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!