December 31, 2017
Sonoita - Tombstone, AZ: Look at me, finishing the year while touring.
Our group is scattered to the wind this morning. The single guys all left by 8 AM. I pointed out they wouldn't be able to get into their rooms so early, but it didn't matter. They had been up for hours, eaten, and were ready to see the sights in Tombstone. There should be plenty to see.
In addition to the tough day yesterday, Don and Marilyn are both battling colds. Marilyn sounds horrible this morning. They are going to soldier on. I feel so sorry for them to be sick on our nice vacation. All of this warmth and sunshine and it's hard to enjoy while sick.
In general it seems that everyone survived the tough ride yesterday. My legs are a little tight this morning. Ben Gay and ibuprofen have been popular with the crew.
I'm going to add a few extra miles this morning, taking Lower Elgin Road to Upper Elgin. That's an extra five miles and ~200 feet of climbing. David gave Jacinto a convoluted route that nets 57 miles. Jacinto is happy. He wasn't so happy this morning to discover there was no sugar for the coffee, only artificial sweetener. The desk clerk arrived to work, and looked through the cupboards. They really were out of sugar.
I had eaten breakfast here. They have plenty of sugar laden items. I had instant oatmeal, yogurt, and a granola bar with peanut butter on top. My stomach doesn't feel well. I was really hoping for hard boiled eggs or some sort of protein.
When Jacinto got over the shock of no sugar, he announced he was going to the restaurant across the square for breakfast. The guys were gone, D & M were moving slowly, I decided to go and see if eggs would help my stomach. There was indeed a restaurant, but it's closed today and tomorrow. We ended up at the gas station buying $5.00 breakfast burritos. They are quite small. I'm saving mine for later.
A thank you to Spoon for giving me an old sock to clean my chain. That's a real friend.
I was shooting for a 9 AM depart, but it's after that already. Look how laid back I am! It's time to get on the road.
I feel brave, starting out alone and trusting Bertha to do her job. I do double check her voice cues by looking at the map. Occasionally she makes a mistake. Today she tried to send me down a wrong road just a few miles into the route. But it was dirt, so pretty easy to ignore. I knew I was going from Lower Elgin to Upper Elgin. That's pretty easy. Highway 83 came back in there and it certainly looked like a better surface, but I stuck to the plan. I was slowed down a bit when the plan turned to dirt! I suspected it wouldn't last long. I was correct. 1.75 miles later and I was back on pavement at the intersection with Canelo Road. We should be coming back in right here in a few days. Jacinto and I hope to take the road through Fort Huachuca.
I was almost back to Highway 82 when an old apple green VW bus pulled up next to me. We stopped to talk. The man was 80 years old and a former serious bicycle tourist. He had ridden most of the major routes, including cross country. We had a nice chat. They had hardly pulled away when Jacinto caught up to me. How did he catch me so quickly? It turns out I had four more miles the he did. I stayed on the Elgin roads and he took Highway 83 and missed the little dirt piece.
Jacinto and I rode together for a few miles, then he was off to meet David and ride with him. I rode alone, but I was hardly lonely. I had just gotten on the main highway when a huge, huge group of motorcycles passed me. It was rather scary as their loud formation (smoothly) broke to pass me and reform. Their bikes were loud and there were so many of them. Jacinto agreed with me that the whole experience was rather unnerving.
This piece of the road was a nice downhill cruise. I was going 20-22 mph on a gradual downhill grade. I had visions of racing into town. Yes, it is a pleasant daydream. Realistically I knew that there was a climb into Tombstone.
I passed through Whetstone. We had looked at renting an RV from the big park here ($49. a night) and doing a couple of day rides from that location. I still think that's an option. Food would be an issue. Sierra Vista is ten miles away. There's plenty of food (and lodging there).
I passed the convenience store at the intersection where Spoon and the guys had taken a break. They were probably already to town. I hadn't see D & M. Maybe they were to town also? I had dallied this morning and also ridden the bonus route.
I was ready to be to town and eat. Strange, that's how most of my days go. No matter how beautiful the route or fun the ride, towards the end, I'm starving and ready to be there.
At the intersection of 82 and 80, there was another border patrol check point. It was just to the left of the intersection, so we didn't pass through it. One more uphill and I would be to town and food.
Hmmm, Tombstone is much smaller and quite empty. Perhaps this is not the happening place to be on New Years? Tom had sent a text he was eating at the Longhorn Restaurant. I saw it to the left. Here was our motel on the right. The Tombstone Motel. It is fine. Not great. Certainly compared to our fancy digs last night, it is lacking. Jacinto was quick to point out with the $57. we saved in lodging we could buy dinner. So true.
I decided to shower first, then eat. I was just getting dressed when Spoon knocked on the door. They had been to eat and walked through town. Everyone else was taking a nap, but he's not a nap taker. The shoot out downtown is at 3:30 - that was next on the schedule.
Here came Jacinto. He had an excellent ride and did meet up with David. He said the Charleston Road was excellent and he would like to ride it again.
Jacinto's arriving to town routine includes eating pistachios and drinking a pop. Then he took a shower. Jacinto decided to go ahead and wash his sweat crusted jersey. It could practically stand up alone. But Jacinto was careful to point out that it might be crusty, but it didn't smell. He is a new fan of wool.
Now they are gone watching the shoot out and scouting a dinner place. I'm finishing up the journal. There are two, two story motel buildings here quite close to each other. All noise echoes loudly between the two buildings. There are two other buildings up top of the property that are not so close together. Those might be better. The wi-fi is reasonably fast.
They ended up not watching the shoot out. Since it was the last one of the year, it was $8.00 and they were too cheap. They did go for ice cream (without me!). It sounds like they decided on Mexican food for dinner.
I haven't even mentioned the weather. It was another lovely day in paradise. It was 70 degrees in Tombstone with light wind when I arrived. The cold front that is moving through so much of the nation seems to be missing us here. Our destination tomorrow is Bisbee. That is the highest elevation of our tour. The high temperature tomorrow for Bisbee is 65 degrees and sunny. I can do that.
We have been fortunate with the weather. I appreciate it every day.
After dinner -
We all went to Margarita's for dinner. I had the special, which was $21.99 but it included a 6 oz ribeye (excellent!), a chili relleno, an enchilada AND dessert. I'm very sure Jacinto thought he would be helping me eat all of that food, but I plowed right through it and had no trouble saving room for dessert. That I did share.
In all of the pre dinner chatter, I did not hear Jerry Harp tell the waitress that he was going to pay for our food. When we did not get our check at the end, I asked for it. What an unexpected delight. That was so kind of Harpo to pick up our large tab. He said it was a thank you for organizing the trip. Thank you, Harpo!
D & M let us know over dinner that they were changing their plans. Instead of going to Bisbee with us, they are heading to Sierra Vista and will wait for us there. They've both been battling head colds and now the intestinal bug has joined the fun. Ugh. It sounds like they have a good plan. Jacinto rode up Charleston Road today and said it was worth riding again. That's the road they will take to Sierra Vista. Then they tentatively plan to rent a car and visit Katchner Caverns (sp?).
We were back to the room and tucked in early. Jacinto did not say, but I think he was quite sad to be spending such a boring New Year's Eve. It is very important in Mexico, even the little old grannies stay up to see in the New Year.
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Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 357 miles (575 km)
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