Where Arizona Ends and California Begins

Hello again from near the end of the road. I'm now in Wenden, Arizona, which is a couple days of riding and thirty degrees of heat away from Prescott. We headed out from mile-high Prescott, climbed up about another thousand feet and then proceeded to drop about four thousand feet over the next fifty miles or so. Now, I was still feeling somewhat weak, and I'm normally all for downhills. However, when you're in the desert, descending also means adding five to ten degrees for every one thousand feet, so needless to say it was quite hot by the time we got to our destination of Wickenberg, it was a little on the warm side. The water in my camelbak tasted sort of like it was coming out of a microwave, ready for a tea bag to be added for a nice morning cup of Earl Grey. Fortunately, I don't really mind the heat, but it was nice to have a short ride and get in early. The Assembly of God Church in the town was quite nice, and we spent the afternoon there resting and watching Forrest Gump. That night, we had an awesome lasagna dinner with sweet tea (!!!) and then headed to bed in anticipation of an early wakeup today to avoid the heat.

Today was pretty much a flat ride through the desert without too much to see. At one point we passed through a town that was so small that you could see the other welcome sign from the welcome sign where you were standing. We were all glad when we finished the ride and arrived at the elementary school here in Wenden, which is quite nice and has a computer lab that they were kind enough to let us use, so I get to write a post from a computer for a change! Tomorrow we will cross our last state line and head into California, which is crazy to think about. To me, it doesn't seem like I'm that far from home, but when I look at a map, I realize that I've come a long way. If only there were a way to prolong the trip, I would be all for it, but I am starting to miss sweet tea, a bed, and all of my friends and family, so it will be nice to be home. I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Desert, Inverse Mountains, and Very Large Rocks

Arizona has been quite an interesting state so far. We first started
to hit the Arizona-style landscape when we left Durango and headed to
Cortez, CO. My friends and I unfortunately passed up the chance to go
to Mesa Verde, a collection of ancient cliff dwellings, because we
didn't know what it was, but that just gives me yet another reason to
bike in Colorado again sometime in the future. At least we did get
Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzards, the much anticipated Blizzard of the
Month at DQ, before the day was up.

From Cortez, we headed down to Four Corners for a photo op on the way
to Red Mesa, Arizona, which was basically just a high school and a
health care center in the middle of nowhere. The next few towns we
would stay in were on the land of the Navajo Nation, which I found out
is actually about half the size of Texas. The area is wrought with
poverty because the Navajo Nation does not allow people to own land
but rather gives out grazing rights to families, which greatly limits
the upward mobility of the Navajo people. It was definitely a rough
place to be.

The next town we rode to was Kayenta, where Father Jerry was kind
enough to open up his church to us and talk with us about our
adventures and other groups that had stayed at the church. That
afternoon, we went on a tour of Monument Valley, the famous collection
of rock formations used in old westerns, car commercials, Mission
Impossible 3, Back to the Future 3, and Forrest Gump. It was a pretty
amazing site to see.

The next day we headed toTuba City, a small town on the Navajo
Reservation. We stayed at the Assembly of God Church there and got a
chance to talk with a lot of locals while we were doing a bike clinic
and then eating dinner. The next morning, the church provided us with
a great breakfast before we hit the road again.

Our ride on this day was only supposed to be 57 miles to the Grand
Canyon, but unfortunately the National Parks Service hates us and
wouldn't let us stay there, so we had to ride an extra thirty miles to
another campsite just outside the park. However, it worked out well
because it meant that we got to spend the entire afternoon riding
through the Grand Canyon and stopping at every overlook we passed. The
Canyon was beautiful beyond anything that I could have imagined. At 9
miles across and about a mile deep, it was almost impossible to stare
into the canyon without losing all concept of just how big it was. The
park itself was also pretty impressive, with a free shuttle system
running through all thirty miles of the park and to the closest town,
a visitor center, and a village with everything that you could
possibly imagine, from a post office to a supermarket. I guess when it
costs 25 dollars per car to get into the park, you can provide a lot
of services. As soon as we got to the campsite where we were staying,
it began to pour the rain, so we quickly set up tents and tarps,
cooked dinner, and headed to bed.

From the Grand Canyon, we headed down the road to Williams, AZ, an old
Route 66 town with lots of classic shops and diners. Dave at the local
Baptist Church provided us with a place to stay and some hot dogs to
snack on. We spent most of the day trying to clean up the mess that we
had made while camping and then started getting ready for the big
competition the next day.

I woke up feeling quite sick but decided to just try to bike through
it, since I desperately wanted to avoid riding in the van and also
wanted to participate in the game that was going on during the ride.
Basically, Dan Oates, one of the leaders, and some friends set up this
game for us to do during the day called Barrel, which was essentially a
combination of a scavenger hunt and a bike race. Some of the
challenges included getting arrested, having a police escort, paying
for a snack in all pennies, taking a photo with a mayor, and obtaining
the shirt off of a local's back. Needless to say, it was a fun
morning. Unfortunately, I started feeling more and more sick and by
the time we got to lunch, I couldn't ride anymore because of an
extremely high fever and had to ride in the van the rest of the way to
Prescott.

