After breakfast we walked back to the RV park and lounged around most of the day.​

Patrick, Jackie, and Mary drove the 30 miles to Deming to buy groceries for the next 4 days.  When they returned, some of us walked across the street to the other restaurant for lunch.  When we returned, we did some more lounging around and then all 8 of us played Rummikub.  Mary, Patrick, Bill, and Mel have never played, but they are all card players, so it wasn’t hard to teach them. 

As we were riding we noticed a sign that says "Bike Ranch" and had to stop and see what it is.  This reminds me of some of the places I saw on the Pacific Crest Trail while backpacking.  Pretty much a friendly spot for cyclist to stop for the night.

Another morning waking up to frost on our tents.  One morning we will wake up to temperatures in the 40s, it just doesn't seem like it is coming fast enough.  Our plan was to leave this morning around 9 AM, but we didn't get on the road until 20 minutes later.  It is really tough to get out of our tents when it is below freezing.  Luckily, the temperature rose quickly, and by the time we left for the day, the temperature was just over 50 degrees.

As soon as we left the RV park and got on the main road, everyone seemed chill and not pushing too hard.  Tomorrow we have 90 miles to ride, so we all seem to be using today's 56 mile day as a recovery day.  With the lower miles today, there is no reason to push it.

And what a great day to just take it easy.  Today we headed northeast on Arizona Highway 80, a magnificent road with little traffic and incredible scenery.

Today the route took us through no towns, so Patrick met up on the side of the road for a rest stop right at mile 20.

The next planned stop to meet with Patrick is at mile 38 which is near the site that Geronimo surrendered in 1886.

After the Geronimo Surrender Monument it was just 10 miles to the New Mexico border.  Two states down and five states to go!

Just 2 miles into New Mexico, Bill, Mel, Tim, and I checked into our cabin at Mountain Valley Lodge.  The RV park does not allow tents, so half of us are in the cabin.  However, the RV park is 6.5 miles away, so after we checked in we continued the ride to Rusty's RV Ranch.

Everyone (Mel) was obsessed with getting laundry done, so while that was going on, Patrick, Jackie, and I drove to the closest store to find a few items we needed.  We came back with a $4 loaf of wonder bread.  We really are in the middle of nowhere.  After laundry was done (Mel is now very happy) dinner was served. Today's menu was Mary's famous chicken and broccoli.  After dinner Patrick drove the cabin people back to our cabin where we watched a movie (Amelia, pretty good movie).

It is almost 11:30 PM as I sit here finally catching up on the blog after many days without internet.  Tomorrow we have a 90 mile day, so we are planning to get an early start.  Patrick will be here to pick us up at 7:15 AM.  I better get to bed now so I have the energy for a long day tomorrow.

Last night was really cold.  We woke up to frost on the tent and didn’t want to get up, however, my bladder had other plans, so I got dressed quickly and left the tent around 7:15 AM.  Today we only have 45 miles.  The plan is to get on the road before 9:30 AM and get into camp early so we can relax.  We were already to go right at 9:30 AM, so all seems good.​

The first 10 miles is on a bicycle trail.  Unlike yesterday’s trail fiasco, today it was much easier to follow Google maps voice commands since there were far less intersections with other trails.   The trail was beautiful with art scattered along it and wonderful mountain views. 

Then, at about mile 7.5, the headwind began and didn’t let up for at least the next 17 miles.  Oh, and by the way, the entire day has a steady, uphill climb.  There goes our easy, recovery day.​

We stopped for our much needed first stop at a Safeway gas station at mile 19. 

When we entered I-10 it was pretty windy, but within the next 5 miles the wind, although still a headwind, subsided enough to make it not too bad.  Most of the time on I-10 was rolling hills which made the ride somewhat fun.​

Today was a rest day with a lot of work and a bit of rest.  We have to figure out meals for the next 5 days, shop for all the food, and do some preparing since we have a nice kitchen in the AirBnB.  While everyone except Tim and I went shopping, I prepared pita pizza for lunch.  

After lunch, Mel, Jackie, and Mary were off to the races preparing meals and snacks for the next 5 days.

After the prep we did have time to sit and watch a movie on Netflix, "At First Light"...not recommended.  After the movie it was time for our taco bar dinner.  Jimmy cooked the meat, Mel prepared the sweet potato/black bean mixture, and Mary did the chopping of veggies.  It turned out great and will definitely be added to our regular dinner rotation list.  After Patrick, Jackie, and Jimmy left to return to the RV park, we watched "Free State of Jones"...interesting movie.

