Participants:
Sara- Trek 750 w/ drop bars and bar end shifters (Phoenix)
Robin- really old Raleigh with mud flaps (Palo Alto)
Margaret- Trek 520 (Pittsburg)
Brian-Specialized Rockhopper with drop bars (LA area)
Dec. 25, 1998
About
5:00 pm Robin arrived on time. Margaret wasn't so lucky. Last
year she was flying all over the country leaving messages as she was rerouted.
This year, it was one big bump. She was knocked out of her planned
flight and put on a later flight. She was almost knocked off her
second flight by a Newfoundland Dog! Margaret did arrive around 9pm.....
We returned to my house to unload. I thought my living room had reached
the maximum load limit with all the panniers, packs and bikes. I
was wrong. Brian and all his stuff arrived the next day.
Dec. 26, 1998
We ran a couple of errands in the morning, before Brian
arrived. The whole time we were running our errands and taking care
of last minute details, Margaret was wondering what she had forgotten.
She kept saying that she ALWAYS forgets
at least one thing, and that she couldn't figure out what it was this time.
I had discovered that my pump wasn't pushing any air, so we went to REI....
we returned to the house to organize our gear and wait for Brian.
Brian arrived at about 12:45pm, and we loaded and departed for Benson by
1:30pm. We stopped in Tucson to see Tohono Chul Botanical Park, and
to have dinner at a favorite restaurant, Blue Willow. We left for
Benson at around 7:00 pm, where we had reservations at the Benson Hotel.
Around
8pm, as we neared Benson, I realized that I had
forgotten my shoes. I guess I had forgotten a major enough
item to cancel out anything that anyone else could have ever left behind.
I provided endless hours of entertainment for the rest of the group as
I called friends in Phoenix to see who had a key to my place that might
be able to retrieve my shoes and meet me halfway so that I wouldn't have
to go all the way back.
If
I had more stable shoes in which to ride, this wouldn't have been a problem.
Unfortunately, my off bike shoes were exceptionally soft boots that would
wrap themselves right around my pedals if I had tried to use them.
I went out in the parking lot to try anyway.
The Benson Inn is an old 1930s motor inn. It appears to have been redecorated in the early 1970s. I had been worried about the cleanliness. I shouldn't have. The sheets were the cleanest and the softest we had on the whole trip. Unfortunately the beds were the cleanest and the SOFTEST too. I want it known that Brian and Robin may have had to share a bed, but at least their bed was firm enough to allow them a decent nights sleep. I had to put my mattress on the floor so that it wouldn't sag to the floor in the middle. I spent the night on the floor with my head next to the gas heater and my toes by the inch wide gap under the door.
Dec. 27, 1998
Brian and I woke early. After a feeble attempt
at riding in mushy shoes, we decided that the most reasonable action to
take would be to go to Tucson where there would be a few bike shops open
on Sunday. I would bite the bullet, and purchase the first available
pair of size 38.5 or 39 shoes that we could find. When we arrived
in Tucson, we discovered that the shops would not open until noon.
It was about 8:30am, and we could make the round trip back to Phoenix in
a little over three hours. We figured that the turn around would
get us back to Benson by 12:40 or 1pm. That was about the same amount
of time it would take us if we waited for the shops to open, so we hopped
back in the car and headed back to Phoenix.
Meanwhile,
back in Benson..... Margaret and Robin were awake and wondering what was
taking us so long. We returned to Benson with my shoes and loaded
the bikes.
We
were off on our way to Tombstone. We stopped just beyond the edge
of town for the guys to remove their jerseys. We traveled south
along SR80. There were no turns. It was a great ride.
The weather was great and the route was beautiful. Robin and Brian
took full advantage of the Arizona sunshine. I kept my
silk on.... I have been here long enough to feel cold whenever the thermometer
drops below 70 degrees.
We rolled our way along the 26 miles until we reached our bed and breakfast
in Tombstone. Our rooms were at the far end of the building. They were
decorated in antiques and had hardwood floors. One was pale yellow
with yellow flowered linens, the other was deep green with white lace.
At the inkeeper's suggestion, we wheeled the bikes right in to the rooms
for the night.
After
we shoved the bikes in the rooms, we walked the two blocks over to Allen
Street to see the sights. There were horsedrawn wagons and stagecoaches
transporting tourists up and down the street, from shop to shop.
There were wooden sidewalks and, although Allen Street had been paved,
the streets a block or two on either side had not yet been modernized.
We
returned to the room after wandering past as many wagons and stagecoaches
as we could find. Note Brian's "gunfighter" stance.
We even stopped in the street so that Robin could lead us in a little bit
of western line dancing. (Or was it the Hokey Pokey?????)
Our choice for dinner was a neighborhood Mexican place. The food was good and the margaritas were great. We each had one.... and that was enough.
After our dinner, we went back to the main street to a
cowboy bar. I know it was a cowboy bar because there were tall men
wearing boots and dusters in funny hats. Most of them had big mustaches
and big revolvers too.....
We returned to the B&B to watch the video entitled "Tombstone." I just curled up on the couch under everyone elses jacket and drifted in and out of sleep.
This was also the day that we learned how to make a cat go "WOOF" and a dog go "Meooowww"... if you are curious, ask Robin.
