Wednesday April 8, 2015

A short riding day but a tough ride. First we had a hill to climb, it was 23 kilometres long and the height was 1,402 metres (4,600 feet) add to the hill the constant headwind and the dreadful condition of the road, little to no shoulder and again cars that gave us no room.

We passed through Miami, AZ and noticed these cows on a very steep slope, the slope was next to a mining operation.

Although Miami is a mining Town, they did try to beautify the streetscape with some flowers, or did they just let them grow wild?

Once we reached the top of the hill the descent was hair-raising, again little to no shoulder, when there was a shoulder it was full of debris.

To top it all we had to go through a tunnel. Cyclists hate tunnels, car drivers do not expect to see cyclists in tunnels. We had our lights on and our fluorescent jackets but still two cars passed us in the tunnel. What is their hurry in Arizona?

We arrived in Superior and visited the downtown, it reminded me of the photos I have seen of Northern Ontario Towns, a little run-down.

Superior has some great planters (real beautification of the street) with cactus in them.

We had a great lunch in the local café/bar, then decided to get our hair cut. Ralf went for a really short cut, I tried to get the hairdresser to cut mine really short, but she didn’t cut enough of the first time, so I told her I needed it shorter. She said it would look shorter when I blow-dry it. I reminded her I was on a bike tour and didn’t carry a blow-dryer with me. She seemed shocked at that revelation, but she did take another half inch off. Ralf said “I see you left your helmet on for the hair cut”! It is a little square!

We found our warmshowers host in Superior and settled in to an Airstream trailer.

They have three dogs, two corgis and a big old slobbery Newfoundland.

Tomorrow we will be in Tempe (just outside of Phoenix) where we hope to store the bikes for two days. We are going to hire a car and head up to the Grand Canyon. We are so close, we should visit the area.