Cross country Ride, march 12, Salome to Wickenburg, AZ

Today it was all about the food and the signs.

The red neon lights outside our rooms were turned off at 6:30 AM which gave us all about a half an hour to rouse and pull ourselves for a 7:00 AM breakfast. In preparation for the possible heat and humidity on longer days as we travel south east, we are training to get on the road as early as possible while the winds are calm and the temperatures are cooler. It will make more sense later in the trip, for right now, in the high desert it is too dark and too cold to seem logical.

Our usually quiet and somewhat grumpy mood was lightened this morning by the fact that the guide had mentioned a wonderful coffee shop/bakery about five miles down the road from Salome, so we all had token bites of scrambeled eggs and oatmeal, threw our luggage in the trailer and headed off down the road for a morning coffee and biscotti and a sit in until it warmed up a bit.




Outside Ingredients in Wendon, AZ

Ingredients in Wendon, Arizona, is one of those unexpected little gems of a place making a good go of it somewhere in the back of beyond. It is run by a mother and daughter who also specialize in antiques and funky, eclectic home decor. The building itself was a square stone blockhouse, covered in ivy and surrounded by a white picket fence and a small patio with vintage wrought iron tables and chairs. The interior was filled with old doors, painted and decorated and used as screens to make up a variety of small dining nooks decorated with old china, glass bottles, artsy craftsy constructions of wood, beads, glass and wire, old photos, bits and pieces of old office furniture etc. Scattered throughout the store were various hand painted and hand lettered signs which showed a fey sense of humor and independent spirit.

Ingredient's sign

Both the owner and her daughter were there, serving up the cappuccinnos and lattes, along with hot chocolate, biscotti, and scones and generally chipping into the general conversation among the bikers. The coffee was delicious, the scones and biscotti perfect,and the bathroom was worth a visit just to see the nautically themed decor and gizmos and to read the signs, including a multi lingual door.

Warmed and refreshed we started off up the road towards Wickenburg, passing the other extreme of sentiment at the cowboy bar and cafe, a bit further up the road.

Wendon's anti coffee scene store and sign

Today was also one of those simple to navigate days because the directions consisted of mainly "come out of Scheffler motel, turn right on route 60, go 56 miles east and then look for the Wickenburg Inn on your left. In Europe we used to joke about how you could tell which countries the Romans had invaded because of the endless stretches of straight road. I guess the Romans must have spent some time in Arizona as well, or at least the road would have done them proud.

At 30 miles out we stopped at the Coyote cafe in Aquila for a 10:30 lunch. All you had to do was look for the congregation of bikes and you knew there was food to be had. Neither Janet or I was hungry but we stopped in for something to drink and to hang out with our fellow bikers.

It is a strange phenomenon, but in such small town places, the general reaction from the men is almost universally that we are all crazy, and from the women it is genuine curiosity and recognition that this is something fun and worthwhile to be doing and that they could do it to. We sow seeds of insurrection as we go, as well as having a chance to talk with some wonderful people. In the Coyote, the owner/chief cook, was making preparation for her kidney's second birthday to honor her brother who had donated a kidney to her, so she was busy making kidney themed party decorations.

The only real challenge on today's ride was that the majority of the route was poorly done chip seal paving and so by the end of the 56 miles it sort of felt like the sitz bones and pubic bones had been on top of a jack hammer all day. It was definitely a day to step down off the bike every 10 miles or so and wait for the world to stop bouncing up and down.

The majority of the ride was also a long slow climb, gradual enough that the road actually looked level or slightly down hill all day, but that you had to keep changing down in gears to ride. There was also a pretty steady 20 mile an hour headwind until the last 10 miles or so. I find it perversely funny that the Arizona weathermen don't seem to be able to define or predict the direction or strength of the winds any more than Texas weathermen.

Wickenburg's chief claim to fame is that it is the "dude ranch capital of world" and that rather than a jail, the city had a jail tree. apparently they were too busy digging for gold and silver at the Lost Vulure Mine to build many buildings so they just chained the hooligans up to a heavy weight attached to a Mesquite tree in the middle of town, figuring that they could probably dig their way out of an adobe "hoosgaw" anyway.

All things considered though it was a lovely ride. The weather was cool, in the mid 60's, slightly overcast with a drop or two of rain once or twice, and passing sun in between, and the desert is looking green with lots of cholla, prickly pear, mesquite, saguaro and barrel cactus all getting ready to bloom. As we pass south of Phoenix the flowers should be really wonderful.

We are 350.36 miles into the ride.

today's stats

57 miles ridden

ride time 3:21 with an actual travel time of 5:00 because of all the stops

3 flat tires bringing us to 20 for the ride so far

no injuries