December 22, 2018
I'm the only not smart girl in the bunch.
I've been looking forward to bicycling in Arizona again since before the last trip ended. I didn't want to go home and was happy to be back again.
We had the van loaded up a couple of days in advance, at Jacinto's suggestion. That was a new one. Usually I'm the one who wants things organized in advance. We had items in the van early and items strewn around the house. I wasn't quite sure what I had packed, or not. In the end we agreed anything that might be forgotten could be purchased in Tucson. At this moment, Jacinto is gone to WalMart to buy a new set of headphones. Let's see what else we have forgotten. Doing a short loop and coming back will be convenient for regrouping and heading out again.
Despite being ready to go, we didn't leave home until 10:30 AM. The goal was to drive to Kayenta or Flagstaff, leaving approximately four hours of driving to Tucson. I was hoping to arrive early enough to ride the eight mile loop around Saguaro Park.
We did overnight in Flagstaff, but did not get out of town in a timely fashion. Our planned 4 PM dinner with the guys and their wives was pushed back to 4:30 PM. The bike ride around Saguaro Park wasn't even discussed.
Both Tom and Steve are locals. We've ridden with Tom a number of times. I found Steve through his journal here on CG. Jacinto said poor Steve had no idea what he was getting in to when he agreed to ride with us. I've been deluging him with emails about the trip for the past month! Steve was ever gracious.
Much of the last minute discussion was about the weather. The forecast keeps changing, but it looks like there will be a day of rain and wind followed by cooler temperatures for several days. We decided to forgo our planned riding around Tucson to get on the road on our first little loop. We will ride for three days, then come back to Tucson and have a day ride before leaving on the second part of the tour. Tom is joining us for the first day. Joan will drop him off at the start, spend the day at the casino en route, then pick him up at the finish.
We had fun discussing Joan's entertainment while she waited to pick Tom up after his ride. Adele told Joan she was a smart girl for not riding, Joan quickly quipped back that Adele was also smart. Jacinto - never one to miss a joke, said that his wife was the only not smart girl in the bunch. We all got quite a laugh from that.
He and I went straight from the lack luster dinner to the movies. I fiddled with my phone both directions. I was having trouble getting the phone to give spoken directions in both google maps and RWGPS. Anyone who knows me, knows that I need all of the help I can get on navigation. I finally figured out to turn off the bluetooth in the van and then google maps would talk to me again just on the phone. I'm not sure if that will help RWGPS or not. At the least, the cue sheets and map are there.
Jacinto and I agreed we feel quite disorganized as our bikes are still in the van. We had to take my front fender off to mount the bike securely on the bike tight. We haven't loaded our panniers because we don't have the bikes out. I thought I was quite clever moving the starting location to Three Points (lodging troubles - although there are a couple of $$$ B&B's in the area). But by not starting from the motel, we won't load the bikes from here. The morning will be a bit harried, I'm sure.
We've agreed to shoot for a 9 AM depart from Three Points. I have permission from the Sheriff's Department to park in their lot for the three days.
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