Day 8

Day 8: October 6, 2021 (Tonto Basin AZ to Peridot AZ)

I fell asleep at 7 PM and, other than a few trips to the bathroom, I woke up at 3:45 AM.  First good night sleep I’ve had in weeks; until last night, I couldn’t get my mind to shut off.   I am staying well hydrated as evidenced by the trips to the bathroom over night.

I spent the next few hours writing my story.  On this front, I’ve started an outline for the story and a my-memory matrix.  For the latter, I have bits and pieces of memories of my childhood that I’m putting into a matrix of school age versus subject matter (e.g., at home, at school, at work, abuse related, baseball, friends, other. This is helping piece my childhood together based on the memories.

We started getting ready to ride at 6 AM.  Today, Tim was driving the RV and Miah was riding with me.  We started riding a little after 7 AM.  We were about 3 miles and 15 minutes into the ride when a pickup hauling a fishing boat coming in the opposite direction stopped by us.  The driver said the road ahead was closed and they are turning back all traffic, including bicyclist.  Our friend Sergio, who we met on day 1 is doing the same ride and he was a few miles ahead of us.

Sergio texted that the road was closed and that he was heading back.  We waited for him and when he arrived, he said he talked to the cleanup crew, and it was going to take a day or two to clear the road.  They said that the storm that we rode through the day before caused a mud slide up the road in two spots.  The first spot wasn’t too bad, and Sergio thought he could walk through it.  They wouldn’t let him, and they said the second spot was far worse; it had 7-foot thick of mud blocking the road. 

The blocked road is US 188 and its the only road to Globe AZ; which is where we were heading.  There were no viable alternatives but to drive back the way we came.  So, we did.  We traversed the roads back to Mesa AZ, where we started day 7.  Then we drove to Globe AZ.  We rented a room and have the RV powered from the room.  It worked out well last night and we hope it works out well tonight.

The worst part about today was that I left my personal pillows at last night’s motel and didn’t realize it until we were two hours by RV away.  I guess I’ll be buying new pillows soon.