was Sophie and Foxy, a Welsh Corgi. Sophie was too shy to have her photo taken . . . but Foxy wasn’t. Cute pup!!!

Here is the famous Camelback Mt. Had to pull into a cemetery to get any kind of a shot!

It may be dry but they have bug problems here!

I had forgotten that this is how they water the grass in this area with period flooding. The house is on a slab above the water line. Certainly keeps the grass green!

Don’t miss this video !!!!!

After a quick 12 miles through the city streets (the ACA maps and my gps guided us right through) we arrived at the Quality Inn Margie had reserved for us. You go girl! Huge suite with a separate bedroom, kitchen and sitting area. All for $89 as compared to the $110 we spent for a closet at the Motel 6 last night. Go figure!!!

There were several college teams from St. Cloud and Bemidji, MN (my home state) checking in for a little spring training. In about a half hour they were all in the pool!

Once we got to the Quality Inn several were having lunch. Beers were order, snacks were brought out and Gina began practicing posing for her upcoming ‘Bo Derek – Bolero look alike’ photo shoot!!!

We had been hoping to stay with Dan’s friends, Peter and Julie but the mileage just didn’t work out. They did stop by for a visit with us around the pool.

And Peter brought my package that Smoochie had sent me via the USPS. My special intelligent bicycle flasher lights that are smarter than me!!!

I had sent them to a small town north of London in the UK for a firmware upgrade and had not received them back before I left. Thanks again to Smoochie and Peter for getting them to me!

We opened the door this morning to a BEAUTIFUL sunny day. It would be a beautiful ride from the burbs of Phoenix to our home, the Knight Inn, Globe, AZ.  But at the moment there were 82 miles, 4,500 of climbing and two passes to get across before we got there.

It took out 25 miles to get through the burbs. Here was a uniquely shaped cactus growing near the Scottsdale Water plant. Don’t drink the water!!!

The whole are is really quite bike friendly and we followed a signed road trail for many miles . . .

. . . an there were even special traffic light crossing signals for bikers. Here we came upon a special photo shoot being done by Pearl Izumi for their new spring catalog. Of course, they only use young, vibrant, attractive and energetic looking models in  their catalog. This one was no exception!

LOTS of baseball going in in the metro area. Here was a new stadium being built for the Sun Dogs . . .

. . . and as we pedaled along we came upon a massive Cubs complex . . 

People were already arriving for a game and here was a scalper on his bike selling tickets!  

. . . need to buy a child’s size bike? Here was a ‘mobile’ storefront near the outskirts of town.

Soon we left the Walmart’s, Taco Bells and everything else that inhabits the edges of town and got back out into the desert. We would be following a scenic road for most of the day, and it certainly was!

Flowers were in blooming along the way almost the whole day.

We began our climb into the mountains. Any time there was ‘climbing’ pain . . .

. . . you just needed to look down an enjoy the flower show.

Got to look this up and see what it is all about. Hopefully we will have a safe passage!

This national forest must specialize in cactus. BEAUTIFUL area, a tailwind and a high of only 73! Perfecto riding!!!

This was a special transport we followed for a while of a 1 million pound transformer being transported to points unknown. It had a special pusher truck hooked to the back just like a locomotive at the rear of a train/ Right before this shoot there was a blue colored Ford Victoria cab parked on the side of the road with the hood and trunk open. The guy was pouring gas into the tank while a woman sat on the side of the road. They had just leased the cab for their business and were having a little trouble getting it on down the road. Didn’t have the heart to take a photo of the whole scene. None of the 7 highway patrol cars helping escort this transformer parade down the road stopped and helped!

A stunning mountain we encountered as we descending into Superior, AZ . . .

Even though it may seem like we are casually biking along, we do have a riding goal for each day and a designated overnight city. Tis does not allow for many side excursion at stops along the days route.This is one place that would have been fun to spend some time. One of the down sides to not going self supported.

