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Published: October 16th 2006
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Lunch break!
Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad buffet for five bucks! Shawne says...
Mileage Today: 40.6
Total Mileage: 699.2
Flats Today: 2
Total Flats: 23
I woke briefly at 4 a.m. as James left to "make some hole" as they say. I thanked him for his hospitality as he headed for the mine. I don't miss the early mornings and long days of being a Driller. I went back to sleep, snuggling up with Jo. We rose around 6 a.m. and started packing. Mitchell was already up and was very eager to help. He said, "Come on, guys, let's get the packin' done so we have time to play some catch!" Pam offered us breakfast and said to help ourselves to anything. We took the easy route with some cold cereal.
Around 8, we all funnelled out the door...Pam off to work, Mitchell off to school, and as for us, it was off to who knows where. Of course, I had a flat tire before we left the house.
The house sits on 3 acres and I guess two of them had goatheads! We fixed the tube and rode the five miles back into town. Along the way, we saw a huge water tower that had been converted into a home.
We had a wild weiner dog try to attack us, too! Reaching town, we decided to go back to the library to finish our blog. Arriving at 8:30, we found they didn't open 'til 10 a.m. so we went to the gas station for coffee and a blue Monster. Inside the store was a display with tiny 4" tall traffic cones with all sorts of sayings printed on them. I found one that said "Keep Left" and attached it to the flag whip on my trailer.
We sat in front of the library, waiting for another hour to pass. I wrote in my journal as Jo thumbed through the map. A gentleman approached me as I sat on a bench in the warm sun. He said he was from Alaska and was on break from his job as a fishing guide. We talked for an hour about our cycling adventure and his motorcycling trips. He showed us a photo album of his hunting and fishing trips in the beautiful outdoors of Alaska.
(Jo interrupts...Meanwhile, an older gentleman named Wes sat down next to me. He told me about his wife recently passing away from ovarian cancer. He said he came
to Safford for the winter because it's something he used to do with her every year. He told me about the area, and the observatory on the hill. It's supposedly the best one in the U.S.! He said Safford is a great place to be, and he thinks it's a nice place to live in the winter. He was 70 years old, but didn't look a day over 60. I enjoyed my visit with him.)
When the library opened, people rushed inside to secure a spot on a computer. When we finally were up to date on the blog, it was already 1 p.m.! We stopped to eat on our way out of town.
It was a very long uphill, but not as steep as we've seen in the past. There was actually a nice shoulder to ride on, too! All over the road there were millions of Rainbow Grasshoppers. (Jo interrupts...They are very colorful, but nasty nonetheless. They are as long as my finger, and as wide as two.) Some were smashed by vehicles, and others were jumping around aimlessly. Soon it became quite a task to avoid running them over. They were everywhere! When we stopped for a
Killing time
Waiting for the library to open. break, Jo started picking the dead ones up with sticks and feeding them to the ants. The shoulder became very wide as we reached the summit.
(Jo says...We saw two mating Walking Sticks attempting to cross the road. Each of them were as long as my forearm and stood about five inches off the ground. I ran back to try to take a picture of them, but traffic was heavy. We ooo'd and aaah'd as they blew around when cars passed by. They almost made it across the road when their lives came to a tragic end. In the heat of their passion, they stopped walking when they reached the white line on the far side of the road. I doubt they even saw the truck coming.
We cannot believe the size of the insects here...please no mosquitos, please no mosquitos!)
The sun was disappearing, so we switched on all of our lights, took off our sunglasses, and started the descent into Tollhouse Canyon. It was a smooth downhill for about 4 of the 8 miles. With no warning, the shoulder disappeared and the grade became very steep.
The road changed from a straightaway to tight 'S' curves with long blind corners. By then it was completely dark, and our hands ached from riding our brakes.
Big rig tankers loaded with acid for the mines passed us, giving a short blast of the air horns. We crossed the Gila River on another tight bridge as oncoming motorists flashed their high beams at us. Our bicycle headlights were too bright for them! If we are noticeable enough to be annoying, we couldn't be happier.
We finally reached the town of Three Way, Arizona. It is an intersection of two highways. It has a gas station, a market, a DMV, and a ranger station. The name came about for obvious reasons. When you stop at the intersection, you only have three ways you can go!
The prices at the market were very reasonable for a store in the middle of nowhere. We loaded up on taco fixings and walked our bikes to the ranger station next door. There was a nice grassy area to set up camp, and a picnic table to boot. There were no bathrooms that were open, but we made doo...I mean 'do'. We feasted on tacos and prepared for bed.
We heard a huge racket coming from behind the station, and we became still. There was a large storage yard with parked forest service trucks and equipment. It sounded like someone rattling a chain link fence. We quietly peered around the corner and could hear something moving around. We waited in silence, but the noise stopped. After about ten minutes, we gave up our 'intruder alert' station, and went to sleep.
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Shawne's mom
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Detroit Tigers are in the World Series
Just thought you should know...Hooray! Everyone at home is so excited. Love you both. Mom