Amado - Patagonia - I'm Happy To Be Here

November 23, 2021

Amado - Patagonia

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Breakfast this morning was served at 8 AM. Jacinto pronounced the coffee 'dishwater', but the food was good. I kept moving and got ready to go. Jacinto was surprised I was leaving already, but I could see the wind blowing against us. I wanted to get on the road.

We had more frontage road riding this morning. There were enough tall plants to block much of the wind. For a diversion, we had a one mile section of interstate ride, while all traffic was filtered to the interstate because of the border patrol crossing. From this side of the road, it meant nothing. Everyone can go south! It's north that's the problem for some.

I took a phone call and that seemed to mess with my ridewithgps voice cues. They disappeared. I certainly didn't want to repeat Hank's dirt route to Patagonia from last year! I paid attention to the turns. I remembered rollers on Patagonia Road. Yes, the road didn't flatten out any from last year. I saw perhaps 6-8 road riders. None acknowledged me at all as the passed. Perhaps they were intimidated by my panniers and bright flashing lights? One group of three did also have good blinky lights. I saw a woman on a recumbent on the far side of the road. We both waved and stopped. I crossed the road and chatted with Gloria. She is the founder of Woman Tours, but hasn't actively been involved since 2005. Her Gold Rush has been converted to an E assist. We both sported Earbag ear warmers. Hers were purple, mine are leopard patterned. Gloria stated that most recumbent riders she sees are men, and most of those are on trikes. We talked so long that my computer turned off. I knew that the very best of the climbing was ahead of me. How lucky. Maybe the extended rest break was a good thing? I had most of a bar, to prepare for the climb.

There were two chunks of bike path along Pendleton Road. I didn't get on to start with. As soon as I did get on the second one, there was a washed out dirt section. This is exactly why don't like unknown bike paths . . .Jacinto said he didn't get on them at all. Oh - Jacinto got lost crossing the train tracks also, just like Hank last year. Look - I'm not the one who got lost! Jacinto remembered poor Hank's tale, and turned back around. He got a bonus 1.5 miles.

I saw a police car parked at the top of the granny gear climb on Pendleton. I was just over the top, when he passed me. Downhill seemed to be in short supply today. I don't know if it was the wind, or just the fact that it really was climbing. Both, probably.

I was happy I successfully navigated several turns in a row, without audible cues. I did pull the phone out a few times! I hadn't eaten my apple yet. I didn't want to eat it on the climbing section. I decided I had better get eating, because I would be to town soon. With 13 miles to go, I hit the intersection of Highway 82.

An important note is the lack of auto traffic today. Our first trip through here, in 2017, the traffic seemed terrible around the Nogales area, at the end of Pendleton. Both this year and last year, traffic was a non-issue. Maybe we just hit it wrong in 2017.

Highway 82 had a reasonable shoulder the entire distance to Patagonia and a good road surface. All of today, the surface was good. That isn't always true in Arizona. Being a highway, there was more traffic. There were far more tractor trailers heading south than going my direction. I had enough shoulder, and there was little enough traffic, that I noticed the number of semis, but it wasn't an issue.

After I made the turn, I had a tailwind to help with the continued climbing. I was watching the clock. I wanted to stop at the excellent breakfast/lunch cafe we ate at last year, Sacred Grounds. They close at 3 PM.

I was happy to hit the downhill to town. I have had little downhill today, so it was appreciated as far as effort. Also appreciated for getting to lunch. I had hopes that gluten free bread was a choice. It was! I ordered a cuban sandwich with potato salad. Both were good. I had eaten half of the sandwich and was considering (only considering), saving the other half for Jacinto when he rolled up! As he wolfed down my sandwich, he said he should be saving it for later as he still had leftovers from Tucson. Heck, he could have eaten his leftovers and *I* could have saved this for later. Oh, well - I did offer it to him.

We sat and talked for awhile. The cafe also had homemade ice cream, but they were completely out and didn't have a single flavor. I had noticed a grocery, Red Mountain Foods, as I rode into town. They had fruit sitting outside. I had hopes of a banana, but my sights were set on the cafe. Now that I'm thinking of a banana again, I googled the store and they closed at 5 PM. My only other choice is the Patagonia Market, where Jacinto bought me a $10. pint of ice cream in 2017. That ice cream is famous. We mention it fairly regularly.

I was content to sit outside at the cafe, and chat. The temperature was just right. There was a group of motorcycle riders at the far end of the sidewalk. They also didn't seem to be in a hurry. I should mention that the cafe had a sign on the door saying all employees were fully vaccinated.

Jacinto finally said he was ready to go. We walked our bikes over to the Stage Stop Inn. I went in and registered. When I went back outside, Jacinto said he had a flat tire. Really? Or it's just his warped humor. He didn't say I had a flat, so maybe he really did.

We got in the room. Jacinto debated changing the tube, or pumping it back up to evaluate it later. He opted to pump it up. An hour later, he gave up and admitted it was going soft. This was his first flat in 526 miles. Is that a reasonable number of miles per flat? This new bike has a Pinion drive, which has the gearbox in the bottom bracket. Jacinto had a small amount of satisfaction in removing the rear wheel. It is just like a front wheel, without gears. He found a little sticker/thorn. At least he could fix the flat in the comfort of the motel room.

I used to consider the rooms here unreasonably expensive. Thus our try at a substandard airbnb. In the meanwhile prices everywhere have gone up, but the Stage Stop prices have remained the same. Now they seem average priced, at $156. for the night with tax. They have an adjoining restaurant that is the only game in town, at night (besides the bar, which does serve food). I wasn't that impressed last year, so don't have many hopes tonight. I did get that great sandwich earlier! We are walking over to the grocery to look for a banana. Jacinto would rather be walking with Oren for a beer.

We walked over to the Patagonia Market for bananas. It was a minimum charge of $5.00 to use a credit card. Jacinto sacrificed and bought a beer, which took us just over the minimum.

Dinner was at the Wild Horse Restaurant, inside of the motel.

We had been calling places in Tombstone, trying to figure out if we could get breakfast Thanksgiving morning. Second thought was dinner on Wednesday night. Surely we could get dinner on Wednesday? Jacinto saved half of his pasta, as a possible breakfast. After last night's fiasco, I went with a burger without a bun. That's pretty hard to mess up. Jacinto had a good looking side salad, with real greens and a variety of veggies on top. My fries were fat and crunchy. This was a much better dinner than last night.

I'm looking forward to breakfast at the Sacred Grounds. Leftover eggs aren't delicious - but I might consider something to go for Thanksgiving morning. We have one restaurant that we are calling in the morning - the OK Cafe. If they aren't open Thursday, we will have to go with the alternate plan. Beef jerky and a protein bar?

Tomorrow looks like a 10 mph tailwind the entire distance. Payback! Stand by and see what really happens.

P S - So far Jacinto's tire patch is holding.