At our lunch stop in Superior there was a woman exercising Rico and Sara, two 7 week old Belgian pups. They were just transitioning to puppy food and had the ‘poopies’ . REALLY cute!

We had our first encounter with a tunnel today. The state patrol cops we talked to who were escorting the transformer, said the tunnel and miles on either side should be closed to biking because it was too dangerous, a woman had been seriously hurt biking through the tunnel and the grade was too steep for no shoulder. Dan and I decided to ride the three miles up the 6.5% grade to check it out and continued on through the tunnel. The others sagged up, through and to some point beyond the tunnel. No one would fess up how far!!!

Daylight at the end of the tunnel.

Not sure what happened to this cowboy but he met his demise shortly after the tunnel.

More stunning scenery. Plenty of time to look and soak it all around as we continued to  climb.

Right before the ‘Top of the World’ community we came to this stunning cemetery. Looked like a setting from Greece or Italy . . .

but right over the hill was this HUGE played out copper mine.

The spoil banks don’t do much for the scenery.

More up and down and you can see Dan down the road on this big downhill . . .

. . . and what a view as we rounded this corner and blasted down the mountain over this bridge.

We descended into the greater Globe metro area that included Claypool and Miami too, all mining towns. Here was a neat display showing the size of the buckets some of the ‘BIG RIGS’ use.

A curious type of drive up we don’t have in WI.

During the day, Dan had had a slow leak in his tire and this was the reason . . . the blasted delaminated steel belt radial tire wire!!

As far as I am concerned today had been the best day of riding so far. Enough miles to give you a workout, a tailwind all day, mild temps, the warm sun on your back and LOTS of beautiful scenery. It’s what bike touring is all about. The only thing that could have made it better is if my Smoochie had been along on her bike to also experience it. Wish I could bottle today and send it home to her with that GIANT chicken sculpture I have been hauling on the back of my bike!

The day started with blue sky and mild temps, another great day for biking . . .

First we had a BIG climb our of our neighborhood in Globe. STEEP!!!!

Kodak moments around every corner . . .

The Apache’s have found ‘ gold in them there hills’ . . . in the form of a casino and resort.

. . . made me wonder what this Apache warrior would think of the whole thing.

Lots of baby cactus just waiting to grow up . . . looks like a plantation.

It was quite a day . . .

It was a great overnight and we awoke to a beautiful morning. BIG breakfast included so we had lots of fuel for today’s ride.  Having gotten up at

5:00am (when breakfast was served) I was ready to go at 8:00am, so shoved off on down the road.

The ads for beautiful downtown Safford . . .

Once again water rules in the dessert . . .

There was snow on the mountains as we left Safford . . .

This is what a BIG intersection looks like in the middle of Arizona. Not much there but the ‘old fork in the road’.

We turned towards Clifton and there was no question on which way to go. The road runs as far as the eye can see!

Along the way it looked like ADOT was using some of the local prison labor to cut brush along the side of the road and feeding it into chippers. I may have risked my life by stopping to take a shot!

More flowers in full bloom along the roadway. Nice!

Whole hillsides were full of flowers and other plants in bloom.

As we pedaled along we came to the Black Hills of Arizona. For many miles we were able to look at what look like a basalt core of a volcano that had ‘melted’ away many eons ago.

Thought I saw my first dead critter along the road but it ended up being a domestic dog. Still had it’s collar  on. How it got in the middle of ‘no where’ is a mystery.

After climbing for some time we came to what every rider loves to see . . . a HUGE downhill sign. Ran for ten miles all the way to Three Way.

Here is downtown Three Way, with an old outdoor movie theater! This became a decision point for all the riders.

The route we had from Safford to Silver City was too long to finish in one day. Our plan, before we received all the ACA maps, was to overnight in Clifton, nine miles off route, and return to the route the following morning. Once we got the maps we realized there were two campgrounds up the mountain that could be utilized to cut the route in half. I arrived at Three Way at about noon and decided it was too early to stop so continued up to the pass to spend the night camping. The rest of the crew overnighted in Clifton. X marks thee campsite.

