Riding to Globe AZ Feb 18, 2011

After I left Bettykay, the ride to Globe got much tougher. There was a long steep hill with a very narrow shoulder that went on forever. I was down to 3-4 mph and it was both physically and mentally draining with the cars whizzing by. I finally made it and met my host, Troy.
Troy has a car dealership and had to work, so I went to dinner with his son and daughter. Troy is getting ready for a ride from Seattle to Minnesota. I stayed in their rec room that had a sauna which was great!

Riding to Gilbert Feb 16, 2012

The ride to Gilbert was very scenic. I went past  golf courses, parks, lakes and canals. Before I started the ride, Mark took me to REI so I could return my rain coat for one that did not leak. I got a cool bicycling rain coat that makes me look like a parakeet but it is made in Oregon and it should keep me dry. REI was very nice about the return. I also had Kevlar liners put in my tires and replaced the tubes with slim tubes.  REI did it for free - what a great store.

I arrived at my friends house Vern, Carol and their daughter Ashley. Vern invited me in, showed me where I could sleep and shower and store my gear. We had a great dinner! Carol cooked a delicious feast of pork, potatoes and cabbage with an apple tart for desert .

After some great conversation, we  to bed early because Vern had to get up at 5:00. Before breakfast we went for a walk and Vern showed me the route to hwy 60 for the next day. In the morning Carol out did herself by fixing eggs and made a lunch of fruit and a chicken sandwich to take with me.

February 15, 2012 Sun City

Nice ride to Sun City except for the wind! It blew right at me making the going a little tough. I arrived at my warm showers hosts, Mark and Peggy, about 3:00 PM.  Mark showed me my guest room with a private bath....boy is this cool or what.
We talked bicycles for awhile then Larry and Trudy, (more warm shower hosts), came over with some nut crusted salmon.
The women worked on the rest of the dinner while I helped Larry and Mark barbecue the salmon and beer can chicken. We had a great dinner and then Mark, Larry and Trudy played thier ukuleles and sang. It was a great evening!

February 14th to Wickenberg

This morning I took a picture of my tent in Salome before I left. The first time I set my tent up it took a while, but now I do it pretty quick.

The ride to Wickenberg was a piece of cake, thanks to good tailwinds. I made it about an hour quicker than I expected. I set up my tent when I got here then the manager came over and we started talking. He showed me the expressionistic paintings he did and then he introduced me to his 13 feral cats. He socializes them and then finds homes for them. After we talked for awhile he offered me the studio floor to sleep on because it is much warmer than the grass outside. I accepted his offer and moved my sleeping bag and air mattress inside.

Riding tailwinds is nice because there is no wind in your face because you are going the same speed.
I hope I do not jinx this but, it has been 8 days and no flat tires.

Riding to Salome: Feb 13th

Today was a moderate day with long climbs with head winds and cross winds. Once the road turned the cross wind became my tail wind. I was loving it, but after about ten minutes the wind died. Maybe I will have better luck tomorrow.

I stopped and had lunch with a couple of local snow birds. They were drinking coffee and I asked to sit with them. They wanted to talk about dairy cows. I got a big bowl of fruit for $5.00.

I got to Salome about 4:00PM and had a nice dinner before I headed out to the RV park. The place is old and a little run down but the manager is really nice and they gave me a nice spot for my tent. I am close to everything and the shower had a lot of hot water. Well I am off to bed so I can get an early start.

Feb 12: Day 6 Quartzsite

After breakfast I headed to Quartzsite, AZ which was 42 miles away. The ride was mostly flat with a tail wind at first. I crossed over the Colorado River around 1:00 and then road along the wide smooth shoulder on highway 10. When the big trucks came by the wind pushed me along, which I appreciated! About half way I stopped under an underpass for a peanut butter and cliff bar snack. I made it to the campground around 4 and started pitching my tent right away because I wanted to finish before dark. The second time camping was much easier! The campground was fairly quiet  and it had 25 cent showers! I decided to just eat some beef jerky and peanut butter for dinner because I had drank a muscle milk and juice a few hours before. I was glad I brought my thigh butter because I was getting a rub, but it went away!  Thanks for all your prayers!

Fifth day Palo Verde

The 68 mile ride to Palo Verde was a little tougher with a long climb just before Glamas where they have great sand dunes with a lot of dune buggies etc.

After Glamas it was a lot easier and mostly down hill with a nice tail wind.

This is Larry. He thinks God sent me to him (maybe He did).

.  After I left Glamas I was having fun riding the rollers. You pedal really hard as you go down and then it is easy to make it up the other side. You make pretty good time without much effort. I was getting hungry and for no apparent reason my foot started to hurt so I was looking for a place to stop for a rest and a peanut butter snack. I saw a camper parked at the top of a little hill with someone sitting in front of it. I thought this is perfect I will go talk with the person while I rest and have my snack. I rode up and asked if I could talk to him and he replied, " Sure sit down.   Can I make you a sandwich?" and of course I said yes. As I was eating my turkey sandwich Larry said because this is the Sabbath we have to talk about Godly things. I agreed. Larry went on to prove to me that Saturday is the Sabbath not Sunday. He gave me a formula and some web sites. I think I will give this information to Bob Harris and see what he thinks.

I had one more moderate climb and then it was about ten miles of down hill with a tailwind. I was thinking - life does not get better than this as I rolled into Palo Verde

This was my first night of camping and I had a little trouble. I managed to get the tent up. I asked Johnny the maintenance man where I could eat he suggested the community club house $5 for all the spaghetti you can eat. I had a good meal and talked with several of the locals.

In the morning I had breakfast with Don Boon, he is walking to Washington DC. He started at the occupy movement in Salem Oregon then moved to Portland, San Francisco, Oakland and now to DC!