Well some of you know how the story ends....but for the record I will continue the saga and maybe we will all learn something along the way and even have a few surprises. I sure wish I had time to tell it all now. I am at the Intntl Hostel in san Diego. I have said good bye to my 2 companions and they are on their way home. Pete will be there already as he flew and Kim got on the train this afternoon. I rode the Coastal up the coast this afternoon after I saw her off. It was a great afternoon. I had lunch out on the pier at Rudy' and had a 50/50 milkshake...yum. Here is all I have time for. I promise I will catch up all of this when I get home...thank you all. It was so worth it and I am so glad I did it. I look forward to all the chats we can have when I get home. Thank you....c

April 16th Silver City NM to Buckhorn NM- 37 miles.

This chapter is titled " I found my Legs and Breath in New Mexico ". All of a sudden it is all easy. I will tell how and why in a bit. I talked to my Robert last night and again this AM. He is off to New Orleans for the marriage of our nephew Michael John Donnelly . Maddie is meeting her Dad there as is his brother Eddie. They will have a great time I am sure.

Breakfast this AM was oatmeal , I always have 2 pks, with pecans and extra sugar and a peach yogurt and an orange incamp. We then went to the 3 Dog cafe...this is hands down the BEST cafe I have ever ever been to . We all agree that Silver City is a great place. I have a large fresh drip coffee and a chocolae / orange scone. You will note I am always hungry :)

This is a short day to Buckhorn. We rode to Cliff NM 30 miles in 2 hr15 min. Great downhills and lots of ups. I was able to do all the ups in my 2nd chain ring ! Yeah. I rode alone all of this part. I pulled into a small store to get snack. This is a wprking garage and has only a very small selection of juice and drinks and crackers. There are 2 guys at the counter and when they see me they ask about out the ride and what I am doing. Then one of them asks, " but what do you do when it rains ?" I give him a quizzical look and say " get wet ???". Then we all laugh. I wait for Kim and Pete for 20 min. Kim had flat #7. rear this time. I buy a chocolate milk and stand outside and drink it and eat my bagel with pb and honey and also drink a pint of OJ. I end up with an hour of rest.

We ride on to Buckhorn. We are camping. There is nothing here but wind and quiet. There is a 40% rain chance and we get spme very strong rains tonight. I set my tent up under a large covered picnic area. I fear for my tents rain worthiness since it hates the wind. And we are having big wind. There is also a wash house , for want of a better name for it. It has a very stinky bathroom but the area with the washer and dryer is clean and dry and there are lots of magazines. We essentially camp out in here till the rain stops. We read the mags and cook our dinner in here. We also talk and laugh and have a generally fine time. I find a wonderful historic home for sale in Silver City in the newspaper. It is on 2 acres and has already been restored and dates from the late very early 1900's. I would love to see it...sigh.

Pete fixes 2 broken spokes on my one trailer wheel. He splints them with one of his spokes that he cuts in pieces. He then duct tapes them and uses to zip ties too. He is very inventive and one of the best companions to have on the trip. If he doesn't know how to fix something then it ain't fixable.

We had a great dinner in the wash house. I made an Uncle Ben's southwest dinner and added the usual red bellpepper and roma tomato also the can of chicken and herb de provence and a chunk of cabot cheddar I am carrying. We then walked to the store and looked at a rainbow. It stayed around longer than any I have ever seen. The atmosphere here is really conducive to rainbows. It started out double and then went to single , I don't think I have ever seen such vibrant colors. Again got a very small 200 ml bottle of JD> It seemed perfect for the rainy night. We talked till late and read magazines and then went to our tents. Slept great with the dripping of the raindrops on the roof of the shelter over my tent...nice and dry too !

Sat April 17th. Buckhorn to Safford 79 miles

Had a great breakfast again, oatmeal and pecans and sugar and honey and an orange. and another peach yogurt. We stopped for coffee and I had a pkg of pwd sugar donuts...Mark will remember a great bike ride around Lake Eufala that I powered with pwd sugar donuts and chocolate milk...long time ago . It works again.