Dec. 28, 1998
The
next day we had a wonderful breakfast of fresh fruit, ham and eggs, biscuits
and muffins, coffee, and tea.... YUMMMM! We decided to detour a block
off our route so that we could ride down main street on our loaded steeds.
Our
route was to follow SR80 further south to Bisbee via the Tombstone Canyon
turnoff just south of Mule Pass tunnel.
Our
detour took us a block off our route and onto Allen Street which parallels
SR80 through town. We stopped to do a quick repair on my binding
brake lever.
We
packed up our tools, hopped our bikes, then cruised on out of town and
off to Bisbee.
The
first 15 miles was beautiful.
Then,
we hit the hill.
I have PLENTY of photos of this section of our tour because I was slow
enough to snap away at anything that looked pretty enough.
I
collected a few leaves along that stretch of road too. They looked
pretty in my map pocket.
I
managed a few photos of the group as they flew by.....
We
reached the 7000 ft. top of the pass.
Then,
we saw a wonderful sign, Downhill for 5 miles! We regrouped for the
downhill through a short tunnel and on into town.
We
rode through town until we reached the Inn at Castlerock. It was
a wonderful place to stay! The showers were excellent, and the staff
was cheerful and friendly.
The
rooms are all decorated in theme styles. It looked like their decorator
had been to every garage sale west of the Mississippi! We had two rooms.
One was decorated in pale blue linens and was wallpapered with maps from
National Geographic. The other was decorated in a Polynesian jungle
theme. The walls were papered with jungle photo wallpaper with tribal
war spear cut-outs and bamboo decorations. There were book to read
in every room, the garden had benches terraced up the hill to watch the
stars at night, and the balconies were lined with porch swings and other
places to sit. They had a lounge filled with comfortable seating around
a fireplace, and more books, games and puzzles to share with other guests/friends.
We
repeated the routine of the previous day. We didn't clean up right
away. We wandered around town in our bike clothing so that we could
see as much of the town as possible before the shops and attractions closed
down for the evening. After a walk about town, we would return to
clean up for dinner. We all showered and went off to eat at a local
brew pub, then wandered up Main street until we found a bar with several
pool tables. Robin manages to thrash all of us.... first Margaret,
then Brian and finally me. Then we decided to play teams. Since
I was the worst (by far) I was teamed up with Robin. We managed to
win one game, then Brian and Margaret took the other. Robin and I
left the table to Margaret and Brian, then we went for a walk in the cold.
Brian and Margaret weren't far behind. We all turned in with visions
of billiard balls dancing in our heads....
Dec 29, 1998
After
breakfast, we rode to the mine for an underground tour. We brought
the bikes right into the back room of the mine offices where they were
secured behind an "employees only" door while we enjoyed the tour.
We
were wrapped in yellow slickers with battery powered lamps and hard hats.
We were herded onto a mine train and taken a few hundred feet into the
mine. The tour guide was an old miner who had worked in the mine until
it shut down in 1974.
He
explained drilling techniques and procedures, and pointed out pockets of
copper ore and other minerals.
After
the mine tour, we took the bikes out into the sunshine for a quick check.
Brian had to use the facilities, then we were off for a 14 mile downhill
into Las Palominas.
We stopped in Las Palominas for pie and sandwiches. We had heard that the pie was good, and were not disappointed. After our refueling stop we were back on the bikes and headed up the hill into Sierra Vista.
We
stopped to regroup, and to look at the Coronado National Monument through
Brian's binoculars. I went ahead and passed a couple of other cyclotourists.
They stopped and talked with the rest of the group, but I was rolling along
ahead. I got to our hotel for the night first. It was the Thunder
Mountain Inn. I encountered several local riders as I neared the
hotel. Sierra Vista may not have been the most scenic or interesting
town, but they sure did have a cycling community. We all sat around
in the hot tub for a while before cleaning up for our ride to dinner.
We went a couple of miles to a Chinese restaurant then pedaled back in
the cold to our hotel.
Dec 30, 1998
We had our breakfast at the hotel coffee shop and were
on our way back to Benson. Our route continued north on SR92 to Fry
Blvd, then turned west to SR90. We turned on to SR90 and followed
that north to I-10. We rode on the shoulder of I-10 in to Benson.
The route between Sierra Vista and Benson rolled along through an area
of construction, then along relatively undeveloped desert. There
were more cars and less civilization than there had been on any other day.
This route was clearly well traveled by military personnel seeking entertainment
in Tucson rather than the limited options of the Sierra Vista area.
As we
neared our turn on to the interstate, we could look off to the east at
some wonderful views of the San Pedro River Valley. We coasted onto
the interstate and flew along down the hill into Benson.... except for
Margaret. It seems that 2 flats were not enough for her. She
had managed one per wheel, bud decided to get one last flat within eyesight
(but too far to ride the rim) from our destination.
We
arrived in Benson with plenty of time to stop at the Wendy's for Root Beer
before heading north in our car toward Phoenix, and our next adventure.
Stay tuned for part deux....
The first annual (and not likely to happen
again) Grand Canyon New Years Eve and hike 'til
your legs fall off weekend....
Which was a lot more fun than that sounds.
