Today was an interesting day. We rode for about 20 miles before we got out of town and out into the open. The terrain was kind of rolling with an ok road surface. At about 45 miles I stopped at the Boyce Thompson Desert Arboretum. I wandered around for about 2 hours looking at all the desert plants and cacti, lots of them in bloom, with the help of drip irrigation. Wanted to bring some home, but good sense prevailed and I only bought postcards. I was glad I stopped to look around, it was time to see things other than the pavement.
This woman at the arboretum saw my helmet and wondered if I knew anything about all the bikes she saw on the road. When I told her we were cycling to Florida, she pulled down her sunglasses a bit, looked over the top of them and said “You’re what?” in a deadpan voice of total disbelief.
I had a couple of good climbs after the checkpoint, but geared down and pedaled along. At the top I stopped at a junk store and on the way down I stopped to look at a copper mine. A great downhill and a bit more up and then a short steep climb to the funky B&B (an old schoolhouse) where we’re staying.
75.4 miles - 4,870 feet of climbing