Safford - Clifton, AZ - The cat named Chevy won't stop this tour, and neither can COVID

June 4, 2020

Safford - Clifton, AZ

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2,319 feet elevation gain, less than we anticipated. Which is fine with me.

I was up and at 'em early. It was nice to have a spacious room so I didn't have maneuver around my big bike when getting ready. Size is a real inconvenience of my recumbent. It's the price I pay for an enjoyable ride, so there I am.

I was out the door at 5 AM sharp. I was happy with myself. Today was supposed to be a big climbing day and I really, really didn't want a repeat of my experience going up Old Mule Pass in the heat of the day.

There were quite a few working guys milling around outside. I talked with one while I turned my lights on and got ready. He said that had been paving the parking lots at the Morenci school and were now headed home to Phoenix. He wished me well and said to ride safe. Off I went, just before dawn.

Traffic was heavy again. Today I speculated that perhaps all of these people work in the Morenci Mine and are commuting there. I saw a number of white Ford Transit vans full of people, with the drivers wearing masks. The vans all had orange flags flying on the back.

The road surface today was much better. In general, we haven't had good road surfaces this trip. The roads have been dirty, full of wires, and weeds growing in the many cracks in the shoulder. Today the roads had a nice size shoulder that was in good condition.

As soon as the sun came up, I could feel the temperature immediately rise in reaction. Oh, boy. I'm afraid it's going to be hot. I was initially headed east, so the sun rose right in my face. Also right in drivers' faces. I'm glad I have two very bright blinky lights. I wanted the sun to get higher, so it wouldn't be right in my face. But I didn't want it to get higher because it would get even hotter. I was happy with my early start. I managed to beat the heat at least a little. I wasn't the slightest bit chilly this morning. It was 75 degrees when I started at 5 AM.

I was a little apprehensive about the climbing today. It's an amount of elevation gain I should be fine with, even though the bike is loaded. Heat is the question: can I get to the top before I melt in the sun?

The road today was tidily divided into three sections. Ten miles of warm up before 191 turns to head up the climb. I didn't see it has a name, but I think it should. The route had a gentle upward tilt to it. I watched the elevation slowly rise on my Garmin computer. It's the usual conundrum. It's nice to have easy riding, but if the road doesn't start climbing, it will be tough later.

I was looking for guard rails again today. They were very scarce until the climbing started. I stopped to take a photo of a barrel cactus and saw two jack rabbits hopping in the cactus. They have long, long ears and equally long legs. They don't look like the little bunnies we have in Colorado.

I enjoyed the scenery more today than yesterday. The hillsides were covered with cactus. It's like an aspen grove, but cactus. The sight was appealing to this Colorado girl.

The top of the climb was at mile 25. I felt great on the climb. It was a real confidence booster. I had a couple of anti fatigue tablets and one Perpetuum tablet. Mostly because I thought i was climbing so I should have them. It was gentle downhill all the way to Three Way, where I saw an old drive in movie theatre! The screen tower looked to be in pretty good condition, but the building had broken out windows and peeling paint.

I had to laugh. We had looked for lodging in the Three Way area because it would be on route. Three Way had nothing. Nothing. What looked like an old, old building repurposed into a convenience store. But I'm not sure it was open. It was that rundown. Across the street was the closed drive in. That is the total description of the wide spot in the road named Three Way.

Since we couldn't find lodging in Three Way, we had to go ten miles off route for lodging. Ouch. Worse, it has a climb and a descent both ways. As I rode it today, I was ready to be done, but I didn't want a good downhill, because that would mean a climb coming back. The road undulated until it hit a steep downhill into town. Darn. That's going to hurt on the way out.

Heading down the hill, I saw a yellow road sign for mountain goats. Oh, sure, I thought to myself. That's like the moose signs in Canada. I never saw any. I went around the corner, and there was a whole herd of mountain goats! They weren't overly concerned when I stopped to photo them. While I did that, a loud train pulled up right next to us and stopped. Hmmm. That is very loud and very close. We were down in a canyon, so that made the puffing of the train even louder.

From research, I knew that there was one place in town that had dine in eating, Daly's. It was on the left going into town. I pulled in to eat. I was the only customer in the large restaurant. They had Blue Bonnet hand dipped ice cream as soon as you come in the door. I ended up ordering a bunless burger. I got a double so I could take the extra to Jacinto. I wasn't in any hurry to get back outside into the heat. I'm rather like a frog. If I start out in cool temperatures and then it gradually warms up, I don't feel too hot. But when I walked out of the restaurant, it was like having a hair dryer pointed right at my face. Ugh. I hoped the motel wasn't much further.

