March 28 Silver City to Caballo Lake 77 miles

Today is the day we climb Emory Pass - a height of 8,228 - my highest climb ever. It was slow going as it was really cold - there was snow on the pass. We talked to some locals and snow this time of year is rare, but they too have had a late spring with lots of rain/snow this year.

There was a great down hill after the summit! And then we find out our day is not over...

We had hoped to finish our day in Hillsboro but there wasn't anywhere to stay soooo, even tho our "tanks were on empty" we cycled on to Caballo Lake. Another 17 miles - we were pooped!

March 27 Lordsburg to Silver City

We are up and out on the road early to beat the wind that supposedly starts every day around 11am. This ride is a slow grade up, up, up into the Gila National Forest, past the Continental Divide and into to the quaint town of Silver City.

March 26 Safford to Lordsburg 77miles

This ride started out so beautiful - lots of yellow poppies liberally sprinkled over all the foothills! And it was a gradual descent with a tail wind! We stopped in Duncan for a cup of coffee - they had cute street signs but that was about it.

We also rode from Arizona into New Mexico today.

Ummmm...that tail wind turned into a gale force tail wind and a dust storm - I sailed along at about 22 mph the 2nd half of the ride. When I turned to head into Lordsburg the wind almost knocked me down.  Dale picked me, Paul and Barbara up to drive the 3 miles to our motel. Turned out to be 65+mph wind.

Lordsburg is a PIT! We stayed at a motel because it was too windy to put up the tent trailer - apparantly wind is an issue there. Even the people running the motel are hoping to move. Needless to say we stayed the night and are happy to move on tomorrow.

What the picture can't convey is the velocity of the wind, but you can see the dust storm moving our way as we are riding.

March 25 Superior to Safford NM 100 miles*

Today we leave Superior and are heading toward Safford with the hope of finding a place to camp at mile 75. Our first goal is to get through the Queen's tunnel without mishap. It is a 3 lane, lighted tunnel but it gets a lot of traffic and so we are cautious as we approach.

Barb & Paul outside the exit of Queen's tunnel - safe & sound!

Later in the day Barb broke a spoke and so at mile 75 we realized that we needed to get to the bike store in Safford before it closed so we hopped in the van with Dale and headed into town for the last 25 miles. Barb's spoke was fixed and we were ready for the next day's ride!

March 24 Tempe to Superior 55 miles

We are up and out by 7:30 this morning. Dale is riding first and I will switch with him after about 25 miles.

Making the rider switch...

The Phoenix/Tempe burbs seem to go on forever!

Superstition Mountain - as I understand it when the Apache who were nomadic warriors were forced onto the reservation they were not allowed weapons to hunt on their new home land or go to Superstition Mountain, one of their sacred places. 

Another interesting place along the way...

Lesli on the road to Superior...

Entering Tonto National Forest

Lesli & Barbara in a sea of wildflowers.

Our campsite in Superior had a view of the creek, a nice shady tree and an incredible sunset!

Superior is a dying copper mining town - there is a British company that wants to open the copper mine again by doing a land swap, but the local indian tribe says the property is sacred ground and is unwilling to allow the deal, so far.

March 23 Tempe - Rain! so Rest!

Woke up to pounding rain - the forcast had been for 20% chance of rain but it rained hard all morning and didn't start to clear until later in the day - so we opted for a rest day and went sightseeing around the Phoenix area on the lite rail. It is clear that the economy is bad here. Lots of empty commercial space.

Tomorrow we ride again!

March 22 Wickenburg to Tempe 77 miles

The first 35 miles of this day was a long grade downhill and we made really good time. Then we hit the Phoenix suburbs and were rode city streets and bike trails and the next 35+ miles took 3 hours with all the stops and starts. We ended up at an RV place on the fringe of Tempe and the Arizona State campus and it's lite rail. Seems like a great spot.

Barb just outside Wickenburg...

So sorry we are going to miss this festival - I bet it brings out a real interesting crowd!

I just love these saguro cactus, we'll see lots more of them before this trip is over!

T

Blue lupine, yellow daisys and orange (don't know what they are) wildflowers in profusion!

Phoenix and Tempe have a great urban bike trail system with underpasses under busy streets and that runs along a regular canal and a flash flood canal. 

The flash flood canal - it's HUGE!

The light rail ran right by our RV place and runs right through the Arizona State University campus - we rode it from end to end. Tempe and the whole Phoenix area is awash with empty commercial buildings. It's obvious that the economy here is struggling.

On the ASU campus...

Barb on campus with the stadium and the hiking "rock" in the background.

Tempe and the ASU campus from the "rock".

March 21 Brenda AZ to Wickenburg AZ 77 miles

This ride started with a long slow grade up into the hills. The road was in pretty bad condition - very bumpy and by the end of the 1st 45 miles I felt absolutely bruised in the "saddle" area.

Can you see those little lines in the road? They are cracks with humps about every 4 to 5 feet - and we had them for miles and miles and ....

The town of Hope is just past Brenda - love this misspelled sign that says, "Your Now Beyond Hope".

Fortunately we did not have wind today!

It always amazes me what people will put on a sign!

We picked up about 2000 feet over the course of the ride today and then had a nice decent into Wickenburg. It is called the "dude ranch capitol of the US" - I don't know about that but it's a really pretty area.

 The cattle are headed home...

You know I have really enjoyed seeing the countryside from my bike. Being able to stop and really enjoy all the beautiful, odd, breathtaking, kitch sights is what this trip is all about!

March 20 Palo Verde CA to Brenda AZ 77 miles

A new day and for the first 20 miles a milder headwind that pretty much stopped after Blythe. Our RV place in Brenda was really great, big clean facility, lots of hot water and got our laundry done too!

 Believe it or not we made it to Ripley!

We cross the line into Arizona!

We stopped to check out all the wildflowers along the hiway...

It was a long grade up to Brenda - while on the road there was an accident that shut down the freeway going our direction for about a 1/2 hour - the police let us go through first after the the life flight helicopter took off. We are rarely on freeways, but sometimes it's unavoidable - mainly we are on scenic hiways. The truck drivers have been really courteous and give us a wide berth.

 Sunset at our RV park in Brenda.