Simply Superior Scenery

Today almost started the way I planned it. Almost. And it wasn’t even a complex plan. Really, it consisted of two things. Get a photo with my host, Dan. Hit the road by 9:00. Hardly earth shattering plans.

At 8:30, things were looking good. In fact, I was ahead of schedule. The photo with Dan was a success while the photo with River, the dog, wasn’t quite as successful but we made the effort. There’s a reason they teach you in film school not to work with children, animals, or guns. And with River being a puppy it was a futile effort.

With phase one of my plan in place, I was ready to roll. Then I checked my e-mail one last time.

I failed to mention that I woke this morning to a last-minute and mildly urgent freelance project. I actually knew about the project last night but I didn’t find out the deadline until this morning. Coincidently, the deadline WAS this morning. Good thing I woke up early. And good thing the project wasn’t excessively complicated.

I managed to get the project put together in good time and sent it off for review. As you may have guessed, there were a couple of minor changes required. Of course, that didn’t come to my attention until I received the aforementioned e-mail. So much for a 9:00 departure. That said, the changes were minor and I was still able to get on the road by 9:30.

My first stop of the day, as is frequently the case, was Subway. From there I did a quick ride (and walk) through a small part of Arizona State University. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve been on a university campus. Despite all those years, the general look and feel was still very much the same. It almost made me want to go back to school. Almost.

From ASU, I continued my ride east. The first half of the ride was essentially urban with lots of services readily available. By chance, I passed by the Chicago Cubs Spring Training facility so I stopped for a few photos. I asked the security guard if I could take a quick picture inside the stadium which, of course, triggered the automatic answer of “No”. He then returned his attention to his smartphone.

Shortly after leaving the Cubs facility I passed the Oakland Athletics Spring Training facility. Actually, I think I passed behind it. I figured any attempts to get into the stadium would have similar results as the Cubs facility so I just pedalled on.

As I slowly left the city and entered the desert, the views became significantly more impressive. The desert is remarkably stunning. Maybe it’s because it’s my first time in Arizona but with the mountains, the sand, and the cacti, it really is beautiful. Whether I would think it was beautiful if I was biking through it in 120 degree temperatures, well … that’s another story.

Side note: I just realized today that Arizona is exempt from Daylight Saving Time. At first, I couldn’t figure out why the time stamp on all my photos were all off by an hour. It would seem the GPS in my camera automatically triggered a time change assuming Daylight Saving Time. Now you know. Thus ends the educational segment of this update.

For the first time since leaving San Diego, I actually crossed paths with another cyclist. I was just passing the sign for Apache Junction when I noticed “Steve from Florida”. I didn’t know for sure if he was touring as his bike wasn’t fully loaded – he was on a supported tour. We chatted for a while and he was able to give me a bit of a heads up as to the ride ahead. Apparently there are some less than ideal shoulders in my future. Oh, and a tunnel. Sigh. I hate tunnels. We wished each other well and resumed our respective journeys.

The last sign of civilization was at the Superstition Foothills Mall where there just happened to be a Subway. Assuming there wouldn’t be much in the way of services the rest of the way, I decided to stop. It was a good decision as there was pretty much nothing else until I reached my destination. Well, except for beautiful scenery.

As usual, the photos really don’t do the vistas justice. As I made my way into Tonto National Forest and over Gonzales Pass, the views were stunning. So much so that I even forced myself to stop for photos even though I was going down a rather pleasant descent. Of course, the mountains looked so much bigger in person. And the town of Superior (today’s destination) looked so much closer than it really was. Perhaps the biggest illusion of the day was the fact that it appeared as though I was looking down at Superior from Gonzales Pass but in reality they’re both at the same elevation – with a descent and a climb in between.

When I arrived in Superior, there was a bit of confusion regarding my Warm Showers arrangement. Simply put, they weren’t home. The biggest challenge was figuring out why. With my communications limited to WiFi I had no way of checking for either e-mails or texts to see if there had been any changes to the day’s plan. I needed to find a WiFi connection.

Fortunately, the Copper Mountain Motel was just up the street and they let me connect to their internet connection. It took a few efforts and a bit of time but I eventually got in touch with my hosts. It turns out Mari had gotten a flat tire and needed to get it fixed otherwise she wouldn’t be going far.

On my way back over to Charles and Mari’s place I caught up with another fully loaded cycle tourist. Given that the road was not exactly a major thoroughfare I could only assume that he too was heading to Charles and Mari’s place. He was. His name was Tim and he met Charles and Mari on the road and offered him a place for the night.

Within minutes we had arrived at our home for the night and I officially met Charles and Mari (and their three dogs). Charles and Mari were great. They got us settled into our accommodations which was an Airstream trailer which had plenty of room for both us. It was a perfect place to call home.

As we got settled we chatted a bit with our hosts. Mari drives a lot and as such had a lot of advice regarding tomorrow’s ride. Apparently it’s not the safest ride in the world. Good to know! And Charles pointed Tim and I in the right direction to get some dinner – a restaurant that was easily within walking distance.

The restaurant in question was Los Hermanos Restaurant and Lounge where I had a really good burro (basically a burrito) and a Mexican beer (Negra Modelo). I won’t go into further detail as I forgot to bring my camera and so there is no evidence of either the burro nor the beer. How sad because both were good. Very good.

I don’t know how long we hung out at the restaurant but it was a while. It was a very nice and casual place to relax. That said, it was a somewhat long day so, after enjoying our leisurely dinner, we returned to the trailer to officially bring an end to the day. Okay, I may have stayed up for a few more hours to work on the computer – so many blog updates, so little time.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 99.51 km
Ride time: 5:07:15
Average speed: 19.43 km/h
Maximum speed: 45.10 km/h