Day 9

Day 9: October 7, 2021 (Peridot AZ to Safford AZ)

We rode 65 miles in just under 5 hours today.  It was a beautiful sunrise, temperature was about 65 degrees at 6 AM when we started, and the high was only 85 degrees.  Most importantly, no head winds!  First day without head winds.  Lovely.

All in all, it was a good day.  It could have been a great day if the conditions of the shoulder of the roads were in better shape.  This goes for the entire ride thus far.  Some stretches of road have nice wide well-maintained shoulders, some stretches have no shoulders, and most of the shoulders are not well-maintained.  They have gaps, bumps, rough surfaces and there is so much debris.  Broken bottles, tire shards, rocks, and garbage.

Putting that aside, I’m feeling good.  I woke early to write this journal and to work on my story.  On day 10 (October 8), we leave Arizona and enter New Mexico.