Today we have a build day here in Prescott, which seems to be a really
nice town, with a huge downtown area of small shops and restaurants
and a large park. Unfortunately I was too sick to go to the build site
today and had to stay behind, but hopefully I will be feeling better
by tomorrow and will be ready to ride to Wickenberg. It's hard to
believe that we only have seven more days of riding before we arrive
in San Diego. The trip has flown by so quickly, and we are all sad to
see it end, but it will give a great sense of accomplishment to arrive
at the Pacific.

Why don't we just stay here?

Well, after cycling through a good portion of Colorado, there is little doubt in my mind that this is the most beautiful state in which I have ever traveled. When we left Gunnison for another long day in the breathtaking Rockies, we were afraid that the rain that poured outside would remain with us all day and ruin our ride around Blue Mesa Lake. Fortunately, it cleared up after only a few miles, and we were left with only rainbows and mist rising from the river as we headed on our way. Soon, we arrived at Blue Mesa Lake, or as Emily calls it, "The Lake of Unspeakable Beauty," a name that could not be more appropiate. Imagine a gorgeous lake, filled with cool, crisp, mountain water, and then surround that lake with gorgeous peaks and place river gorges on either side. That is Blue Mesa Lake. It's amazing. After leaving the lake area, we started our climbing for the day, which was not too strenous but not too bad. To keep ourselves occupied on the ascents, Claire, Dan, and I started to fabricate the life of Michael Crichton. Our conversations went something like this:
"Michael Crichton was the president of what club his junior year at Westchester school of the arts?"
"Umm... Chess?"
"Wrong! Flamenco Dancing!"
And on it went until we had created his entire life, from his hometown to his marriage status to his hobbies, favorite foods, vehicle, and miniature golf addiction. It made the hills go by a lot faster. The rest of the ride was fairly pleasant, with a descent into a town and then a gradual climb over the next 30 miles to Ouray, probably one of the most amazing towns I have ever seen. The town is situated in a valley at an elevation of a little under 8,000 feet, and on three sides of the town sheer rockfaces capped with snow stretch up to close to 12,000 feet in height. It was absolutely beautiful.

Out of Ouray, we climbed about 3,500 feet right away on the "Million Dollar Highway," so named because it cost $1 million per mile to build - in the 1930s. The road stretched upwards in front of us for the first 13 miles, rising without a guard rail with a 1,000 foot drop on the side to the top of the Red Mountain Pass, an elevation of 11,018 feet. From the summit, we descended quickly and coldly to the skiing town of Silverton, where we ate lunch, got shuttled past some construction, and then ascended the second peak, which had an amazing view of a lake and the mountains rising beyond. We then went down again and then back up to our final peak of the day, where we rested for only a moment before beginning the 4,000 + foot descent that would occur over the next 30 miles as we approached Durango. Unfortunately, descending also means leaving the Rockies, which was not an altogether pleasant thought. We still have a little more of the mountains left, but Arizona is approaching rapidly.

Durango has been totally amazing. There are cyclists everywhere, and the gas stations sell clif bars instead of chips and sodas. Last night, Emily's aunt and uncle had us over for dinner, and they treated us to massive trays of fresh fruit, amazing cheeses, and amazing chicken and pasta. It was such a treat to be in their home. Today, we built floors and prepared walls with the La Plata County Habitat for Humanity Chapter. After that, we headed into downtown Durango, where we had an amazing run-in with the local bookstore owner. Scott's parents had contacted the bookstore in search of a new journal, and they had talked with Peter, who we then met when we went to the bookstore. Not only was Peter extremely kind and interested in our trip, not only did he give Scott a huge discount on the journal, but he also bought us ice cream! It was awesome. Tomorrow we ride for Cortez and then over some state lines to Arizona.

I'm on the up and up...

Well, we had a great two days in Colorado Springs, both building and
resting. The build site on Thursday was on a hill that had an amazing
view of Pike's Peak, and the weather was extremely pleasant, so we all
had a great day. I unfortunately discovered at lunch that my sunscreen
had exploded all over my cell phone and wallet, but I decided that
this was in fact quite fortunate, since it gave a nice luster to my
wallet and no doubt improved the battery life of my phone thanks to
all those metals. We spent the off day pretty much doing nothing, but
we did get a chance to watch the fireworks from atop a hill that
overlooked the city with Pike's Peak towering above, so that was a
definitely memorable experience.

On Saturday, we left Colorado Springs and headed towards the mountains
with Buena Vista as our destination. Before leaving the city, we
stopped at Garden of the Gods, an absolutely beautiful series of rock
formations that rise up from the ground at the base of the mountains.
Needless to say, it was awesome. From there, we started up the
Rockies. Surprisingly, the ascents weren't anywhere near as
challenging as those of the Appalachians. Apparently, the road
engineers in Colorado had this thing called "planning," where they
decided that it would be a good idea to build a road with a gradual
slope that went through "passes," instead of just laying pavement up
the side of a mountain. In any case, we made our way up the roqd,
pausing every now and then for photos or for a quick trip to the
McDonalds playplace for some fun. We reached our highest elevation for
the day around mile 60 and then descended a bit into this huge field,
which was so strange to see at 9000 feet, but also breathtaking. We
then encountered some rough headwind which is so much worse than any
mountain, before heading down into Buena Vista. Michelle had the
brilliant idea to stop for hot chocolate at the bottom of the
mountain, and it was probably one of my favorite stops for food yet. I
never though that I would want hot chocolate to warm me up on the
fifth of July, but nothing could have been more perfect. The host site
was the Church of Christ in Buena Vista, who were so excited to have
us and gave us an amazing lasagna dinner.

