Another Side of Arizona

I was told that my last post was kind of a bummer.  Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't; the trip has, regardless, been the most amazing experience of my life so far.

I want to give a happy glimpse of Arizona this time.  Its been a pretty amazing time in this state.  We have gone from desert to canyon to mountain to desert again.  We were at about 8000 feet above sea level outside of Flagstaff, then about 1000 feet by Roosevelt Lake.  We got 6 inches of snow in the north and 3 days of rain in the south.

We have had headwinds nearly every day, and strong ones at that.  The funny thing about having that much headwind for that many days in a row is that you want to say that the headwind is "following" you. The twisted part is that headwinds don't follow, they predict where you are going.  They are always a step ahead of you.  When we turn, the headwind turns with us.  It can really mess with your morale.

For so much headwind, we have had one day of tailwind:  When we left the Grand Canyon, we had a building crosswind for a few miles.  When we turned, the wind stayed behind us, and we flew.

Arizona has been a really incredible place.  Of all the places I have visited so far, few of these places have spoken to me in such a way that I could think about staying.  San Francisco was one place and Tuscon is the other.

Tuscon? you ask.  Yes, Tuscon.  We arrived to a flurry of bike related activities: bike-swap, bike art show, scavenger hunt, etc.  It is one of the best road biking cities in the country because of its lack of snow and excess of lanes and paved trails.  BICAS (bicycle inter-community art and salvage) is the bike co-op in town, and it turns out that its a kind of famous one.  They were really friendly and helpful.  The city contracts their art department for recycled bike racks and trash can holders made from bike parts.  They are truly integrated into the community and everybody seems to know about them and how cool they are.

The hip spot in town is 4th Ave, a very walk-able and cool place with great coffee, solar powered beer and the best pizza I've had since the tri-state area.

Yes, thats a hunting bike.

Tomorrow, we leave for parts further south.  The weather has been fantastic here and we intend to follow it all the way to Florida.  We have a third joining us in 3 weeks in Texas.  The trip is changing by the day and its always for the better.

Until next time, babbity boop.