Day 9. Taking a diagonal across greater Phoenix 68 miles

Unusual evening nights sleep at our campsite on Lake Pleasant. I heard clomping outside my tent. It was a beautiful nearly full moon night so I had the tent fly open wide. When I looked out I saw two wild burros standing just along our campsite. Apparently this area is famous for them. Later in the night one of them started braying and scared us all awake! Pretty funny.

Morning arrives and we’re off to Mesa, AZ. We had about 15 miles before we hit the suburbs. We rode several miles of bicycle trails along river beds and canals and always on dedicated bike paths as we headed from northwest Greater Phoenix to southwest side to Mesa. It was really a pleasant experience all day.

Along the way we met Rich who rides these trails everyday. He said he rides about 200 miles a week on these bike paths or 10,000 miles a year! He’s got eye disease from diabetes and recovering from a triple bypass and is exactly the same age as Jim and I. (64 this spring) He was off to buy a new bike.He currently owns 13! As we parted he pointed us toward a nice little sandwich restaurant that caters to cyclists. Good tip!

After lunch we had 25 miles to go. Zigzagging our way through Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. We passed by interesting neighborhoods, high schools, elementary schools and 3 major league spring training ballparks. Jim was pretty excited when we went right by the Cubs fields in Mesa.

Finally we made it to the RV Park that Tom and Linda S. are generously letting us call home for our layover tomorrow. It was a super long day and we arrived to cold beverages and snacks. We started at 9:20am and finished at 5:30pm. I was spent. Immediately we went to the hot tub doing laundry while soaking. Late night dinner at the most interesting Italian restaurant. Our meal came family style and we devoured it. Day off tomorrow and I can’t wait to be clean with no bike shorts😊