Day 49: Safford to Globe

April 4, 2025

We spent 2 day on US 70. A lot of it was like this. Near Safford it was low traffic and we could ride on the roadway. However, it got busy and we had to ride mostly on the shoulder, which was rough. Many vehicles did not give a lot of space when passing.

Mount Graham, > 10k feet tall. We saw more of the rain later in the day.

Scenery more like this was common as we got close to Globe.

We started to see lots of Saguaro cactuses.

Sunset from our Motel 6 looking over the parking lot with the every present van and trailer.

Retaining wall made of old (very large) tires.

I am writing this a day after it happened as yesterday was a long hard day. I went to bed at about 8:30 and woke up around 5:15. It was not as cold as recent days, I recall in the 40s. I slept o.k., though was cold about 4:00 and had to get into my mummy bag inside the quilt. I stayed in bed until about 5:45 and then started getting ready. I was ready with my tent packed and my bike clothes on by about 6:45. Ethan was ready too. He slept in is bivy sack and said he slept well.

We ate the usual breakfast and packed lunches. BD planned to meet us in the van in Bylas at mile 38 and possibly somewhere else, but I don't recall that the details were worked out. So, I left my lunch in the van. I wore tights, my light rain jacket, and a long sleeve jersey. I topped it off with my vest. I wore toe covers and my heavy wool socks and started with both sets of full-finger gloves. We left camp about 7:53. SR asked to go with us and of course we welcomed that.

The going was hard. We got onto I-70 shortly out of Safford. It seemed there was a crosswind, so drafting Ethan didn't help as much as it had the previous day, and my legs felt a bit tired, perhaps from yesterday's moments of exuberance. When will I learn. A few times I could ride in echelon with him, but usually the road wasn't wide enough. The shoulder was often pretty rough and the road too busy to take that much width. Near Safford it wasn't as busy, but the further we got the busier.

The van met us at Bylas, at about mile 38, which seemed to be in an Apache reservation. I ate my lunch and filled my water bottle. An Apache woman was selling jewelry to raise money for someone who had died, though I didn't hear how. I bought a couple pairs for $5 each, which seemed remarkably cheap. I filled my water bottle, but left it with the van. I didn't discover until I was about 5 miles away, so I texted BD and he found it.

We started climbing out of Bylas we started climbing about 5 miles out. I had been praying for smooth road and. the wind to die down, and both requests were granted: all of a sudden the pavement smoothed and I think the topography of the climb blocked the wind. The climb was long with ups and downs. We started at about 2600 feet and ended at about 3000 over about 13 miles. We then started a downhill into Peridot. The downhill wasn't as easy as it could have been as we were slowed by the wind. We met the van in Peridot, about mile 64. I got my water bottle and another couple Goos. A climb started right out of Peridot. The traffic was bad, the shoulder rough, and the wind made the climb hard. We gained about 800 feet in 7 miles, often going 6 or 7 mph. My legs were really tired and I wanted to quit many times. We stopped again with about 10 miles left, not long before we started the last climb into Globe. About that time we felt sprinkles and could see rain, so I put my light rain jacket on, as did SR and Ethan. Its good we did as it actually did start raining on the climb, and it got cold at the same time. We gained about 600 feet in 6 miles, again fighting the wind. At the end we found a sidewalk that felt a lot safer and was a lot smoother than the road. I remember feeling energized that there were only a few miles left and so climbed pretty well. In Globe we stayed on the sidewalk for a while, but then got back on the road. The traffic was kind of scary and it was raining a big. We overshot the RV park and had to turn around. When we got to the park we didn't see the van, despite the fact that we saw it go by us. It had started to rain (by AZ standards) and was kind of cold, so we tried to find a place to stand. The RV park office was closed. Finally a guy from the RV park told us that we were camped in a different part of the park. Ethan figured out where it was and led us there. On the way we saw BD and DS in the van, trying to be visible so others would know where to go. We went down to the RV park and it was, to put it delicately, a shithole. It was dusty and dry (though turning muddy because of the rain). There was no shower (except back up at the RV park, probably a mile away up a hill and on a busy highway). There was a lone portable toilet. I kind of lost it and was cussing the place out. BD came and could tell I wasn't very happy. About that time there was some thunder and lightning and BD went out in the van to try to get other riders. It was raining and we didn't want to try to set up the tents, so we found a coffee shop a few minutes away and went there. We got hot drinks an sat down at a table. About that time BD called to tell me that they were going to arrange hotels for us. We were all very glad of that. It literally rescued the day.

We stayed in the coffee shop, Café Vida, for a while. BW and eventually JE joined us. They were both cold. Ethan and I had recovered some of our dry clothing and coats from our bags and the van, and we shared them with BD and JE. About that time BD called to tell us he was coming back to pick up the trailer. He asked if we could get to the Motel 6, but we looked and it was too var away on a busy road and we were all cold and tired. So we met him at the van and helped load bikes on the roof and drove to the Motel 6. We got there about 5:15. It turned out that JW had a flat and BD had picked up him, JF, and JG about 8 miles from town. JF wanted to return to that the next day so he could continue being in the EFI tradition.

I had offered to take the whole group to dinner to thank them for letting Ethan join us. I chose Bravo Americano Moderna, mostly a wood-fired pizza place but with a few other entrees and specials. I changed the reservation from 5:30 to 6:30 and finally to 7:00 as the day wore on. We all showered and got there at 7:05. It took a little while to get a table. I ate a cheese pizza and the Salmon/rice special. I wanted fish, but didn't think it was enough calories (based on my power meter, Strava said I burned 2400 calories). The dinner was good and everyone was appreciative. We got back to the hotel about 8:30 or so and BD took Stan and I out to buy breakfast and lunch items. We shopped efficiently at a nearby Safeway and were back by 9:15 and I was in bed by 10:00. It was sure nice to sleep in a hotel and not to have to cook dinner.

Today's ride: 84 miles (135 km)
Total: 2,495 miles (4,015 km)

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