Apache Junction, AZ to Lordsburg,NM

Day: 8
3/07/2013
Apache Junction KOA, Apache Junction, AZ
Superior, AZ
Miles: 31.6
Miles to Date: 352.9

A short but tough enough day. I got up about 7:30 and got on the road at 9:30. John left a few minutes before me. I rode about 3 miles out to Highway 60 and headed east. In a few miles I came to a rather large shopping area. I pulled in and went to the supermarket and loaded up on canned fruit, veggies, beans, Coke and of course a bag of cookies. I had a Coke and some cookies then started in earnest for Florence Junction, about 10 miles away. When I got there I took a brief break and some pictures of the desert scenery before starting the climb to Gonzales Pass at 2600 feet.

A mile or so along I had to go around a travel trailer parked on the shoulder. On the far end was John visiting with the proprietor who was waiting for his truck to cool down so he could continue up the grade. I stopped and gave John my bag of coffee which I had earlier realized I had with me. I had thought I had left it at home. John's coffee had gotten wet and solidified into a block and he had been whittling shards off the lump every time he wanted a cup. We and the trailer man all started off up the hill at the same time. John is a much more relaxed rider than I and I soon left him behind on the rather steep grade even though I did not intend to. I guess I like to get to the top of a hill to get it over with. I was very glad to see the top of this one. On the far side was a nice 25-30 MPH coast for a mile or two before entering a series of ups and downs into Superior.

I stopped at the rest area at the west end of the highway business strip. I ate a can of peaches and sat around awhile to see if John would come along. After a reasonable pause I decided to move on. My general idea was to try to make it through the famous Queen Creek Tunnel and on to a campground beyond. The tunnel is uphill, 2 lane and with no shoulder or sidewalk and Highway 60 is well traveled in the area. The only option seems to be to take a deep breath and go in a block traffic for the amount of time it takes to crawl through and hope no one gets annoyed and impatient enough to run you over.

As I started through town I saw the dive motel I had stayed in on a motorcycle trip several years ago and decided that discretion is the better part of valor and pulled in a rented a room. The place has apparently changed hands and it is being refurbished. I have a small but nice room and am enjoying a pleasant afternoon and evening working on this journal. I will walk down the street to get some dinner in awhile and have a good night's sleep and take on the tunnel fresh in the morning. Sadly I have to climb over a 4800' pass to get to Globe.

Today was a beautiful clear and sunny day with a mild breeze. The forecast for tomorrow is cloudy with a 50% chance of rain. I can see the storm coming from my window as I write this. If it is too bad in the morning I may hole up here another night if the room is available.

Day: 9
3/08/2013
Superior, AZ
Superior, AZ
Miles: 00.0
Miles to Date: 352.9

8:20 AM: It rained during the night and was still doing so when I got up at 7:30. To the west the sky looks very nasty but to the east not so bad. The 64 dollar question is whether or not to start out or wait until tomorrow. The radar maps look like more big patches of rain will come through this area.

8:50 It is raining again here and obviously raining to the east. It is 50 here at 2700' and no doubt quite a bit cooler at the pass at 4800'. I will be chicken and stay here today and tonight. The storm is supposed to slide on through for the most part by tomorrow. I hope so.

Day: 10
3/09/2013
Superior, AZ
Queen Creek Tunnel, Az
Miles: 1.5
Globe, AZ
Near San Thomas, AZ
Miles: 51.9
Miles to Date: 406.3

My cousin Hank Davis who lives in Scotsdale emailed me Thursday after he had received my blog link and said he would come to Superior Friday morning and we could go to breakfast. I replied that I probably would not get going until about 11:00 but I woke up early (for me) and decided to hit it. I sent Hank an email to that effect about 9:00.

I packed up and left the motel about 9:30 and started grinding up a very steep grade in a cold drizzle. About 1.25 miles in I spied the mouth of the dreaded tunnel. I noticed a man standing beside a Jeep at a pullout just before the entrance. It flashed through my mind that some kind soul had stopped and was going to offer me a ride, a pipe dream of course. I looked again and realized the man was Hank. He did offer me a ride and it did not take much deliberation on my part to say yes. It was an IQ test of sorts.

It only took a few minutes to strip the bike, remove the front wheel and put it in the back of the Jeep and we were away. How nice! The first thing I noticed is that the tunnel has 2 lanes going uphill (east) and was well lighted so it is really not the object of dread it is made out to be. The second thing was that beyond the tunnel there were some inches of snow on the ground which persisted for several miles. All in all I was very glad to be riding in a warm vehicle.

Hank bought me a great "Southern" breakfast at a coffee shop in Globe then drove us to the junction of Highways 60 and 70 where we put the bike back together and loaded it up and I started off towards Safford about 75 miles away. It was quite cold at the top but I lost elevation fast and it was soon much more comfortable although the day was never what could be described as warm. I stopped at Peridot for a break then pushed on. 5-10 miles before Bylas I thought I saw a bike ahead but soon lost sight of it. Eventually I came to a spot where I could definitely see it and lo and behold it turned out to be John. We rode on together and gradually I was able to get his story of the last 2 days in the lulls between truck and car passing's.

