Smell the roses

Sunday March 19. Day 16. Gila Bend to Tempe. 52 miles or 84 km.

Let me begin by apologizing about a wrong setting in my blog. Consequently none of you could leave any comments. Well thanks to Cliff that problem has been solved. So please send comments. I love receiving and reading them.

After a wonderful sleep we woke up early. Today we were on a mission. Vicki's bike had some issues and she had made arrangements with a Trek bike store in Goodyear, 52 miles from the camping. As I stuck my head outside my tent I was greeted by a stiff wind and it was only 6 am. Not a good sign. 

We hit the road at 730 am and made some great time. In order to pass our time we were trying to come up with a good title for today's blog. The result: "Smell the roses" except no roses but beautiful yellow flowers. The landscape definitely changed today. A bit of climbing while the first cacti started to appear. Huge ones called: Saguaro.

We took turns to lead and all was well until we turned right. The wind was howling and was straight in our face. I felt like I was biking in Holland where there is always a strong or stormy wind blowing. Soon we needed a break. Vicki saw a Sonic restaurant and she just loves their unsweetened tea so we stopped. I had a coffee and a yummy warm pretzel. While there we discussed today's route. We were close to Phoenix where Vicki has a friend Perry (93 years of age). He invited us to stay with him to rest up. But that was another 20 miles from the bike store. Too far with this wind. So Vicki asked Perry to pick us up from the bike store. He agreed.  So relieved!

The guys in the bike store were awesome. They fixed my fender and kickstand. One of the guys helped to put my bike in the back of Perry's truck. And around 3 pm we were in Tempe, the outskirts of Phoenix. Quite the accomplishment. Vicki is waiting for parts. Fingers crossed that they will arrive in time. Perry handed me an envelope with my lost wallet. So happy to be reunited with my little black pouch 👝. 

At some point I heard some rumblings about having too many pictures of roads and nature and not enough of myself in my blog. So let me fix this. Here are a few of myself and Annie my bike.

                                             

Anonymous send this little blur that I like to share: "I want to tell both of you how proud I am of the way you rode today. You may not have had the fastest speed today but you set a trip record on Overall Pace per mile (6:26) and moving pace per mile (4:49). That is some serious no-nonsense nose to the grindstone riding".

Annie though, wasn't happy with today's ride. She had to work very hard but she never quit or so I thought yet Annie and Ruby were caught talking about making a run for it