Woke this morning to a nearby car alarm going
off…then I heard the birds and the traffic. There wasn’t a lot of light coming
through the vent yet so I think it was early…I was able to doze back off for a
bit anyway and then woke up again at 8.
Stepped outside to warm sunshine and a slight breeze…I could used to
this.
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Kim
started the laundry right when he got up so we had to hang around camp until
that was done. Got the rest of the
postcards written so it wasn’t wasted time.
We wanted to take advantage of the weather and get a bike ride in…the
bicycles could wait until later. Decided
to ride to Oracle, AZ, for lunch. It’s
about 55 miles away so the timing would be almost perfect. I know from experience that there’s a little
pizzeria in Oracle that serves the BLT that holds the #1 ranking on my Top Ten
BLT List. Although now that I think
about it, calling it a Top Ten List is silly because I can’t remember beyond #2
(a little café in West Yellowstone, Idaho in 2011) and #3 (a diner on the Glenn
Highway in Alaska in 2013). All the rest
have been good BLTs but nothing makes them stand out. So I’ve just reduced it to a Top Three List…and
all spots are taken. 😉 I’ve eaten BLTs
all over the country and the one in Oracle is all about the homemade bun and
oregano sprinkled in the lettuce. So, so tasty!
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My
bike has the navigation screen, which I was hesitant to use earlier in the trip
because I couldn’t get it to shut up last year.
But it’s going okay so far and I’m learning the ins and outs of it. Still haven’t figured out how to make Biker
Girl (the mechanical GPS lady) talk louder but she does give me a readout of the
next traffic direction on the bottom of the screen so her silence hasn’t been
an issue…but she does cut out the music when she talks, so there’s that. Anyway, Zeus came equipped with Biker Girl so
if we use her to navigate then Kim wants me to ride lead, which makes sense but
it’s out of my comfort zone. I really
prefer to follow.
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We took
a new route to Oracle…down the frontage road to E. Park Link Rd, then to AZ 79,
which we call the ‘Tom Mix Road’ because the Tom Mix Monument is located on it.
Kim is not so tuned into the actual road
names so we’ve developed a habit of finding a memorable attribute of a
particular route/place and renaming it…that way we both know what we’re talking
about. Taking this route was definitely
shorter than going the Coolidge route and picking up the Tom Mix Road in Florence…and
it had a fair amount of good curves. Stopped once to get some pictures of a saguaro
with a nest built in the crook of it many arms.
Talk about being protected from predators. 👍 It was
large and somewhat deep due to the space available. It was made of some sturdy sticks, too…not
feathers, string, twigs or any typical bird nest building material. There were no birds around to either confirm
or dispel me of the notion that it was a hawk nest, so that’s what I’m going
with. Too big for any of the typical
birds we’ve seen flitting around and not big enough for an eagle…and anyway, I
haven’t seen any eagles around here.
Seen plenty of hawks, though.
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Since
the day was so nice and we didn’t have any other plans, we decided to take the
long way back to camp. Northwest to
Superior, AZ, then a more southern route to Florence/Coolidge and then back to
Picacho. Kim was in front part of the
way and I just told him the next traffic direction over the communicators. The
road from Winkelman to Superior (AZ 177) was through some mountains…roads where
twisty and hilly, not my favorite…and because I stopped to take a picture,
Kim managed to get me in front again. At
one point, there was a sign indicating a 10% downhill grade up ahead…oh, shit! The road was a pass cut through the part of a
mountain and as I rode up through the pass, the wind picked up and then there
was that brief moment at the top where I couldn’t see the road ahead because I
hadn’t crested the hill yet…you know, that instant where there’s sky and not
any road yet? And I didn’t know if the
road would continue straight out of the pass, curve to the left or curve to the
right…it was a blind hill and it reminded me of riding up to the top of that
first drop on a roller coaster. Not a
fan of riding lead, not a fan of twisties and not a fan of roller coasters. That was three strikes and I was already
planning to get back in my comfort zone as soon as I could. I know I didn’t ride down that twisty 10%
grade as fast as Kim or the cars behind us would have but I have to ride my ride. Next time we’re in the mountains, I’m not
stopping to get a picture of anything.
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The elevation
of Picacho is 1,614’…the elevation of Oracle is 4,524’…the elevation of
Winkelman is 1,969’…the elevation of Superior is 2,888’…the elevation of Coolidge
is 1,427’. It was an up and down kind of
day but sunny and warm throughout. 🌞 When leaving Oracle, we both put our jackets on because of a breeze but it didn’t
take long before we headed downhill, the temperature rose to 87o and
the jackets came off. It stayed in the
80s most of the way home.
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Through the mountains between Winkelman and Superior, there is a huge mining
operation. Neither of us saw any signs
about what type of mining was being done.
I eventually saw a road sign that gave me something to look up later…Ray
Mine Rd. So naturally I started by
Googling ‘Ray Mine’ and here’s what Wikipedia tells me: The Ray Mine is a large copper
mine located in Arizona, in the southwestern part of the United
States, currently owned by Asarco. Ray represents one of the largest copper reserves in
the United States and
in the world, having estimated reserves of 1 billion ton of ore grading 0.5%
copper in 1998. It is located in Pinal County, near the town of Kearny.
So now I know…and the mining
operation is what I stopped to take a picture of that put me in the lead on a
10% downhill grade. Just sayin’…..
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We spent the core
of the day out on the bikes…got back to camp and just hung out before deciding
to take a bicycle ride. However we cut
it too close to sundown again…the last mile or so we were riding in low light. Need to keep that in mind for these evening
rides. Tonight we didn’t take a long
ride but any exercise is better than no exercise, right?
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Kim is out imaging…came in to put his winter
coat on because a cool breeze has sprung up.
I can hear it whistling around the door as I’m sitting in the
trailer. The next couple of days are
only supposed to be in the low 70s but sunny.
Still will be good to be outside.
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Bicycle miles today: 4
Bike miles today: 180
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