November 26, 2020
Sierra Vista - Benson, AZ via Tombstone
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I,162 elevation gain
had another good night's sleep. With the exception of the Quality Inn/Airport/Tucson, we've had excellent lodging the entire trip. That makes such a difference for me in how I enjoy the trip. We've also eaten mostly above average food. Jacinto always laughs at me when I comment on how good dinner was. He says it's all food and being hungry is what makes it taste better. I discount that statement as Jacinto is the green chicken guy . . . let me tell you a story . . .
First I will say that Jacinto grew up in Mexico without enough to eat. He is 55 years old and being hungry as a child still influences him today. You will notice he stopped yesterday and bought food at Safeway, even though he knew we had food available today. He likes to keep a stock pile of food.
On to the story - at home Jacinto's custom was to stop at a grocery in a neighboring town while bicycling, for a break. He would buy a $1.00 chicken leg to eat. This particular day he purchased two chicken legs, being extra hungry. They came on the little tray wrapped in plastic wrap. Jacinto ate one and put the other in his bag to save. This is mid summer. Hot. Several days later he remembers the chicken. When he showed it to me, the entire piece of chicken inside of the plastic was green with mold. I told him not to even open it open, it would make the house smell. He should also throw it away in the outside trash. Ugh! But, it was only a $1.00 piece of chicken. Did Jacinto do that? No. He took off the green skin and said the rest of the chicken looked fine. He rinsed it off and ate it. No noticeable ill effects . . . .
Isn't that a great story to tell you on Thanksgiving? I hope I didn't ruin your meal. Be sure to eat pie!
I had better get ready for breakfast. Happy Thanksgiving.
Breakfast was good. Scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage, bacon, etc. I asked for a yogurt and the attendant offered to go get me fresh fruit. I don't know where he went, it took a while for him to come back. We had strawberries, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon. It was a wonderful breakfast and we didn't have to pay. I did bring a tip for the attendant. There wasn't a tip jar, but I put the money on the counter anyway. It's Thanksgiving. I was very thankful for breakfast included.
There was a time when I turned my nose up at what I called a prefab breakfast - the heat in the microwave sort of things hotels could serve. I later found out the reason they do that is because if they do any cooking, they have to have a food license, but it is ok to heat things up in the microwave . . . later I came to love the motel breakfasts because they were convenient and more filling than my typical oatmeal in the room. Now that those motel breakfasts are gone because of COVID, being able to have one is a real gem. Especially on Thanksgiving when we weren't sure what restaurant would be open for breakfast.
Hank had gone to breakfast early and said the food was good and the coffee exceptionally terrible. He offered once again to show Jacinto how to make a pour over coffee. Factually, he offered to make Jacinto one and bring it to breakfast. Jacinto accepted and pronounced the coffee good. Hank is going to show him how to make one and Jacinto's going to order the coil. It is smaller and lighter weight by far over Jacinto's percolator.
OK - ten minutes to depart. I need to apply sunscreen. It looks like a fine riding day. 44 mostly flat miles to Benson.
Yes, it was a fine riding day - if your tires have air! We didn't get a mile down the road and I had a very flat, flat. There was no need to guess on this one. It went flat right away. We were in a residential area and pulled over to the curb. At least it was on the front tire. I pulled all of the fixings out of my bag and took the front wheel off. I must have looked semi good at this point because Hank commented that "You have done this before". Then his confidence went downhill. I found a big thorn right away. Hank pushed it back through from the bottom with my tweezers. I started reassembling the tire with a new tube. Hank suggested I look for anything else in the tire. OK? Sure. I handed the tire over to him.
In the meanwhile a man walked across the street to introduce himself. He had just moved in and thought we were the house owners! We chatted while we worked on the tire. He said they had wanted to retire to Tucson, but the prices there are so hot that the closest they came to buying anything was offering $12,000. over asking price and that still wasn't a good enough offer. Someone suggested they look at Sierra Vista instead, and that worked out.
Hank did indeed find another puncturing item in my tire - a pretty good size wire. We agreed it must have been leftover from all of the retreads yesterday on the side of the shoulder. Why the tire was still inflated when I left the motel, I do not know. Hank pronounced the tire good and I reassembled it. Then the tire was rubbing. ??? It was the fender, bent slightly at the bottom. Hank was all for fixing it properly by getting out his tools, but I just pulled it out some at the bottom and it no longer rubbed.
With that half hour delay, we were down the road. Traffic was light today, being the holiday. I had looked forward to riding Charleston Road - I have heard it mentioned several times as being a good riding road. We had a couple of road riders pass us (and offer to help) while we were fixing my flat. We saw even more road riders at the beginning of Charleston Road. Then traffic thinned out.
