Day 12 - Tombstone, AZ to Douglas, AZ

51.2 miles today

651.8 total trip miles

11.8 mph average

2132’ climbing

FF - 7

MP - my firstborn daughter Linda - nurse practitioner extraordinaire (soon to be PhD in nursing), she lived through Joanne & I learning to be parents.  I have always been able to have intelligent conversations with her & that has taught me a lot.

I feel like I’m repeating myself from yesterday, but today was another day of 2 distinct rides. Fortunately there was no rain, but like yesterday, the morning was a tough ride.  We climbed up to the Continental Divide near Bisbee on a cold & windy morning.  Here I am at the stone marker that shows the spot.  Notice the snowball on top of the stone.

We were told that a week ago they had 12” of snow.  Here is a picture from the Continental Divide down to the highway.

From that point, it was miles of downhill.  It reminded me of the planned bike ride down a mountain in Switzerland that I was never able to complete.  Long & winding, never pedaling, but using the brakes a lot.  It would have been more fun if there wouldn’t have been some sleet that made me nervous the road would get slick.

After that adventure we were in Bisbee, AZ, a town built around a huge copper mine.  Here are the remnants of that now defunct mine.

We had lunch in Bisbee, and after getting back on the bike had a 20 mile downhill into Douglas, AZ. That was the easiest riding of the trip so far.  Douglas is a border town & a local historian told us that 70% of the revenue in town comes from across the border.

WDYLT - ILT Honda is so serious about getting the defective airbags replaced in their cars that they have hired folks to go directly to people’s homes to do the job.  One of our riders does this as his retirement job.

Day 11 - East Tucson, AZ to Tombstone, AZ

75.1 miles today
600.6 total trip miles
11.2 mph average
3267’ climbing
FF - 9
MP - Bob Connolly, Mr Common Ground, The Instigator.  He hates seeing regular citizens taken advantage of in society, so works to empower them to level the playing field.  A great mentor for me & we worked together starting the Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative.

Bubba started the rider meeting tonight by saying “Congratulations, you have just participated in the most difficult day ever in C2C history.”  For me it was a tale of two rides - The Worst Ever & ‘Just’ a Hard Ride.  We started out the day with rain, a head wind & climbing a mountain.  For that I give it a Fatigue Factor of 11 out of 10.  When we reached our lunch point at mile 36, a number of bikers said “enough”, and no one blamed them.  We were all cold & wet.  But the map said we would be going downhill after lunch, so many of us decided to keep going.  The rain stopped & there was even a bit of sunlight, but it was still cold.  We were a little surprised at a number of hills climbing into Tombstone,  but with no rain they were less intimidating.  The afternoon gets an FF of 7, so overall the day averaged out to 9 for me.  We are staying in a hotel tonight, which is great because it’s way too cold to be in a tent.

No pictures this morning, but this afternoon I got a few.  One of the riders who rode in the car after lunch got this picture of me in the afternoon.

Here is some nice scenery with me off the bike in my full rain gear.

And here is a picture of the sign at the entrance to Tombstone

WDYLT - ILT The British Parliament rejected the latest agreement Theresa May negotiated with the European Union.  Hard to say what might happen next.

Day 10 - Catalina State Park to East Tucson, AZ

There is no day 9 post because it was a day off riding & I decided to take a day off posting too.  I had a great day because my daughter Laurie’s in-laws live in the area.  I got to stay with them & sleep on a regular bed instead of on an air mattress in a tent.  Adding to that were the presence of my wife Joanne & daughter Julie.  Today they start road tripping back to Raleigh, NC where Julie is teaching at NC State.  On Sunday we all went to the Desert Museum near Tucson.  I highly recommend it if you are in the area.

Here are today’s Statistics:

46.9 miles today
525.5 total trip miles
11.0 mph average
1463’ climbing
FF - 6
MP - my parents - Walter (RIP) & Audrey Wesp - they brought me into this world, trained, disciplined & nurtured me to be the man that I am.  I cannot thank them enough.

Today was a surprise.  It looked like an easy day on paper - 44 miles, mostly on bike trails around Tucson.  It started out great, there was a threat of rain, but was just overcast early & the sun came out late AM.  Joanne, Julie, and John & Carol Walsh came out to the trail in the late morning & saw me riding.  We stopped and had lunch together about 11 AM.  I had less than 20 miles to go after lunch & thought I would arrive before 2 PM.

But things kind of fell apart.  It is nice riding on a bike trail because there is no car traffic & crossing roads is eliminated because the trail goes under the road.  Tucson has a great set of trails all over town.  That is the good part.  The bad part is that when you are trying to get to a specific destination, the trails can be confusing.  Bubba marked the route we were supposed to take, but I haven’t met another rider who didn’t make at least one wrong turn.  I made 3.  It added a couple miles & about 1/2 hour to the ride, but increased the frustration level more than that.

Then there was the wind - at least 20 - 30 mph & mostly in the face.  All of that added up to more effort than expected.  In the last mile of the day there was road construction that reduced the road to 1 lane with no shoulder.  Bubba arranged that as a group of about 10 riders got to that point, he followed the group with his truck, trailer & emergency flashers going.  That was great & made it safe.

I did see some interesting things along the way - a blooming cactus

Here is a picture of the large gully that runs through Tucson.  Apparently at certain times it fill completely into a raging river.  Always mountains in the background.

And here is a picture of what our tent city looks like.