John stayed Thursday night at the RV park in Superior in the rain. He said he saw me going up the road as he approached the RV park although I never was able to spot him after I got away from him on the initial climb out of Florence Junction even though I waited at several spots. He got up yesterday and rode about 20 miles in the storm to Miami, just short of Globe. Of course being Canadian it was a balmy spring day to him. He broke his no motel rule and stopped at the first one he came to because he was soaked and his teeth were chattering, Canadian or not. This morning he rode on through Globe and down Highway 70 having a pleasant time until I overtook him.

We rode through Bylas and Geronimo and beyond until we spotted our current abode, the back yard of an abandoned farmhouse next to the highway. It is not a great camp site but it is dry and warm enough. Hopefully tomorrow will be more pleasant weather wise as forecast.

Day: 11
3/10/2013
Near San Thomas, AZ
Safford, AZ
Miles: 26.3
Miles to Date: 432.6

A short day and life is good.

We are ensconced in the Sunrise Village Mobile Home and RV Resort rec room in Safford, AZ. It is better than most motels because we have a 60' x 30' main room with several tables and chairs, a large bathroom, a laundry room, cable TV, a good heater and it only cost us $10.00 each for the day and night. The outside door is locked at 9:00 PM (we have a key) so we have no worries about our stuff or our persons. We will sleep on the floor and be warm and cozy.

I got up at 7:30 this morning after a cool night. It got down to about 34 before sunrise. John was already up and had put a new rear tire on his bike and moved the old one to the front. While we were packing up he noticed his rear tire was going flat. I gave him one of my 4 spare tubes and he put it in. Our tent flies were good and wet so we let them dry while we packed. We got on the road about 9:00 and had a pleasant downwind ride to Safford.

Our first goal was Fort Thomas, about 2 miles away, where coffee and Coke were hopefully to be had. Sadly the whole town was closed and the entire populace appeared to be in the Mormon Temple. We rode on another 13 miles to Pima which appeared to be closed up tight as well but to our great pleasure and relief we came upon a gas station/mini-mart around the bend at the far end of town. John got a sandwich and coffee and I Coke and a sandwich and a pack of mini-doughnuts (thanks Hank!). We rolled on about 5 miles to Thacher, passed through and almost immediately came into the Greater Safford Metro Area. In short order we came to a supermarket, the same chain I had shopped in near Apache Junction. I suggested we do our shopping there which worked out well because we did not see another market before we got to the RV park.

We took turns going in while the other watched the bikes and gear. I went first and came out with way too much food and drink. It took most of the time John was shopping to pack it all away. When John came out he put his swag away and we hit the road as the wind was quite cool when standing around. On the road with it at our backs it felt comfortable. We worked our way through town until we saw the RV park sign. We turned down a side road and eventually came to a mobile home park that looked pretty sad. We pulled in and saw no sign of an office so we stopped in front of an empty lot and called the number on our maps. The nice lady manager asked where we were and came to us and escorted us around to the office area and our current digs. This setup is a good example of the old maxim to not judge a book by its cover.

We are both working on our journals and enjoying an afternoon off the bike seat. John just cooked a pot of noodles and ate it. I am showered and we have our laundry going. As I said, life is good!

Day: 12
3/11/2013
Safford, AZ
Duncan, AZ
Miles: 44.1
Miles to Date: 476.7

This has been an interesting day. We left the comfort of the RV park rec room a bit before 9:00 with the intent of going to the local bike shop before leaving town. On the way we encountered Jess, a young lady from Australia who is doing the same route I am and whom John has been communicating with on the Internet. After visiting with her a few minutes we headed on to the bike shop. We got there at 9:08 and found that they do not open until 9:30. We looped around a few blocks and found a cafe which served us a good breakfast then went back to the shop. John wanted a new tire and they had no touring type tires which seemed strange for a shop on a major bike touring route. He ended up with a heavy duty thorn resistant tube. I wanted Nuun which they did not have. They did have Hammer Fizz which is essentially the same stuff so I got 4 tubes, hopefully enough to make it to Florida. I also purchased a set of long fingered winter bike gloves in hopes that doing so would insure 100 degree temps the rest of the trip.

We worked our way back to the highway and stopped at the last mini-mart out of town so I could get a gallon of water. We then started in earnest. Within a few miles John had a flat front tire. We stopped and he put in his new heavy duty tube and we were off again.

