Globe, Arizona

The warmth of a soft bed made it difficult to get going. The hot shower helped. And the coffee. We packed up and left the motel. A gradual descent and a few short climbs later, we were fifty miles down the road, just into San Carlos Apache Reservation. Our average speed was around sixteen miles per hour. We stopped to have lunch in Peridot. As we ate, the prevailing wind regained control, and our average speed dropped to about ten miles per hour for the rest of the day.

We entered the long sprawl of Globe early in the day. I bought groceries for dinner and we made our way to the community center to set up camp. Shortly after we finished eating, Amy, another cyclist we had met earlier in the day, pulled up. She is traveling the same route as we are. So tonight there are three tents on the lawn. We’ll see if our pace is compatible; we may see Amy for another day, or perhaps until we reach the Pacific.