Tuesday, March 29
Made a run to a
grocery store in the little town of Eloy yesterday. On the bakery counter, I saw ‘Mexican
bread’…it was soft, looked good and intrigued me. The girl behind the counter was bagging goods
up for quick sale, so I grabbed a bag to add to our cart. Not knowing what the ‘bread’ tasted like (looked
like a cross between a sweet roll and corn muffin), I knew it wouldn’t be a
total waste of money because not only were there 4 pieces of bread, but also
two gingerbread cookies in the bag. We
each had a piece of bread while playing cribbage last night…it was quite tasty! Since I couldn’t quite determine what the
overriding taste was, I decided to google Mexican bread. Well, it turns out there are a number of
types of Mexican bread, but by looks, I think I narrowed it down to ‘Conchas’,
a type of sweet bread. Conchas (shells) are known for their shell-like shape and
sugar shell pattern on the top. This is one of the most famous Mexican pastries
and widely recognized in the United States. It is also referred to as "pan
de huevo". Found a recipe but it
looked like it would make a large quantity…or at least too much for just Kim
and me.
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The grocery store we were
at yesterday didn’t have price scanners; the clerks entered the item’s
price. Our possibly 15 year old clerk
didn’t know the price of the 6-pack of 7-UP that Kim had grabbed. He went back to find the price…$4.99. The clerk muttered ‘Ooh, that’s
expensive.” Then as she continued with
our items, she smiled at me and shyly said, “I gave it to you for $3.99.” That was sweet of her, but I wonder if the
store turns a profit.
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The trailer was comfy and
we were cozy under just a sheet and a blanket.
Sometime in the early morning, though, I woke up feeling chilled but
that was easily remedied by pulling on a sleeping bag. Problem solved!
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Last year I recorded each
of the talking WonderKids (Cullen, Isla, Ashlyn and Grady) saying “Gramma, pick
up the phone” and made it my ring tone. Always makes me smile when I hear it. Well, this morning it
was somewhat disorienting as I awoke to hear Cullen saying ‘Gramma, pick up the
phone’. I scrambled and answered it just
as Isla started telling me the same. The caller was a lady
telling me that I qualified to have my student loans forgiven. Now I might have been excited about that if
I had any student loans...but as it was only 6:15 a.m., I just
hung up and went back to sleep.
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Woke to a cloudy and
darkish sky; the temperatures were right in line with cloudy and dark. By the time we checked Google maps to see
where we might go today and then checked the weather in that area, the clouds
were easing up some and the temperature was rising. So we did the checklist:
Extra jacket….ü Gloves….ü Chaps.…ü Rain
gear….ü Then let’s ride!!
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In the past, Kim
has used a blue tooth earpiece to hear the directions from the map app on his
phone. Between the rumble of the bike
and the noise of the wind, his current earpiece is hard to hear. I don’t have any such thing…I don’t think I’d
want Rapunzel talking to me as I ride.
When in the car, I usually mute her because her voice annoys me. Anyway, because we’re just doing day trips, we’ve
mostly been relying on the map in my head.
I study the route we’ve planned and it sorts of sticks in my head. I have mucked it up a time or two, but with a
quick update from Rapunzel we get back on track. Of course, this puts me in the
lead when I prefer to follow. I navigate
until we get on a long stretch of road, then I ease over to the outside lane
which lets Kim know I want him to take the lead. I like that we’ve developed a non-verbal way
of communicating when riding. Of course,
riding together for over 50,000 miles will do that.
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We headed
southwest toward Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The first 40 miles or so were chilly because
we were climbing in elevation just a bit and it was still cloudy. But as the clouds cleared and we headed more
southerly, it warmed up. Ultimately a
great day for riding, just had kind of a shaky start. J
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While we were
heading toward Organ Pipe, we didn’t quite make it there…and we’re okay with
that. It was a day of stopping….to take
pictures, to check out roadside memorials, to get up close and personal with
several varieties of cactus, and to stop and talk to the Border Patrol at a
Border Checkpoint. Due to the time of
day, the distance back to camp and the fact that we hadn’t eaten and wanted to,
we decided to turn right at the Ajo (pronounced Ah-ho) junction, instead of
left, and continued on back toward civilization.
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Our route today
took us across the Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation. A road less traveled by regular folks, but
traveled a plenty by the U.S. Border Patrol.
Came across two Border Checkpoints…one on the way to Ajo and one on the
way to Gila Bend (we rode in a big loop today). Before we’d gotten to the first checkpoint,
we’d been passed by about 5 border patrol vehicles and they weren’t going slow. Then we noticed two helicopters circling to
the south of us. Eventually saw that
they were taking turns flying low enough in a big dirt area to create a huge
dust storm….didn’t touch down, just stirred up dust, over and over. So when we got to the first checkpoint, Kim
stopped to ask what that was about.
Guard said something about the Air Force Range over to the west ran
training exercises around the area. Then
I asked about the ornate memorials we saw alongside the road…he said that the
memorials marked where a highway death had occurred, which is fairly typical in
a lot of states; and also that the ornateness was a cultural custom of the
tribe. Most of these memorials are well
cared for, but some aren’t. We came
across one which had a large cross set in concrete and possibly 10 smaller
crosses set around it. Not all the crosses
were in good repair, some had blown over and there were pieces of crosses
strewn about. If each cross marked one
fatality, then that had to have been a horrendous accident. But then again, maybe it was multiple people
honoring one person. And there were no
names that we could see connected with the memorials. Just an
interesting feature of our day.
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The campground
uses various types of cactus in its landscaping and there is a huge/tall
saguaro by the office area. That is all good
and well, but I wanted to see a saguaro up close in the ‘wild’. About 20 miles into our ride today, the saguaros
made an appearance. Of course, they were
behind a fence that ran along the road, so we couldn’t stand next to one but
they were still fun to look at. Some
stood tall with ‘arms’ stretching upward…a perfect specimen that could be used
in an advertisement. However, the
majority had character flaws….droopy arms, twisted arms, broken arms, holes
that were turning brown, short and stubby instead of tall, etc. Again, I had the urge to take too many
pictures….and if I was in the truck, I would have happily snapped away out the
window. However, on the bike, that’s not
so easy. We did enough stopping to take
pictures of various roadside memorials that I had to rein myself in on the
cactus front. They were everywhere and
we’d have gotten nowhere if I’d given in to the impulse to stop every time I
saw an interesting one. So I had to be
satisfied with taking mental pictures and giving them personalities. I saw a few that had their arms posed in such
a way that they looked graceful, like dancers or ice skaters about to start a
routine. Another had such droopy,
twisted arms that it looked like it was giving itself a hug. Others, with their arms raised at an angle, looked
like opera singers hitting a sustained high note. One, which had arms angling out to the side
with little growths on the end, was surrounded by smaller cacti…it looked like
a choir director, telling the choir to hold that note. My imagination was on overdrive as we rode
along. Then we passed one that was
accessible and seemed like the perfect specimen for a self-timer picture…tall,
noble looking, all arms in good shape, etc.
So we stopped for a bit and admired the weird intricate beauty of the
different varieties of cactus. Doesn’t
get old for me…. J
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Rode about 240
miles today….left at 11 a.m. and got back about 7:30. The sun had set, it was dark and getting
chilly, but it was a good ride!
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