Day 5 - Generosity in Arizona

I'm sitting in the Arizona desert under a blanket of stars. All is great on day 5. Finally cooked on my little stove. I made a pasta carbonara and James from England gave it his somewhat skeptical approval. I thought it was pretty good but I would. I was starving by the time we ate.

The day started with an All American breakfast at The Golden Arches. The ride today was 60 miles and I decided to ride at a moderate to slow pace and recover from the grueling ride yesterday. The ride was a little dangerous at times as we road on Interstate 10. Big trucks whizzed by and at times they seemed uncomfortably close. There was more climbing than I expected but the grades were manageable although very long. The temperature stayed at about 100 degrees as we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona. It's seems as though the minute we entered the new state the vegetation changed and we were welcomed by the large saguaro cacti.

As we hit mile 45 most of us began to suffer from the heat. We were in the middle of nowhere and sitting all alone in the desert was a small Mexican restaurant. We stopped to buy water but the young woman at the counter would not accept money and insisted that we just take it. I've been overwhelmed by the kindness that has been shown to us by the people of the southwest. We finished our ride with a long gradual climb to on KOA campground. We immediately set up and headed to the pool. There we met Mark from Alaska who stays with his wife at the KOA during the winter months. He offered to take us to town and bought us 2 cases of beer. He said that this was his donation to our cause even though he donates to the MS foundation every year. His sister passed away from this crippling muscle disorder. This trip has already shown me that goodness is the norm and not evil in this great country of ours. Mark even stopped by later in the evening as we played poker.  

Today was a great day. Tomorrow we have a 56 mile ride and the rumor is that it's down hill. Stay tuned.  

Dick is from Boston. He's 69 years old and an extremely strong rider. He's been helping us quite a bit with the tough parts of the ride.