Day 10 - Take Me To Church

We left Tonto Basin at around 6:00 AM and headed east on Rt. 188. We found a great diner for breakfast that had the greatest omelettes and then we went to church. When I say church I mean we rode through some of the most beautiful landscape I had seen so far. Roosevelt Lake was on our left and the cactus covered mountains were on our right. I really believe God was at this place enjoying the beauty He created. We seem to feel something special as we made our way through this area. 

( Pat, Dick, James, Dale and Brian) 

The first 26 miles flew by and everyone was in great spirits. 

At our first rest stop we discussed the looming 7 mile climb just up ahead. We knew it would be a formidable 6% grade peddle and it proved to be just that. To compound matters we had a stiff head wind that slowed us down even more. I was feeling good and made the first part of the climb in good time. As we began the second part of the hill Brian had a flat. It would be one of three for him this day. Our good progress slowed to a crawl. 

(Brian changing one of his flats)

The scenery changed at the higher altitude and we saw no more of the large saguaro cactus that seemed to stand guard over us as we traversed most of our Arizona ride. We finally rolled into Globe, Arizona more than 2 hours later than I had hoped. Tonight we are camping at a community park and this is the first night I've had a chance to sleep in my hammock. I hope all goes well and I don't fall out.

Tomorrow we have a 70 mile day that should be easy, but who knows. Easy days can become hard days just with a slight wind direction change.

(Wildflowers along the road where Brian had his 3rd flat.)

Stay Tuned