Bruce,

In my humble, non-SW native opinion, I thought tumbleweeds were the skeletal structure of a discrete dried plant type; however, on further research I see that you are correct. Any plant uprooted blown in the wind is aptly named a tumbleweed.

Thanks. Now that we got that straight, how do you shut off these daily high winds, wait for spring??

Ken, from Ft. (Jefferson) Davis, TX

Thank you for being such a great cheer leader! We are having fun. Ken has a small saddle sore that is healing. I have a sore ankle that I need to attend to...ever had that with cycling? Doesn't hurt when I'm not pedaling. Butts are sore, but stopping every 15 miles does wonders. So happy for our day off today.

Reading your blog makes me excited, motivated, aghast, tired, envious, glad to be in my own bed and happy to NOT have big winds and cold! LOL You guys are having a true adventure! Are you losing weight? Injuries? How are the butts doing????? So glad you have made this blog. It must be hard to do it at the end of the day. Thank You!!!! Sending big hugs!!! JoAnn

Love the sign.

Nice to meet everyone!
Margery

Looks like Ken is holding a Saturday night special in his right hand!!!🤨

And not a trace of sunburn on your face...good job!!

Does the rotation of the hands of a clock change direction when you cross the Continental Divide?!😁

Glad to hear Ken didn’t get any more ill; I was a bit concerned because you two weren’t fully Covid protected at the start, being less than two weeks from your second shot and not much masking around your group.🤨
As to saddle sores, my solution, when I recently lost weight and therefore butt cushion, has been to wear two bike shorts, which doubles the chamois thickness....Ahhhh! And no problem with chafing.

Glad you biked through Saguaro National Park. We visit Jan’s aunt and uncle in Tucson regularly and enjoy the amazing variety of cacti there.

Just catching up on your blog. Those headwinds sound nasty, but if anyone can conquer them, it’s the Bad Ass Gasses!
BTW, the St. Charles, MO tee shirt brought back memories of my youth: It’s a suburb of my home town, St. Louis, and the home of a college girlfriend....

We have rear view mirrors. The roads with no shoulders have very little traffic. It has not been scary.

Thanks. The best thing I did in preparation was to pack a small flat pillow. I squeeze it in a vacuum bag for packing. I can't sleep on big thick pillows. This way, I can sleep for sure!

Many of your pictures show roads with little or no shoulder. Any special strategies for safely riding that type of situation ?

bruce

Every time I sign on to see what's happening with you, I get absolutely exhausted just thinking of cold and wind and biking and trying to sleep in a new place each night. You are simply amazing!