Wednesday, April 6
Oak Flat Campground to Thatcher, AZ
87 miles

This is supposed to be looking back on a long downhill. It’s hard to tell from the picture.

Here’s my bike leaning. My kickstand disappeared sometime yesterday. Finding somewhere to lean it when I take breaks on the road is an ongoing challenge.

I wasn’t done climbing when I left camp this morning, as it turns out. But I had already mostly passed the worst of it. There was a lot of wonderful downhill into Globe, and a lot of the day left. A storm looked like it was about to come over the hills any minute, but it was creating a tailwind. A local cyclist urged me to stay in Globe and weather the storm. The ladies at the tourist information office had no information at all. The reservation casino RV park 12 miles down the road told me over the phone they wouldn’t take tents, even if you rode in on a bike.

I went to Jack in the Box and had a milkshake while I considered my options. If I passed the casino, it would be about another 25 miles to the next campground, but that would take me nine miles off route. But if I passed that up, I’d have to get to Thatcher, which would be about 85 miles for the day.

I pulled out my rain jacket and went for it. It rained, but only for a few minutes. I soared downhill for almost 20 miles, riding between 20 and 30mph. The tailwind pushed me past the first campground turn off! On to Thatcher!

After my rest days, I’m able to stay on the bike for much longer periods at a stretch. My butt is getting used to the saddle. So I felt pretty good all around. About five miles later, the tailwind gave out. The downhill gave way to rolling hills, most a little more up than down. I just kept going.

The terrain eventually evened out, but the tailwind remained elusive. For a short time, i had a headwind! I met a runner going the other way. He’d started in my Miami, and had a cooler of beer, among other things, in his jog stroller. He told me I wasn’t the only crazy one out here!

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I kept going.

Mile 74

The landscape was awesome today, as in horrible and wonderful at the same time. There was so much empty space, and I just rode right through it. I even managed to carry enough water.

I ended at a motel in Thatcher. I tried to stop five miles earlier, in Pima. I frightened residents dining at a Tastee Freeze with an apparently wild-eyed request for a campground or an RV park. Except for one woman, who just wanted me to move so she could see the ice cream flavors. There used to be a little motel right next door, but it was shut down.

I rode the last five miles in the dark, holding my headlamp in my mouth. It would take too long to explain how it came to that, but it gave me the best angle of the light on the road. The tailwind even sort of came back.

There’s something pretty satisfying about just throwing all my stuff all around a hotel room. Today was an awesome day!

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