| 78 easy miles from the days inn in globe to the days inn in safford, AZ |
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as soon as we walked into the motel's breakfast room, sandy's headress reminded us what holiday today is; here she is with the 2 green shamrocks sprouting from her helmet....& a green neckerchief. |
| as for today's ride, what a breeze it was....literally. most of us left the motel around 7. we could feel the tailwinds as soon as we pulled onto US70, & they increased in intensity as the day wore on, giving us a big boost eastward the whole 78 miles. it seemed only fitting, after struggling so hard for yesterday's mileage. | it stayed very cool all day; i bet the temps didn't reach 50. & this morning when we left globe, it felt like upper 30's. what a change from those desert days we sweated through! |
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after leaving globe we had some climbing to do, but the worst of today's hills were molehills compared to yesterday. soon we entered the san carlos apache reservation. what a beautiful landscape, as you see in this photo. |
| later along the roadside we saw 2 pieces of roadkill....an adult javelina & its offspring. roma had told me about these animals, that they're some sort of pig. they reminded me of little wild boars. (i didn't take a photo!) |
| there were few places to stop along the way, which made staying on the road & enjoying the tailwinds even easier to do. at one point we stopped at a small convenience store on the indian reservation. i chatted with an older indian fellow as we stood on the porch. he was telling me that he used to work in the fields in a nearby town. when i asked him what crop, he said rice. |
| about 65 miles into the day, near pima, i took this photo of the gorgeous landscape & clouds. we had left the reservation at this point. we'd been told there was a 30% chance of rain, & indeed we saw the dark clouds hanging up on the nearby mountains, but we never got wet. later we heard that one group of bikers was caught in a shower. |  |
| most everyone rode into safford by very early afternoon....the front-riders before noon. our days inn accommodations are very nice. there's a pool, but today was too cool to use it. there's a carillon nearby that plays lovely music i think twice per hour; i'm really enjoying it. |
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the hot ticket for this afternoon was the laundry room. many seemed anxious to get a head start on layover-day chores. here are, from left, elaine, rita, anne, cynthia, & michelle. anne has been pleased to be able to ride this year all the miles she couldn't ride in her previous 2 attempts to complete this route in 2001 & 02. |
| michelle took cover in her galley & made a delicious chili supper. because of the winds & cold, we ate in the motel's lobby. several people went to a movie at the nearby theater this evening. |
| tomorrow is a layover day. some have already signed up for massages. the main activity will be resting up, & from the way wed & thurs sound, we'll need all the rest we can get. |
| If you would like copies of the original, full-size photos, feel free to e-mail me with your request, and I'll save your note and get back to you after the ride. Stay tuned.... |