Lordsburg, NM to Benson, AZ

Pictures:

1. “The Thing” the “mystery of the desert” was on about 30 billboards for over 200 miles.   Nothing else was said about it but it must be a big draw if it is advertised on so many billboards.   Amazing what curiosity will make people do.
2. This picture announcing my arrival in Arizona is one of my favorite pictures.   It has the welcome sign, Pear Cactus, a train, and seemed to capture my idea of AZ.
3. This picture was taken after a long, hot, afternoon climb to the top of a mountain.   There was a rest stop at the top called “Texas Canyon” (don’t ask why an Arizona Rest Stop would have Texas in a name cause I don’t know).   I will explain more below.
4. MG (Miracle Go) and I stopped at a rest stop early in the morning.   I try to ensure that all of my bottles stay as full as I can keep them since towns on the map may not really exist.
5. Of the sites I’ve passed in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, Arizona has the best scenery.   The roads are surrounded by mountains that just give the whole area character.    This was a rock formation I saw early in the morning and I wished I had a rock climber and some time to explore some of these hills.

Tough, tough day.   It started out good enough as the wind was behind me and I was again in my top gear letting the miles flow by.   This lasted about 45 minutes when Myriah (remember the wind) decided I was having too much fun and didn’t want to give me a pass two days in a row.   I was even thinking that I might try for South Tucson today which would have been about 140 miles – what was I thinking?

Myriah turned herself around and was in my face all day the early 15.5 or so average decreased over the entire day.   How tired was I?   When I was in the small town of Wilcox at the 75 mile mark I almost called it a day.   It had a KOA, food, restaurants, and my day would have been over.   Then I remembered I planned a 109 mile day, any mile I didn’t do today I would have to do tomorrow, and I thought maybe the wind would die down.

Rather than dying out Myriah redoubled her efforts the last 40 miles.   To make a bad situation worse the road started a gradually climb at about mile 80 that lasted 10 miles (or so it seemed).   I was going no faster than an anemic turtle, I was tired, and had a decision to make.   I could either pull into Texas Canyon Rest Stop and have a slug of Gatorade and some munchies or grind out the last 17 miles.   I choose (wisely I think) to stop at the rest stop.   The food and drink combined with a good ride “down” the hill into Benson worked great.

I decided to get some spaghetti at Denny’s.   When I asked that the waitress bring a little extra spaghetti she brought me another whole helping and a salad – Denny’s I love you!

Also got some great news yesterday.   An uncle and aunt that had been traveling are back at their Newport Beach residence.   He asked if I would like to recharge my batteries at his place for a couple of days – boy would I!!!!   So, I will swing up and around Tucson headed for Red Rock, AZ which is about 87 miles.    From that point I will wheel to the east on I-8 the following day bee lining it for the coast.    My LA target was just a city that was big enough so even my limited navigational skills couldn’t miss it.   Now that I have a real destination with “family” waiting, I have now turned into a guided missile and am very excited to arrive.

Need to go find a place to stay.   Heading to the Benson KOA to see how to get a tent site.

As always, may you enjoy the peace of the world and the wisdom of the ages.

Stories:

1. It is true that the deserts get cold at night.   I always thought this was really just a fiction where the 120 degree temperatures vary so much from the night time temperatures that people just said they were cold.   I found out differently today.   I checked the temperature this morning and it was fine, probably in the 60s.    I started on my trip and went down a short descent to the desert floor and the temperature dropped 10 or 15 degrees.   Not sure if this is due to the lower elevation or the winds that blow the heat away.   My belief that the desert sand held heat evaporated.
2. I saw it, I saw it – a dust storm!   It was really a miniature dust storm.   I was riding along when across the road the wind kicked up and I saw sand in a tornado form gathering dust and speed.    It then gushed across the road and dissipated.   I can see something like this on a grander scale really causing problems.