September 30, 2008
sprawl, AJFD, everything in the desert, lost dutchman
Day Nine
"I was sitting in a restaurant waiting to order when I heard, 'Does anyone know CPR?'
I said, 'I know the whole alphabet!'
We all laughed and laughed and laughed...
Except that one guy."
- unknown -
"Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes the trees, then names the streets after them."
- Bill Vaughan -
"When people tell me 'You're going to regret that in the morning!' I usually sleep until noon... because I'm a problem solver."
- unknown -
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When I woke up at 4:30, after four hours of sleep, I realized the trip was over for me. I just couldn't keep going.
While I was having my epiphany, Klaus walked into the room. Klaus Kuras, the guy who has pedaled 8,000 miles across three continents, suggested we go back to sleep for another couple of hours.
I was asleep within fifteen seconds.
When I woke up at 6:30 I felt much better, and my outlook had changed markedly.
Wait a minute..... feeling better at six thirty? In the morning?? For the record, you will never EVER hear those words come from me again.
At 6:35 Wayne Pinkerton called just to see how I was doing.
We left Dave's at 7:30. For about ten miles we were able to pedal on a bike path with no traffic.
By 10:00 it was 91 degrees, but we were making pretty good time and had done 25 miles by 10:30. My outlook on this trip, and on life, had seen a marked change since 4:30 AM.
It seemed to take forever to get past all of the stoplights and traffic, and even after 25 miles we were still in the suburbs of Phoenix. I didn't take many pictures because it was just miles and miles of boring suburbia, the same as every other suburb in America. Phoenix doesn't even have much diversity in the houses, at least, not in the area where we were riding.
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Lunch, still in the burbs, consisted of a Subway sandwich. One of their fountain drinks was Powerade so we each filled a water bottle with it. Klaus says it tastes like blue gum and, after thinking about it a minute I had to agree, but it does effectively quench your thirst.
Late that morning I called the only hotel near where we'd be stopping for the day. At $105.00, it was more than I wanted to spend but I was already feeling the near 100-degree temperature and was past caring.
Apache Junction is the last outpost of the Phoenix sprawl. Before heading up the road to the last motel for miles, we stopped at the grocery store to buy supper and a few provisions.
Klaus doesn't want to stop this early or spend that much money (when you're spending eight months on the road you can't spend that much) so he'll continue riding and camp somewhere on the side of the road.
On the way out of town to the motel we passed the Apache Junction Fire Station. On the spur of the moment, Klaus suggested we ask the firefighters if we could camp near the station. On my first trip in 1982 I camped in the yard of fire stations a number of times, and was regularly invited inside.
We were ushered into an air conditioned room by Geof, one of the firefighters, where we explained our situation and asked if it would be alright to camp there.
He said he'd need to ask the Captain and we waited in the coolness of the foyer while he checked.
A few minutes later he and the Captain, also named Jeff, invited us inside. We also met Mike and Dan, the other firefighters on duty for the evening.
Geof gave us a tour of the station. The facility is less than two years old and they've taken good care of it. We learned that there's a lot more to fighting a fire than what you see on television, with a lot of requisite knowledge and skills (including CPR, thus the quote at the top of the page), and we were thankful that they volunteered their time to show us around.
We ended up spending the afternoon and evening with them, out of the heat, which was quite a blessing. That evening Jeff invited us to eat with them. They were grilling and although they didn't have enough steaks, they did have extra sides of baked potatoes, bread and other goodies.
We climbed on the bikes and rode back to the grocery store. There we bought some sirloin steaks and returned to the station. Mike was already seasoning the steaks. I seasoned mine, then took a shower while he grilled ours.
We all traded stories during dinner, and Jeff, who was raised there, told us the story of Jacob Walz and the Lost Dutchman Mine.
Walz was actually German, not Dutch. In the late 1870s he wandered out of the Superstition Mountains (which are within sight of the fire station) and into local folklore when he arrived with a team of mules loaded with gold. After a few weeks of frequenting saloons he would disappear into the mountains again. No one was able to track him to his strike, and each time he returned he would bring another load of gold.
On his deathbed in 1891, Walz left a riddle that has frustrated and captivated gold seekers ever since:
"There's a great stone face looking up at my mine. If you pass three red hills, you've gone too far. The rays of the setting sun shine on my gold. Climb above my mine and you can see Weaver's Needle."
There are so many fantastic names of landmarks. I wish I could hear the legends and stories behind all of them.
For "insurance reasons," we weren't able to stay in the station during the night. If the firefighters got called out, we'd be there alone. However, there is an air conditioned conference room in the front of the station which is separate from the rest of the building. At bedtime, they could lock off the main building from the conference room. We even had our own restrooms. They weren't really supposed to do that, but I think they realized we're pretty harmless. We really enjoyed, and appreciated, their hospitality and their company.
A quote from Geof: "Everything in the desert either bites, burns, or stings."
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distance: 47.1 miles
average speed: 10.9 mph
maximum speed: 20.7 mph
travel time: 4:17:17
total mileage: 404.1 miles
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 403 miles (649 km)
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