We originally were going to ride a short day to Three Way...well that morphed into what you see above. Also had an incident with the repaired wheel . After Pete repaired it and I put it back on the trailer I made a mistake. I forgot to tighten the nut with the allen wrench. I was very lucky that the wheel fell off when I was going pretty slowly and not on one of the 25mph downhills that we encountered. Whew...I came to a stop and fell slowly over on the pavement. Nothing injured but my pride. Won't forget this again !

many of my climbs today were at 8-10 mph ...great legs and the grade of the roads is jus perfect. All is very beautiful along this route and I get some great pics of the wide open plains we pass and the hills. I love the way the clouds make shadows that chase across the hills. I get to out turning point and am waiting on Kim and Pete. I finally stop a passing car and he says they are changing a tire on one bike. I have to wait to hear that it was Kim...again....I think #8...losing count.

We rode on toward Mule Creek. The vistas are ever changing and I never tire of looking at the shades of browns and greens. The quiet is wonderful as there are very few cars out here. I stop to eat a pack of fig newtons. We start climbing now. These are called the Big Lue Mts. We entered AZ 6 miles before the pass. Apache Natl forest...I got a great pic. All of a sudden a thunder storm came up. It was icy cold. We pulled off the road and added clothes. We were going to wait it out but decided we were riding out of it , not into it so kept going. It lasted 30 min. Wonderful sun as we get out of the storm and we are quickly in sunny AX for sure. Rode 14 miles downhill to Three way. Had a roast beef and cheese sandwich and Nacho chips and a large OJ...I don't usually eat chips but if they look good I assume I need the salt.

Kim had flat 2 for the day...now at 9 I think. I gave her my only spare tire as her tire is no good and the patch on it is not holding...called a boot....so the tube is not holding either. I am glad I have a good tire for her that will fit and that I have been so lucky with my bike tires.

We decide to go on to Safford as we all feel good and want to get in the extra miles. It is only 35 miles and one peak to climb..ha ! It is an 8 mile climb abd takes me 1 hr 10 min. Then there is mostly down 25 miles to Safford. We arrive at 6 PM. We motel it at a Days Inn and eat at the Manor House...not very good but we are tired and the beer is cold. There is a wedding going on in the adjacent banquet room. They sure could use Robert for the music...ugh..it is awful ! We have discount tickets for the meal. We have to scratch off the words to see what we get. Pete gets a free app. which he shares with us. I get a 10 % dicount on the meal...Kim gets a free Kid's Meal. We ask if she can have it but they say we need to have a child...we are unable to get one to join us so she has to forget her plan to pack up the meal as a snack for tomorrow...bummer .

Sunday Apr 18th. 78 miles Safford to Globe

Rode Hwy 70 W. From Safford to Peridot we avg about 15 mph...were cruising at 20 mph a lot of the way. Great down hill and we had a rare tail wind. We then took 1 hr and 10 min to get over the mt. on the way to Globe. We rode through the Apache reservation from 10:30 Am to 4:30 PM. It wasn't bad at all. All the stories we had been told were terribly exaggerated. There was no glass on the road and no loose dogs. Also there were almost no people at all. We were told there were no services but that wasn't completely true either. We stopped At a wonderful grocery in Peridot . The Apaches were so friendly and loved our bikes. The grocery was beautiful and had large writing for each dept along the walls in their language. Every also was speaking in their native tounge. It was simply great. We got beautiful sandwiches from the deli and agian I got chips and a lrg OJ...great electrolyte replacement. Avg dropped to 13 mph and it was 6 hr riding time. The last 10 miles of the ride were awful.....AZ drivers hate us and they will do anything to run us off the road. I have never seen the like. ( as it turns out almost every mile we ride in AZ is this way) We stopped at the Safeway in town and got beer. Put it in my trailer...it is handy for that...remember that when you start to buy panniers ! LOL. A small surprise when we get to the campground..it has a portolet and nothing else. We had chatted with a lady in the grocery and she said her friend owns the campground . When asked if it was nice she said it was " adequate "...well that is one way to put it. When the manager of the small place sees our dismay he goes and gets the owner...she lives next door. She is charmed by us, I guess, and lets us use her early 1900's home as our bathing and laundry area. She gives us a tour of the small house, adjacent to the camping. She and her husband restored it 10 yrs ago. This town has many Victorians amd they have a tour of several of them every year...inside and out. Like what they do in Auburn . The lady is an artist and also teaches at a local college. She is quite good at still lifes and I especially like one that has dark purple in it...you know how I love purple. Anyway the campsite is by a creek and there are bats and it is very pretty...sleep great. I also got to talk to Maddie and she filled me in on the wedding. They had a great time. She is home safe as is Turtle. Fixed another rice dinner tonight and added vegs. also had Fat tire beer and the last of a small apple pie I bought earlier...it was mediocre...made with canned pie filling...

