I woke up coughing in the wee hours once again. Three cough drops later and I gave up and sat up. Once I sat up, I quit coughing, but then I was really awake. Steve and I texted back and forth (he's an early riser) and then I tried to go back to sleep. I don't feel like I slept, but maybe I did, because we barely got up in time for breakfast.

The internet here is very annoying. It keeps booting me out and I have to sign in again and again. Jacinto can't sign in at all. It's annoying enough he wants to stay somewhere else our other nights in Tucson.

We've been discussing routing this morning. It rained all night long and was raining this morning, but is supposed to clear. Wet is ok. Cold is ok. Wet and cold is not good. Especially if you mix in wind. Friday the 28th is the difficult day. We are supposed to ride from Amado to Patagonia Friday. The forecast says 15-17-19 mph wind and 35 degree temperatures. That doesn't sound like a good riding day to me.

Today's original plan was to ride The Loop - a ~50 mile bike path around Tucson. Steve so kindly routed it out for me right from our motel. He said there's a couple of little spots on the northern section where the trail is hard to follow because of switching back and forth across a wash.

The morning got later and later and it kept raining. Temperatures got as high as 60, but certainly seemed colder. End of story is that we visited two bike shops. I bought a set of Ortleib gravel panniers. The advertised weight is 40 ounces for the pair, but that seems too heavy. In the hand, they feel feather weight. Steve has a set just like them and he emptied a pannier out and installed it on my underseat rack to make sure it would work. Thank you, Steve! Jacinto also went to a barber shop for a haircut and a shave with an old fashioned straight razor. The shave was $22. It wasn't as good of a shave as I thought it would be. But who thought you could even get a straight razor shave now?

We also went by Blue Dog Bikes, a Surly bike dealer. Jacinto was hoping to try a bike or two in his small size to replaced his aged, but loved LHT. Nate had nothing in stock in Jacinto's size, but can get anything within 48 hours. I was mentally rearranging the van to accommodate three bicycles - problem solved.

Our day was wiled away. We ended up with an unplanned rest day. I was just fine with that. The weather wasn't as nice here as we wanted, but at home they've been having daily snow. I tried winter sports, but I like snow best when seen from the sofa with a warm cup of coffee!

The revised plan is to ride to Amado tomorrow. We have a prepaid, now nonrefundable room there. Then we will ride back to Tucson via a different route and load up the van and drive to Benson. We could ride to Benson, but it includes 15 miles of interstate riding. Which we have certainly done before. Nate had given Steve a dirt road route, which I inquired about today. Nate's opinion was that it would be too difficult for a recumbent with some sandy areas. An influencing factor on driving to Benson is having the ability to start driving home earlier in the day on our last riding day. It's a long drive home, but worth it.

I have the new set of panniers installed on the bike. I don't need the capacity, but want to try out my new toys!