Ready for a good night’s rest & a longer day tomorrow.

WDYLT - ILT Milwaukee was awarded the 2020 Democratic Convention.

Day 8 - Casa Grande to Catalina State Park

57.8 miles today
478.6 total trip miles
11.9 mph
1115’ climbing
FF - 5
MP - my youngest daughter Val.  She is a free spirit who generally rejects conventional thinking, especially if it comes from the mouth of her father.  I have come to appreciate that!  She has large amounts of compassion for vulnerable people & a special concern for victims of domestic violence.

A much shorter day today, but still a fair amount of effort was required.  This was caused by a few things - rough roads & a persistent uphill terrain.  These weren’t steep hills, but needed consistent effort.  The desert was beautiful today

and I just had to stop & take a picture of what appeared to be a giant albino pig carcass on a train

Tomorrow is a day off & camp is set up at Catalina State Park outside of Tucson 

I have the privilege of staying tonight with my daughter Laurie’s in laws, John & Carol Walsh who live nearby, plus I get to see Joanne & daughter Julie who are going to be starting their road trip to North Carolina after spending the day with me tomorrow.

WDYLT -ILT one of the best things about living in the desert is that there isn’t any grass to cut.

Day 7 - Gila Bend, AZ to Casa Grande, AZ

89.8 miles today
420.8 total trip miles
15.1 mph avg
1131’ climbing
FF - 5
MP - John Lehnerz & family -  John & I are brothers from different mothers.  We’ve worked together at St Frances Cabrini Parish on a wide variety of youth ministry & other parish activities.  I can always count on John to keep my focus on serving God in all that I do.

Today was a strange day on this C2C ride.  We expected sunshine & mid 60’s weather.  We got overcast, with a 20 mph wind from the Southwest.  You would thing with this trip going west to east, a southwest wind should make pedaling easier.  Unfortunately about 20 miles of our route today was going south!  That was a tough slog into the headwind.  When we turned back heading east it seemed like the wind died down, until I stopped to take a picture & felt it as strong as ever.  Just seems to die down when it’s pushing me along I guess.  Overall I ended up with my fastest avg mph of the trip on the day with the most miles so far, and I’m really not that tired.

Interesting things today:

We really entered the cactus region of Arizona

There is more than one kind of cactus plant

There can be beautiful cloud formations before sunset & if you look carefully you can see a hawk in the blue sky

WDYLT - ILT My recumbent bike has a real advantage when there is a tail wind.  I was passing people today that I never have on the trip so far.

Day 6 - Dateland, AZ to Gila Bend, AZ

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!  Today was a great way to spend my birthday #66.

53.7 miles today
331 total trip miles
14.1 mph avg
285’ climbing
FF - 1
MP - My sister Jean, her husband Ron & their family.  Jean & I were the two siblings closest in age as we were growing up.  Maybe that’s why we fought the most with each other as kids.  Now that we have matured, we get along fine.

Today was a perfect day to go for a bike ride - some cloud cover, not too hot, good roads, not a difficult distance.  That is why I feel little or no fatigue.  We rode over half the distance on I-8 & the shoulder was real good.  Arrived in our destination city in time to eat lunch here.  Gila Bend has a real interesting sign at the entrance to the city

I did see the 1st cactus of the trip, but wasn’t able to get a picture.  Word is that we are entering cactus country, so I hope to share some pic’s soon.

Also saw the best sunset of the trip so far:

Bubba has a tradition of serving cake for everyone who has a birthday, and the group sings happy birthday, so I felt right at home.  This group is definitely feeling more & more like family every day. For the 1st birthday of every trip, Bubba has also taught himself to sing Happy Birthday backwards.  I have decided that I will dedicate myself to learning how to do it, so if I get invited to your birthday party, I will do it for you.

WDYLT - ILT the Spotted Cow Beer that I brought along is a big hit with the Coaster’s.  There is only 1 other person from Wisconsin on the trip, but I’ve already had about 20 folks who knew about this Wisconsin beer & were thrilled I brought some.

Day 5 - Yuma, AZ to Dateland, AZ

71.9 miles today
277.3 total trip miles
13.7 mph avg
672’ climbing
FF - 3
MP - AD Carson from Recycled Recumbents.  I bought my 1st 2 recumbent bikes from him, he introduced me to the idea of a C2C bike ride & has a great slogan - “The best bike for you is one you will ride”

Today we biked through the Salad Bowl of America.   Irrigated by the Colorado River, this region grows vegetables all year around.  It goes on for miles, with mountains in the background.  We even saw a crew harvesting cabbages.  Ten or so people picked the cabbages by hand &set them on a conveyor machine that moves through the field with them.  The conveyor feeds a device that takes off the outer shell & deposits the head into a truck that is also moving along with them.

It was interesting to see all the different colors of green for the different crops as we rode through here.

Once we got past there, we really entered the desert.  Fortunately there was some cloud cover today, so the sunburn situation is getting better.  Roads were a little rough in places today (nothing like yesterday), but we finished the last 10 miles on I-8 & the shoulder was much smoother today.  Overall a pretty easy day even though this was our most mileage of the trip so far.

We are staying tonight in Dateland, AZ, home of the world famous date shake. (I never heard of them before now, so I don’t know how world famous they really are).  This is our 1st night of camping outdoors & it is a beautiful night to be in a tent.

WDYLT - ILT the world famous date shake tastes okay, but I still prefer something chocolate based.