Monday April 19th Globe to Apache Jct 67 miles

Had a great breakfast in camp. I cooked an apple with cinnamon sugar in the water before I added the inst. oatmeal. Added pecans and honey and more sugar...nirvana. Had coffee at a diner as we usually do. We have a very big pass to get over on the way to Superior...I call it Serindipity all day and Kim likes that a lot . It will be a 17 mile . We leave at 8:29 and arrive at the "top of the world" at 9:45. 4600 ft. As we are going down now the AZ drivers as usual give us almost no room. It is very disconcerting as we are going 25-30 mph and have almost no room for any error. The climb was 7 miles and the down is 10 miles. We have a tunnel to go through. Pete and I are ahead...we stop at the side of the road...we look back and when we see no cars or trucks we race through...it is so frightening and exhilarating at the same time. We have almost no vision in the tunnel as the lights are dim and I forgot to take off my sunglasses....truly a memorable experience. As we stop on the other side Pete and I pull off onto the shoulder...I tell him I need to change my bike shorts ! He laughs as do I. I am very glad I never need to do that again. This area is the Tonto Natl Forest. We see the Bloody Tank Wash and Signal Mt. It is very hard to enjoy the scenery as at 40 mph you have to really watch the road every second. Kim does stop and gets a beautiful pic of the red rocks and has given it to me.

This area is called Copper Canyon. There is an open mine at the edge of town and it is in use. There are also lots of relics of by gone days in the area and we enjoy seeing them along the road. The main mine is in Miami AZ. When we got to Superior we had a second breakfast. We do that pretty often. Had a short stack and 2 eggs sunny side up and 5 strips of bacon. I was so hungry and the coffee was great. Talked to the waitress about the train I will be taking and she said she has family in Monroe LA and rides the train all the time and that I will really enjoy it.

We had 17 miles to Apache Junction and did it in 1 1/2 hrs. If the drivers would just give us a break. It was getting late and dark and it was a miserable ride into town. I did take a pic of a Saguaro cactus at the side of the rode...figured that the shape pretty much duplicated what I would like to flash at the drivers who are so inconsiderate. I will quit harping on this soon...as we leave AZ.

Kim and I went on to the bike shop and the guy fixed my spokes. His son also moved my seat and as an aside I never do get it set up the at the right height the rest of the trip. Will teach me that I need to mark it wih a hack saw on the metal so that it gets put back. We are staying at a very nice KOA and I get to swim 1/2 mile when I get back...it is SO NICE ! Also talked to Robert and to Collin. He is excited about the wine tasting they are having in Auburn at Gus's shop. He and Amanda have been in Opelika and are cooking up a storm. I also got a nice message from my girl...told her we are about 7 days from being done.

Tuesday April 20th- Apache Junction to Tempe 27 miles.

We are having a short day and taking a day off in Tempe. The drive in on Hwy 60 is so horrible I would never ever do it again. We deserve it. Motel 6 on Priest Rd has a pool. I talked to Robert and Collin and the wine tasting was a great success. I am so glad. Pete and I go for haircuts. He and I finally find a place...Grooming Humans Too. I get a great cut but after telling her the story of the haircut I got for free in Shepherd TX I think she decided to double the cost...$49 for this cut ! Most I have EVER paid. Oh well it looks and feels great. We then have lunch and go to the library. I wrote my last little bit to you all from there. I went swimming again here ...1/2 mile and Pete and I go out to Oregano and have a wonderful time and great Itl food. Kim has spent the day with a friend that lives here.

Wed April 21st. Day off. Kim and I go up to Old Scottsdale...it is really tacky and cheap. All the shops sell the same pseudo Indian stuff and they have high prices and "sales" every where. We don't stay very long. We do get a nice lunch though. The taxi driver tried to cheat us by driving us all over kingdom come on the way up here. We called him on it and refused to pay more than the 25.00 we knew it should have cost. He was nice enough about it and will hopefully thing twice next time. Then the bus driver messed us up with the route home...no more taxis and we walked along way for nothing...ah well...we will get out of AZ before too long. I did get to REI and got a rope for my tent stuff sack so I can close it now. Spent 1.06. They were very nice. Colllin and Amanda are headed back to TN.

Will need to finish this after I get back to Opelika...so now you know. I DID IT !! All of it....over 3100 miles....I leave tomorrow AM at 9:30 for home...more on the 5th when I get there....I love you all. c