As we hung out in the house all day, the weather went from rain to blue skies, to hail, back to rain, and finally at sunset, the sky was looking like it was clearing.  This was great timing for a zero day.

Tomorrow is our longest day so far at 81 miles, but the good news is 35 miles of that is supposed to be on a bicycle path.  The bad news is that the temperature in the morning is supposed to be in the high 30s.  I guess we will see.

As we went to sleep last night the rain began.  The sound of the rain on the tent helped me fall asleep pretty quickly.  When the alarm went off at 7 AM it was raining.  I thought about texting everyone saying that I will not leave the tent till the rain stops, but within 5 minutes of waking, the rain stopped.  Quick...let's pack up and get our tent down before it starts again.

It stopped raining, but it is really cold out here this morning.  With the temperature at 50 degrees and a chance of rain all day, everyone is bundled up and ready to ride just after 9 AM.

As soon as we got out of town we entered the Sonoran Desert National Monument.  It is a very nice surfaced road with saguaro cacti everywhere.  

Today, the only town on the route is 40 miles in, so Jackie found us this impromptu rest stop on a sandy shoulder.

So far we have been really lucky with the weather.  Yes, it is chilly, but at least it isn't raining.  The map shows a small town coming up in 10 miles with a fire station and a school.  We might be able to stop at the station to fill up our water.  Well...10 miles later there wasn't much of this "town,"  so we continued on for the next 10 miles until we finally reached Maricopa.  We decided on a Subway for lunch, and as we approached it the rain began to fall.

After a check of the radar we realized we were trapped here for the next hour or so as a thunderstorm passes over us.

The thunderstorm passed, but we weren't going to escape the rain.  The next 24 miles and 1 hour, 40 minutes later was challenging.  Rainy, 44 degrees, slight headwind, busy road with a small shoulder...everything to make you wonder what the heck we are doing out here.

We made it to the turn and waited for Jackie and Jimmy to arrive.  Here we are shivering:

Tomorrow we have another zero day which is good timing since it is supposed to rain all day tomorrow.  This AirBnB is really nice and will be a great place to hang out in tomorrow.

Patrick positioned himself this morning for some great parting shots:

The first stop is the only stop on the route today since there is no other exit between here and Gila Bend.  Just a small gas station called, appropriately, Conde's Middle of Nowhere Gas & Groceries.  The worker here confirmed that there is an access road we can ride on instead of the Interstate.  He was concerned about the surface since it is used primarily for agriculture equipment.  We may check it out.

I guess we did have a little excitement today when I found a wire sticking out of my tire.  After a small operation performed by Bill, it was found that the wire didn't puncture the tube.  Bonus!

Back on the road, and back on Interstate 8.

About 1 hour later we exited the Interstate to check out the access road.  Is this the wrong way to go?  We will soon see...

We got on the access road that didn't look too bad, but soon it became laden with cracks and holes, so 4 miles later we re-entered the interstate for the next 9 miles until we exited at Gila Bend.

Just before the exit I received a text from Patrick saying, "Old McDonald had a farm.  Ei-I-Oh.  And on that McDonald's farm he had a..." This was following by another text, "Find out in two miles."  Hum...

We then found out what the texts meant when we saw him on the side of the road, dressed in bicycle gear, taking pictures.  He then led us the last 3 miles to the campground.

 Tonight we are staying in a KOA.  It is a really nice facility.  The tent sites have a gravel pad for setting up your tent and a concrete pad with a picnic table and grill.  There is even individual lights for each tent site.

For dinner most ate hamburgers (Mel and I ate leftover pasta) and homemade french fries.  Another delicious meal followed by the conclusion of last nights movie, The Patriot.  Tomorrow we are off the interstate...woohoo, but it is supposed to be raining and cold in the morning.  I guess we will have to wait and see how the weather is when we wake up.

Tonight was Bill’s turn to cook dinner, so when the time came, Mel started to prepare dinner.  To be fair, Bill did take over after all the prep was done.  Another great dinner was had by all inside the RV since the temperature has dropped once the sun set.  

Speaking of cold, the temperatures tonight are supposed to drop to the mid-30’s.  Since temperature at 9 AM tomorrow is only supposed to be 41 degrees, we have decided to wait till 10 AM to leave.  Luckily we only have 52 miles to ride tomorrow, so a late start should be fine.​

OK…it is 9:30 PM.  I’m going to finish watching a movie in the nice and warm RV and then head to the tent for a cold, but hopefully cozy nights sleep.