I had a new appreciation for the dangers of riding on the shoulder. I followed Hank's lead in staying to the left of the white line unless a vehicle was approaching. We had ten fast downhill miles before we started the climb toward Tombstone.
Four miles from town, Hank said that he thought he was getting a blister from his shoe. He had moleskin with him. I told him we should stop right now because he didn't want it to get worse. I should have taken a photo of Hank's roadside set up. He has a piece of picnic table cloth (I think that's what it is) that he spread out to sit on. Hank has been forever pulling just the right little item out of his magic bag. He had a cargo net to lend Jacinto to secure our spare tire. Now he has moleskin for his foot. Hank also has a small bottle of sanitizer that he has shared frequently and it never seems to run out . . . .
Foot treated, we continued up the climb to Tombstone. The road came out right in town. Hank suggested we pull over and call Jacinto to see how close he is. Jacinto was still in town! He had anticipated an easy day and asked for a late check out. When I got ahold of him, Jacinto had his own flat tire and then had taken a wrong turn. He ended up with four bonus miles.
I chatted with some people while Hank went in the Dollar Store. The woman asked me how difficult my bike was to ride. Another man stopped by and asked if our bikes had motors. He said his bicycle has a motor as he's too old to ride without one, "I'm going to be 70 soon". Hank did not say that he is already 70!
The wind had picked up and was a headwind. What happened to our tailwind to town? It seemed like we had been on the road the entire day and would never get there. Oren and I would have been to town by noon. Here it was 2:30 and we were only 30 miles into our day. I gave myself the pep talk about enjoying the day - the entire day - how lucky I was to be riding the entire day!
We pulled in at the Border Control check point. The officer waved us through, but Hank asked if we could use the rest room. Yes. That was nice. Then we continued downhill. I had been snacking regularly. I had eaten two bars, several Cliff Bloks, some cashews. We had a good breakfast, but by the time we left the room, I was just about ready to eat again!
One advantage to arriving to town so late (by my standards), is that we can shower and go straight to dinner. We pulled into downtown Benson about 3:30 after a smooth, if windy downhill run. Traffic was light. I saw a couple of semi trailers and they made me take notice. Oh, yes, semi trucks. They do exist. I just haven't seen any at all for days. How refreshing. We pulled over in town while I took a couple of photos. We saw a sign for Wendy's. I suggested we stop in for chili if they were open. Yes! Hank was good with that. Unfortunately, they were closed. Safeway was next door. We were both reluctant to go in, although I would have really liked bananas to eat. I called Jacinto to see where he was, maybe he would go to the store. No, he wasn't inclined to stop either.
I pointed out to Hank that by now it was 4 PM, by the time we showered, we could eat. I tried calling Rigo's Mexican Food. No answer. We bicycled past. They were very closed. I had called them a few weeks ago to see if they would be open and the woman assured me they were open every day of the year. Nope - at least not at 4 PM. Denny's it is.
The nice male clerk inside moved Hank so he would be somewhat close to us. We are in the 300 section of the motel, which sounds like it should be the third floor, but it is all the way to the rear and has the new, large rooms. Our room has a king size bed, a chair, and plenty of room for the bikes. Laminate flooring. $75. includes tax. We get a grab and go breakfast in the morning. Previously they had an excellent hot breakfast here. This is our third visit.
Jacinto pulled up as I was just getting things in the room. We sat on the outside chairs and chatted a little. He had a good rest of his day, even with the headwind. He did not get bananas. We finally went inside to shower.None of us took too long, we were all hungry! The Denny's was just past the interstate, .2 miles according to my phone. They had a few customers. Employees and customers both wore masks. They had large partitions up between the tables. there wasn't anyone else seated close to us.
Hank ordered the turkey dinner, he didn't say how good it was. Jacinto and I both ordered steaks. Mine was about as good as you would expect at Denny's. I ate all of it . . . .
Instead of finishing our tour with an interstate ride to Tucson tomorrow, we are extending by one day and going to Sonoita. We were late in reserving and could only find one room (two beds) at the inconveniently located Xanadu Ranch Getaway. We disliked the idea of the interstate enough to go for sharing a room.
We have two route choices tomorrow - the direct route will take us right to Sonoita and past the steakhouse, where we could stop and eat before proceeding. The road from Sonoita to Whetstone was the busiest of the trip, in my opinion. I'd prefer to stay off of it as much as possible. Which brings us to the second choice of exiting the highway at Upper Elgin Road and taking delightful backroads. There are a number of wineries and one brewery in the area. I've read several journals of people who have wandered the area doing winery tours.
The wind is supposed to be a factor tomorrow, but unless it is really bad, I'm voting for the long route with a little extra climbing. Look at me - choosing the harder route again!
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Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 258 miles (415 km)
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