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Published: October 12th 2006
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The water cooler
Where we all met at the same point. The first cyclists we have seen on the same route. Shawne says...
Day 15
Mileage Today: 50.6
Total Mileage: 622.2
Flats Today: 2
Total Flats: 18
Another late start today. I just couldn't get out of bed. Jo made an oatmeal breakfast as I wrote in my journal. We packed slowly as a maintenance worker approached us. (Jo says...He was wearing an old tophat full of pins, and his long gray beard swayed as he walked. We initially were not convinced he worked there. We thought perhaps he was a friend of the homeless woman who'd slept on the community center's front steps last night.) He said that he'd unlocked the center if we wanted to take showers. We thanked him and gathered our toiletries and a change of our cleanest clothes. After three days of not showering, we were ripe and ready for a good scrubbing. (Jo interrupts again...The showers were community showers for people to rinse off before and after swimming in the pool. It was a great big room with small showerheads sticking out of the wall at intervals. Remember the ones from your youth? Each time we pushed the button on the wall, the water would come out for about 30 seconds at a time.) The
hot water felt so good on my body. I did not want to get out anytime soon. Luckily, they had a big water heater since the hot water never ran out. We later learned that the city installed the water heater just two months ago! Before then, there were only cold-water showers since it's inception in 1985.
After packing up camp, Jo noticed that her front tire was flat. We didn't even get five feet and the first flat of the day had already arrived. Back on the road, we caught back up with Hwy 60. After a short uphill, a pleasant five mile downhill coast took us to the casino on the reservation. We stopped to stretch and adjust Jo's handlebars. We also redistributed some water weight on Jo's trailer. She felt her load was squirrely on the downhill and thought the trailer was too heavy on one side. A very long but gradual climb took us into the San Carlos Apache Reservation. It was followed by another nice downhill. Ahead, in the distance, we spotted another cyclist heading West!
We stopped at a gravel area and he crossed the road to meet us. His name was Richard and
he was riding the same route, but in reverse. He started in Georgia and was heading for San Diego. He had no gear with him because his wife was ahead of him in their RV, waiting at the casino we'd passed earlier. He gave us good advise and recommended some posible shortcuts along the way. As we spoke, we noticed another cyclist on the downhill behind us. Could it be that someone has finally caught up to us? He stopped and parked his bike. He, too, was pulling a B.O.B. trailer behind him. He introduced himself as Brock and said that he was also heading to Florida, and then to his daughter's wedding somewhere on the East Coast. He needed to be at the wedding at the end of December, so he quit his job to ride until then. We learned from Richard that a couple of guys must have passed us while we were in Globe yesterday. He said they were trying to get water from a stream when he saw them. It was so strange that we had all met at this one pullout on the side of the road at the same time. We took a picture
Stoppped for the night.
Our bikes parked safely in the livingroom. of the group and parted ways.
Stopping at a gas station in Peridot we once again had a meal of microwaved burritos and purchased dinner for tonight. Something easy-hot dogs and chili. People outside the gas station were very friendly and wished us good luck on our trip. We rode along the hills near Salt Mountain as the disappeared with grace over the mountain. The next town of Bylas showed that there was a post office, but no other services available. It would have to do. We were not going to ride another 30+miles to Safford in the dark.
As we rolled into Bylas, dozens of street lights illuminated Hwy 70. This seemed odd for a town of 2000 people. They spent a lot of money to install and power all these lights. A sign ahead told us of a rest stop in one mile. It was the brightest thing in town. It had lights beaming in every direction. As we approached, the area looked very clean and seemed almost brand new. This was the nicest rest area I have ever been to! Unfortunately a sign at the entrance stated 'no camping allowed'. We pulled in anyway and parked near
Shane and Evelyn
Two great people on this wonderful Apache Reservation. Thank you again! some picnic tables. The place was pretty busy, actually. Someone was sitting at almost every table. Everyone there was Native American, and they all seemed to be checking us out. I went to use the restroom and could hear Jo talking to someone. I came out to see her conversing with a man about our trip.
He introduced himself as Shane and said that he saw us riding near Globe earlier today. We told him that we were thinking of camping at or near the rest area. He offered to let us pitch our tent in his front yard, just 1.5 miles back the way we came. I looked at Jo and she didn't seem to have any bad vibes, so we gladly accepted Shane's offer.
He led us down a side road that parallelled the highway on the north side. Night had fallen, and the rough pavement made it difficult to ride with only our headlights showing the way. We passed a house with all sorts of commotion going on outside. Sirens wailed and car horns honked. A man squatted on the front porch yelling through a megaphone at children running near the street. People in two separate cars honked their horns back and forth. It was crazy! We never did figure out what was going on.
We reached Shane's house, and shined our headlights for him while he broke in. He didn't have his keys with him, but assured us he's done this before. His dog, Wrangler, circled us warily and barked at our bikes. Shane offered us the spare bedroom and he even let us park our bicycles in his livingroom! He told us many stories as he gathered a new bar of soap and towels so we could shower. Shane even offered to let us use his washer and dryer to clean our clothes! We were so thankful and enjoyed another shower-two in one day, what a treat! We started cooking dinner, and Shane's wife Evelyn came home from grocery shopping in Safford. She seemed a little surprised to find she had house guests. Once she recovered from her initial shock, she sat with us and shared wonderful stories. They were both very pleasant, and we had a fantastic evening. Shane and Evelyn only speak Apache at home, so they would alternate between Apache and English while we visited.
We found out that the lights on the highway were put there because local kids were throwing rocks at passing cars for entertainment at night! A fence was also constructed to minimize pedestrian traffic crossing the highway. Shane told us of his service in the Marine Corps and his career in the Prison system. He was full of fun and interesting information. (Jo interrupts...Shane had the same mannerisms and speech patterns as my grandfather. He laughed with just about everything anyone said. Their home made me feel very comfortable and safe. It all seemed very familiar, very solid, and very warm.)
Evelyn told us to rise when the roosters started crowing around 4am, and she would cook us breakfast!
We curled up in a real bed, and whispered of our good fortune and our new friends. Jo fell asleep almost immediately, but I took a while longer, my bug bites annoying me to no end!
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Tracy
non-member comment
Isn't it nice
That you are meeting all these wonderful people out there? I didn't realize that there were so many nice people left in the world. Be safe