We had been debating which route to take, Highway 191 over two steep passes to Silver City or 70 on to Duncan and Lordsburg. The RV park manager and the bike shop lady had both warned us against going on 191 because of the narrow roads and steep passes. When we got to 191 I turned east on it with the intention of stopping at a convenient place so we could discuss it further and make a decision. I was leaning towards the adventure of 191. As I turned onto 191 I saw a biker down the road a few hundred yards who looked like he might be in trouble. We went down to him and hailed him and he said he was fine. We stopped to chat with him and sure enough he advised us to avoid 191 and go to Duncan and then across to Silver City. Three out of three was enough. We decided to follow 70 to Duncan where John could turn off for Silver City and the Gila Cliff Dwellings while I continued on to either Lordsburg or Silver City and hence to Demming and then Las Cruces where I would rejoin the official route. I do not want to go to Gila because I have been and because it is a nasty steep road to get there from Silver City.

We set off down 70 and soon enough came to a pretty significant climb which took some time to surmount. From the top we had a nice downhill run of 9 miles into Duncan. The biker at 191, also John (hereafter 191 John, had suggested that we could probably camp in the park in Duncan. After poking around a bit looking for a park we found a "Visitors Center" and went in to ask. The proprietor, Doug, was very helpful and said we could camp in the park which was right next door and that is where we are now. We have set up camp and eaten and visited with 191 John and his wife who stopped buy to see how we were doing. It is a bit of journaling then off to bed.

Oh, John went back to the Visitor Center to get a map and found that while the road is open to the Gila Cliff Dwellings the nights are sub-freezing and he does not have much in the way of winter gear so he has decided to go with me to Lordsburg and down the Interstate 10 shoulder to Las Cruces. A good time is to be had by all!

Day: 13
3/12/2013
Duncan, AZ
Lordsburg, NM
Miles: 37.3
Miles to Date: 514.0

Not so many miles but a good day's work. I left the park a few minutes behind John at about 10:15. I backtracked a block to the mini-mart for a 1L Coke then rode up to the local restaurant where we had agreed to have breakfast. At the restaurant was Bill, the biker John 191's wife helped yesterday. He had camped in the bushes just short of the park and we conversed with him a bit as he tried to pass the park. He was raised in North Carolina but now lives in Maryland and just retired at 66. As I sat down the waitress brought John a delicious looking plate of Huevos Rancheros. I asked for the same. Easy decision.

After breakfast we started on the road towards Lordsburg. After a few miles we started up the hill out of the valley. Little did we know that most of the day would be uphill. On thing we have learned doing this ride is that when a car driver tells you it is flat all the way to Bumville or Lowbrow or Buttscratch you better be ready for some serious climbing. We stopped at the New Mexico Border sign so John could photograph it. Bill who had gone back to the mart for water and had gotten ensnared in a conversation at the bakery caught us here. He rode along with us awhile then put on the afterburners and we never saw him again. He was riding a light bike with a light load and there is no way we could match him with our semi-truck bikes and loads (my bike and luggage weigh about 100 lb and John's is more).

At the top of the steep section we entered a 15 mile construction zone. While we were stopped for a break we thought we saw a bike on the far side of the road ahead. Eventually we saw the bike cross the road and realized it was coming towards us. It turned out to be a very robust German lady biker who was covering big miles on a very snazzy bike. We talked with her a few minutes then all started on our respective ways. A few miles farther on we came to a flagman and a line of stopped cars and trucks. We had to wait about 10 minutes before starting through the single lane section behind the other vehicles. This section was 3-4 miles long and part of it was fairly steep. We just kept grinding as trucks taking old chewed up pavement and others bringing new asphalt passed us in both directions. Also the pilot car leading a string came back towards us. Most moved over on the shoulder to pass us but 1 or 2 got a bit too close. I am getting so used to these moronic drivers that I barely flinch anymore.

After we escaped the construction zone we had a long steady uphill with a wind that varied from straight on to a side wind. We took several breaks. At one I noticed my rear brake was rubbing and unhooked it then readjusted it at the next stop. We also fooled with John's fenders which were rubbing badly enough to impede his progress.

When we were about 8 miles from Lordsburg we finally topped the last hill and could see the town in the distance. What looked to be a level or even slightly downhill run into town was a chore because the wind picked up quite a bit and blew directly at us. We finally made it to the outskirts of town. I tried to call the KOA and got no answer so we pushed on. About a mile from the KOA we stopped again and I finally got through. The terms were favorable so we ground up the hill and under the I-10 freeway to the park and here we are, showered and fed (we walked to McDonald's and pigged out while using their wireless).

We had failed to remember to set our watches ahead at the New Mexico Border so it is now after nine and way past our bedtime.

I almost forgot to mention that John expressed a desire to split up our little team because he feels pressured to try to keep up with me. Even through I have not minded going ahead and goofing off while waiting for him to catch up I know how he feels from trying to hike with my 30 mile per day oldest son so we have agreed that I will go ahead tomorrow. If we happen to cross paths again that will be great but if we do not it will be fine too. Even though I really enjoy John's company it will be better for me in a way in that I can probably make more miles which will help my budget problems and of course it will relieve John of the pressure of trying to match someone else's slightly faster pace.