So I headed off to the pass and spend the night on the mountain. Red line shows the pass.

One could look back from the climb and see the ‘BIG’ downhill we came down towards Clifton.

This was the climb to the pass. There were several more switchbacks that you cannot see in the photo.

Climbing the road, SLOWLY, gave one plenty of time to see the geologic formations around along the road.

Looking back you could see several of the switchbacks on the way up.

At 6,000 ft the terrain and vegetation certainly changes. We we in Ponderosa Pine forested country.

The top of the pass was at 6,250ft and the campground was about 300ft lower. I got to the campsite about 2:30pm and met some interesting folks. Here are Manuel and Theresa who were heading to Silver City. Manuel was a retired vet who had served 24 years in the Navy. They live in Sun City, AZ near where we stayed in Youngstown.

Soon along came Nigel from Manchester, UK. He started in Florida 35 days ago and was heading for San Diego. We had a nice chat. Ends up he is a forester too, now working in Renewable Energy, mostly wooden pellets. Ends up he saw the largest pellet factory in the world, located in Georgia, which ships A LOT of their product to guess where . . . the UK.

 

The sag wagon arrived with my gear at 5:30pm and I quickly set it up camp before sunset, which came fast with a definite cool down. I had only brought my 45 degree sleeping bag and the temps got to 40. It was a chilly night!

Little chilly overnight but I slept like a baby. It had been a 55 mile day from Safford with over 4,700 feet of climbing to the pass.  And . . . it was VERY quite (didn’t hear any snoring, including my own!

The first view out of the tent looked like sunshine . . . half hour later is was VERY overcast. I thought I’d better get up PRONTO and get everything down and packed away in case it would rain. No cell phone coverage up here in the sticks!

The sag arrived to pick up my ‘stuff’ at 8:00am. Great timing. Those that rode today sagged either to Three Way or up and over the pass.

Two miles down the side of the mountain was the New Mexico state line and a time change for us. Arizona doesn’t use Day Light Savings Time.

We dropped many feet and soon we were in pasture land with cattle . . . and some lonely, solemn looking spaces. It ended up being a very funny weather day. Cloudy and chilly all day. Long fingered gloves and leg warmers finally came off about 10:00am.

One of the only places with services was a small burg named Buckhorn. I stopped at the Post office . . .

. . . to see where the store was and the Postmaster directed me to the Last Chance Liquor Store!

Only store in town!

Jeb, the owner, and his neighbor Pete, were having an early morning beer and discussing Pete’s bandaged hand. He had injured it after from falling off his deck. Had a nice conversation with them but soon it was time to head towards Silver City.

We could use one of these little rigs for a sag wagon . . . but no title included!!!

This was interesting . . . a water tank used for thirsty cattle  that had grown covered with cat tails!! You can see a thirsty ‘doggie’ on the left side of the photo. He was VERY interested in me but would not come any closer.

Just another road side memorial, one of way too many we have seen. By the names it sounds like they were all kids. Interesting there seemed to be a bottle of Jack Daniel’s available  for visitors!!

Finally saw a stream with some actual water flowing through it. Not sure what happened to the dam bank but it looks like who ever constructed it may have had a ‘three martini lunch’.

Saw my first dead critter along the road, a deer.

First one of these we have seen on our trek. If you look close you’ll see two hawks looking for CHOW!!!

We finally came to the Continental Divide a few miles before Siler City. The pass yesterday was about the same elevation, so all of todays DOWN was regained before we reached the city limits.

There must be finally a downhill into town as we passed these water tanks had some interesting art work!

Dinner tonight at The Steakhouse, where we were promptly told they were out of Rib Eye!

Tomorrow is a well deserved rest day. We are heading up to the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument forty miles away (we are driving!!!).