To Duncan

November 6, 2016

A rest day of sorts

We don't have any rest days on this short tour. We've been on the road for over a week now, so we decided to back off a bit and take a semi-rest day, biking the most direct route to Duncan. Pretty short day and not too strenuous. We figure that we'll arrive mid-afternoon and then lie around for a few hours before going out around sunset to look around a bit and then find a meal.

We get a leisurely start to the day. We're staying at the Best Western in Safford, which has a good breakfast with lots of options. After filling ourselves, we hang around the motel for quite awhile - I catching up on the news and the journal, Rachael experimenting with the new GoPro mount that arrived here in the mail for us. She's excited to be able to use her camera last night, having been without its use since about Flagstaff.

A bit before ten we finally headed east on Thatcher/Highway 70. It's the main highway through town, and was quite busy last night when we walked along it to dinner and back. This Sunday morning though it's quite quiet, fine to cycle on. Soon it intersects with Highway 191 coming in from Willcox, the road we entered town on last night. They come together for the next ten miles before going their separate ways again.

It is a beautiful morning to ride - it is completely windless for a change, the sky is cloudless, and dramatic, ultra-prominent ranges line both sides of it as we cycle east, following the line of the Gila River. After the first few miles we leave the last traces of Safford behind and are in open, semi-arid steppe.

Mount Graham, from the suburbs east of Safford. The mountain is listed as an 'ultra-prominent summit', an interesting index meaning that it's peak is more than 1500 meters above the surrounding land. It is the highest ranked in Arizona, with its peak over 6000' above the basin.

We rise east southeast, climbing slightly at first, then a bit more when the road bends away from the Gila as the river bends north into the mountains. The road itself isn't a favorite for us - a bit course, with the shoulder separated by a harsh rumblestrip that makes it more difficult to switch into the smoother driving lane after vehicles pass.

Intermittent historical plaques highlight the turbulent history of the land we can so casually pass through today. We've been cycling through the homeland of the Apache for several days, so the Indian Wars and conflicts with the encroaching settlers color the past here. too, we're following the route of Stephen Kearny's march west to California along the Gila, leafing his Army of the West, guided by the famous scout Kit Carson. The march took place near the end of the Mexican-American War, which reestablishes the border here - the land north of the Gila was ceded to the United States through the Mexican Succession, but the land we're cycling on remained with Mexico until it was later purchased through the Gadsden Purchase.

As we cycle comfortably and safely through this quiet land now, it is so hard to fathom how fast this has all come about. Two hundred years - just three oh my lifetimes - is just a hitorical instant.

After a few miles we come to the parting of ways with 191 - it turns northeast into the mountains, along the old route of the Coronado Trail - and we continue southeast on the Old West Highway, along the route of the first southern transcontinental highway. Soon, we pull off on the shoulder of the road for a brief lunch break. It's getting hot, and we sit in the full sun. No cottonwoods to shade our picnic today.

North of Safford lies another ultra-prominent range, the Gila Mountains. I think the horizontal band splitting the photo is the bank of the Gila River.

I'm not sure how this old complex beside the highway made it in here. I think I just liked the different shades of rust.

A historical monument off the shoulder of Highway 191, dedicated to a pair of settlers killed in an Apache raid. For the next several miles I contemplated this, visualizing this vast, desolate, empty landscape and the terror that must have been in the background of every settler's mind.

Eastbound on Highway 191, and creating some traffic problems. Rachael and I had a safety discussion after viewing this photo.

We picked up another biker for a mile or so, on his way from Great Basin National Park (his home, surprisingly enough). I dropped back to take a photo of him riding with Rachael, and soon afterwards he moved on. He had a much longer day ahead than we did.

Looking west toward Safford on Highway 191. What amazing country - a ruler-straight highway that runs to the horizon, rimmed by mountain ranges on either side.

Lunch break by the shoulder of Highway 70.

Just while we're stopped for lunch, a slight breeze rises and cools us as we climb. Soon we crest the ridge, and cross the county line from Graham into Greelee county. We like this county! Its highways are smooth! Suddenly it feels like we're cycling on slate, and freewheeling rapidly downhill toward the Gila River, Duncan, and rhe state line. It is a beautiful, colorful, exhilarating descent.

Dropping toward Duncan on Highway 70. The far mountains are in New Mexico.

Along this stretch anyway, US 70 is nicknamed the Old West Highway. It has a long history as far as highways go, and was one of the first east-west connectors in the country. When it was built in the 1920's, before the advent of the numbered highway system, it was known as the Lee Highway in honor of Robert E Lee, since it followed a southern route.

As soon as we arrive in town we find a store, sit on a bench cooling off with beverages, and then head around the corner to our stay for the night, the historic Simpson Hotel. It is a delightful place, having been restored from near ruin and converted into a warm, stylish B&B. We immediately feel at home.

I really like Duncan. There isn't that much to it - the B&B, a store, a few restaurants (all but one of which is closed this Sunday evening), I think a library. It feels wonderfully authentic and of a much different time. Before dinner we walk along the Gila for a ways, enjoying tonight's modest sunset and awed by the racket of hundreds of boat tailed grackles congregating on the lines above at sundown. Then we head over to the Tumbleweed Cafe for supper - a burger and fries, a club sandwich and onion rings - and walk the few blocks back to our room on utterly quiet streets. What a different life we could be living!

At the Simpson Hotel, our home for the night in Duncan

Morgan, who likes to help out at the Simpson Hotel, was anxious to show us her fine bike. Nice cycling shoes, too!

Great tailed grackles at sundown, Duncan

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 491 miles (790 km)

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