Saturday, February 4, 2012

I thought Arizona was warm??

We finally made it into AZ, although I'm not quite sure we really wanted to leave NM. NM has been my favorite state by far. The scenery, weather, and people all combined to make it a wonderful state for us. Our hosts in El Paso were telling us it is one of their favorite states to ride through and I can see why now. We absolutely loved everything about it. It was a little cold at times but that is really the only thing I can find to complain about the state. I wish we could have spent more time in and seen more. Oh well, on to AZ. We crossed the AZ/NM border yesterday on our ride. We started the ride yesterday in Silver City, NM. We slept great that night at the B&B there. We woke up and had several pots of really strong coffee and watched the other guys on TV. It was a very relaxing morning. I always feel that I bike better that day if the morning is nice and calm and if I can start it with some caffeine. The weather was really good that day. It was a pretty steep climb out of Silver City but then most of the rest of the ride was downhill. These areas are really really desolate out here. There are no towns, stores, or cell phone service. You could forget you are in the states. Long, lonely roads surrounded by hills and mountains. We haven't seen that much wildlife, which could be a good thing. There are some things our here that we really don't want to see. The scenery was really awesome yesterday. We rode in the valleys of large mountains all day and had some rolling hills. I can't believe how long the roads here appear. They seem to stretch on forever. You can't even really see where they end. They roll and bend into the distance. We stopped and took a couple of breaks and ate out of the trailer since there were no food stops. We made sure to conserve water since we wouldn't be able to refill until the next day. We ended the day just over the AZ border in a USFS campground. We are entering the Apache wilderness. Wilderness camping last night. We may have been the only people for 20 miles in either direction which was kind of cool I thought. One of the quietest places I have ever been. From the time we set up camp we did not hear a sound. There was no wind, no people, no animals. Almost kind of eery. Natalie had a cold so she did not sleep well which meant I really didn't sleep that well either being in such close proximity to each other. I think this was our coldest night. Got down to 20 or below maybe since we were around 6,000 feet of altitude and we were in a valley (which tend to collect cool air). We were both so cold. I don't normally get that cold but I was freezing last night. Our water bottles were frozen solid when we awoke and they were sitting inside the tent! Tent was completely covered in frost. We started the ride this morning both of us shivering. We had a climb coming out of the valley which warmed us up quite a bit. We went through a pass with awesome views of all the mountain ranges around but it was still so cold. We went downhill for the next 20 miles then uphill for the next 10 and then downhill for the next 22 all the way to Safford. That was pretty nice but a little cold when you're not pedaling so hard. The roads were breathtaking. Winding switchbacks and really steep grades the whole way down. Going about as fast as the cars were. That is always fun! Ended up staying in Safford with a very nice host family. Spent the rest of the day inside just trying to warm up. They back up to Mt. Graham which is a behemoth of a mountain that rises out of the desert to 10,000 feet. Beautiful view right out of their backyard. I am told it is the largest elevation gain in the shortest amount of time in anywhere in the states. I can believe it looking at the mountain. A friend in Tucson recommended we ride it when we're here but looking at it now I just have to laugh. No way! We are exhausted and cold. Hopefully AZ will warm up on us. We are laying over a day here in Safford so we can watch the superbowl and then it will be on to Tucson. We should be there by Tuesday. Traveling to Globe on Monday. Pray for warmer weather. Its too cold here even for us northerners. Still having fun. Keep getting flats on the trailer though. Starting to bother me a bit. San Diego is getting closer though! Can't wait to be there. Internet is not fast enough to post pictures. Will do that later. Also will post pictures on a different website when I have time in Tucson so those w/o FB can view them.

~Drew

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