I strapped the leftovers box on the rack and crossed the street to ride next to another train. There are a lot of trains in this town and they are loud! I wonder if the train is blocking my motel? I stopped and consulted the map. No, I should be ok. BTW, I've been doing a really good job navigating. You don't need to point out that I'm on the same road all day and the only navigation I need to do is the turn out of the motel. I'm doing a good job on that one and I will take my accolades where I can.

I pulled into the motel. I just made it before 11 AM. That's the time the owner goes home for a break. We had arranged she would leave me a key if I arrived after 11, but here I am. Cierra gave me rags for the bike and ice. I asked about the old drive in. Cierra and her husband (?) agreed that it had been closed at least 20 years. I asked my next pressing question - about all of the vehicles going past with the orange flags. In our area, there used to be lots of gas and oil development and the trucks would all fly tall orange flags so they could be seen when they were out in the field on rough terrain. Why were even passenger vans here sporting flags? Now I know - the passenger vans go inside the mine to pick up workers who commute from Stafford. A side note, the drivers of the vans are wearing masks, but not the passengers. Another side note, Daly's is the only restaurant in all of Clifton/Morenci that is open for dine in. I asked my young waitress if she knew why. The waitress looked puzzled and then said she thought the other restaurants didn't want to deal with all of the sanitation necessary to have dine in. I didn't see a partition at the register, no masks anywhere, real salt and pepper shakers, real cutlery. Again, it's interesting the different requirements in different communities to be open.

I had hardly been in the room and gotten my afternoon routine finished when I heard Jacinto's brakes squeal outside. He had found a pool noodle yesterday. Today his bike was sporting a half a noodle in the typical 'give me some space' position. I asked what happened to the rest of the noodle. Jacinto had torn it in half to make it the correct size. He lost his nice American flag yesterday . . .

We commiserated over how tough the climb out of here will be on cold legs. But it will be nothing compared to our originally planned route through Morenci Mine!

Jacinto tried to buy a pop from the soda machine, but it didn't work. A man here at the motel gave him a ride down to Circle K. Jacinto came back with a bag of beverages, pop, beer, and a V-8 for me. Now he is gone walking back to Daly's for lunch. I was invited, but it's over 100 degrees and I'm not walking more than across the street in that temperature!

This isn't a great place for a layover. Clifton is smaller and doesn't have as many services as Morenci. It was another 800 feet of climbing in four miles to Morenci. Clifton was already 10 miles out of the way, no need to make it 14. Tomorrow Jacinto will be bored to tears and I will be just fine relaxing in the room. Probably he will go walking to Morenci for an activity. We are having a rest day before our big push up the Mongollon Rim. Then we will have ANOTHER rest day. All of that is courtesy of the Navajo Nation shut down.

The early cyclist beats the heat. I hope.

It didn't take long for the sun to turn white hot.

Look! I saw another barrel cactus today. There was one more a few feet away. Those were the only two I saw all day. I'm glad I photoed this one.

Men, be happy you have convenient plumbing. This is what a woman has to deal with when making a bush stop.

Trees are in groves. What are groups of cactus? The hills were covered today. That made the scenery interesting as it's was unique to this Colorado girl. I kept thinking of John Wayne and Indians.

I saw one patch of . . . wheat? Some sort of grass? It had heavy brown heads of seeds. I didn't see any again.Bill is guessing rye or barley, based on the heads.

Found money! Out in the middle of nowhere, on the shoulder. I almost left it for Jacinto, because he loves to save change. But, what if he didn't see it?

I'm glad I didn't need to resupply water here. It was rusty brown colored. The birds were happy taking a bath inside.

This was the big downhill today. Fresh pavement and a wide, clean shoulder. What more could a cyclist ask for?

That is Morenci on the left. Clifton was on the right, but didn't make it into the photo. I could see them from a far distance. It was striking riding into town, with the view of the copper mine and how the houses are switchbacked along the hillside. Wayne, you would be so happy taking photos here.

This was the projection room of the old drive in movie theatre. The smaller windows are where the projectors projected the movie.

Here's the screen tower. It's in Three Way, AZ, which is just a wide spot in the road with a small convenience store.

The sign around the corner said mountain goats, and I actually saw some!Daniel from Utah clarified for me that these are desert bighorn sheep, which live in a completely different habitat from mountain goats. I can certainly see the desert part of the name being appropriate. It is HOT here.

My arrival time and temperature in Clifton. I made it before it hit 100 degrees.

I stopped to eat a bunless burger. I took most of it with me to share with Jacinto.

Here's the country version of distancing.

I declined to walk to the restaurant in 104 degree heat. Jacinto bought a triple scoop of ice cream and ate it all!

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 343 miles (552 km)

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