The next morning, the church got us invites to the local Optimist Club
pancake breakfast, and we stared out our morning enjoying delicious
pancakes and syrup before heqding out to hit our highest elevation of
the trip. The first twenty miles were pretty enjoyable and passed
wothout much effort, except for one small hill where Dan, Claire, and
I realized that singing while climbing at 8000 feet may or may not
cause you to black out, but you have to finish the line. The climb to
the top of Monarch Pass started around mile 25 and was quite deceiving
for the next 10 or so miles because it looked as if you were going
downhill when in fact you were going up at a rather steep grade, so
you just felt like you were trying hard without much reward.
Forunately, this deception could be easily conquered by turning around
and seeing the road below you. The top seemed like it would never
come, but we finally made it and rejoiced in reaching an elevation of
11,312 feet. Sadly, we rejoiced for a bit too long, and a storm rolled
in, which made for a freezing cold downhill run. We stopped at the
bottom and essentially took over a gas station for the next half-hour,
purchasing every hot chocolate and apple cider packet we could find,
standing by the exhaust of the ice machine for warmth, and throwing
our jackets in the dryer in back. The storm soon cleared up and was
replaced with a quite pleasant tailwind that carried us all the way to
Gunnison, with only a stop to repair two flat tires. Riding my bicycle
truly becomes more pleasant every day. Even when I'm miserable, I love
it.

Miles and miles and the sun going down...

It's been a few long but also incredibly enjoyable days since Garden
City. I was one of two "sweeps" on the next riding day, which means
that I, along with my friend Emily, were in charge of making sure that
everyone made it safely to Lamar, CO. While it meant being on the bike
for a bit longer than normal, the day was a lot of fun. I learned some
new mind games to play on the bike, heard some life stories, and
talked about whatever might pop in my head. We also passed several
exciting milestones on our ride. First, we ate lunch on the mountain
time zone line, which meant that we actually left lunch before we got
there. Next, we passed the Colorado-Kansas state line, which was an
awesome moment for me because I had always envisioned Colorado as
"that far-away state," but now I was there, in the west, thanks only
to my bicycle and a little help from friends. The final milestone was
the return of trees to the landscape, which were a welcome site after
three states of basically nothing bigger than a shrub. I think that
the females on the trip were a bit more excited than me to see
roadside shelter, but I still rejoiced at their presence. It was
strange to see as we rode to our destination how high we were (some
states put population on their city signs. Colorado puts elevation.).
We had been riding on "flat" ground for about 700 miles, yet we were
now at 4000 feet, nearly as high as many of the mountains in the
Appalachians. Once we arrived at the local Methodist church, we spent
the evening eating and having meetings and then headed to bed excited
about not riding 100 miles the next day.

As promised, the ride from Lamar to Rocky Ford was short, which gave
us time to rest for the next day's big ride. The ride was spent mostly
taking turns pulling a line of riders into the headwind, with a stop
at Sonic in the heat of the early afternoon for a powerade slush
pick-me-up. The Presbyterian church in Lamar cooked us an awesome
dinner and then stuck around for a presentation and bike clinic,
accompanied by more food. Everyone went to sleep as early as possible
(after a frantic search for a light switch that ended at the circuit
breaker) because of the early wake-up in the morning.

And today was the day that we had been talking about at every
presentation since the beginning of the trip. "What's your longest
day," someone would always ask. "124 miles into Colorado Springs,"
came the reply from the presentation group. So, it began this morning
when we hopped on our bikes at 6 AM and headed out. The morning was
spent riding interspersed with flat tires, the first few of eight that
would happen in our riding group that day. After first lunch (or
second breakfast), we told life stories and talked and had gone all
the way to mile 60 before we knew it. We then started riding along a
basin in the shadow of the moutains until we climbed up a ridge around
mile 80 and were treated to a great view of the mountains before the
second lunch stop. The last thirty or so miles went pretty quickly as
we sang every song that we could think of and headed down into
Colorado Springs. We hit some rough weather and big hills in the city,
so the last 15 miles took about two hours, but we did get to ride past
5 o'clock traffic sitting at a standstill, and it was just such a
great feeling to make it. I can't really describe why the day was so
much fun, since all we did was ride just like any other day. I think
it really comes down to the fact that everyone on the trip is becoming
great friends, and it's just a ton of fun to be around such amazing
people all day. Plus, it gives an incredible feeling to ride so far in
one day. Next up is a build day and day off here in Colorado Springs
before four long days in the Rockies on our way to Durango.