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.

Day 4 - Calexico, CA to Yuma, AZ

67.6 miles today
205.4 total trip miles
12.7 mph avg
702’ climbing
FF - 5
MP - My brother Bob & his whole family.  We’ve been business partners since 1989.  It’s rare for such a partnership to work as well as it has . . . and we are still good friends too.

This shouldn’t have been a hard day when you look at the distance & the climbing, but road conditions & too much sun caused my FF to jump up to 5.  As I mentioned yesterday in the WDYLT, I got some sunburn on my face so I really decided to lather up with the suntan lotion.  Problem was that as I perspired it ran in my eyes & burned.  I was still able to see, but it was quite uncomfortable.

The road conditions involved rough pavement.  One of the places we stopped today is a tourist destination called “The Center of the World”.   I would call it a tourist trap.  This is the most interesting thing I saw there.

Bubba warned us that the frontage road we would take to get there has the worst road conditions of our whole trip. What he didn’t tell us is that the shoulder of I-8 that we rode on for a couple of miles before the frontage road was just as bad.  If the freeway shoulder would have been like that when we descended the mountain yesterday, it would have been a rough day.  In the end I think that in order to get to The Center of the World you have to go through Hell.

Lots of desert to see today & huge sand dunes along the highway.  Wish I could have enjoyed it more, but that was tough with my eyes burning.  I rode the last 7 miles through the City of Yuma with 4 other riders & it was a good thing because we needed all of us to navigate it.  Lots of turns & traffic.  There was a nice bridge overlook.

Made it safely & ready to rest up for another day.  Had the City of Yuma historian give us a presentation on Yuma tonight after dinner . . . .  So -

WDYLT - ILT the high school mascot for Yuma is The High Criminals, so named because at one time the high school used an abandoned prison in town for some of their classrooms.

Day 3 - Jacumba, CA to Calexico, CA

53.8 miles today
137.8 total trip miles
14.7 mph avg
757’ climbing
FF - 2
MP - Our Marriage Enrichment Family - the Briggs’s, Centenario’s, Goetter’s, Reesman’s, Sardegna’s & Schommer’s.  Joanne & I have been sharing faith, along with the joys & struggles of married  & family life with these great friends for over 30 years.

What a difference a day makes!  The morning started out a bit cool (55 degrees), but before long we were in the 70’s.  That is because we came down off the mountains we have been climbing since the start of this ride.  We got back on I-8, and for 10 miles never had to pedal.  Did have to use the brakes though.  There were some high winds & sometimes they were cross winds so I didn’t let the bike get over 30 mph.  After that we got on a good state highway that was still mostly descending, but not as steeply.  I had a nice surprise when John Walsh, Laurie’s father-in-law, stopped to see me at one of our rest stops.  Interesting what the sign behind John & I says - "No Cross Country Travel".  Hope I don't get arrested!

 

Interesting highlights for the day:

We biked through the Yuha desert and it was in full bloom.  Gave me a whole new perspective on desert.  I also saw the most prolific crop for desert farmers - solar power.  Solar panels were located along the road we were on for at least 5 continuous miles.  There were some windmills, but solar ruled the day.

I often saw the US-Mexico border fence on the ride & tonight we are staying at a school in Calexico, CA that is right across the street from the border.  90% of the students live in Mexico & cross over every day for school.  Here I am at the border in Calexico.

WDYLT- ILT if you live in Wisconsin & go south in March, it doesn’t seem to matter how much sunscreen you put on.  I am tied for 1st with the most sunburn.