Jan 11-15 Cactus hunt

After our horse back ride Dennis took us over to the little campground where Dad and I stayed in November 2011 on our quick visit to Arizona. Dad, this was the table where we ate! Wasn't that a great time!

 On our last day in the Tucson area, we went in search for some of the crested cacti that we had heard of. Crested cacti are saguaro cacti whose growth somehow got messed up so that instead of growing straight up they take on a fan-like shape. So cool!

Our last evening with Dennis and Kyong again involved a delicious meal and great conversations.

THANK YOU TWO SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP, KINDNESS AND ENCOURAGEMENT! WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AGAIN SOON!

Jan 11-15 Near Tucson: Colossal Cave State Park

One day Dennis organized a horseback ride for us followed by a tour of Colossal Cave. The one hour horse ride was wonderful and it is definitely one of the best ways to experience the bizarre beauty of this interesting cactus landscape. 

The cave tour went off the main path onto an "off-road" track which involved squeezing through small cracks and climbing ladders up into other caves. I did not expect to go spelunking in Arizona. So fun, Thank you Dennis!

Jan 11-15 near Tucson Part 2

After attending church on Sunday with Dennis and Kyong, James and Dennis went to the Colossal Caves park while I showed Kyong how to make a quinoa chocolate cake. We had a lot of fun together, drank lots of tea, chatted and thought it was quite comical to measure one teaspoon of baking soda out of a giant bag. It was my first time in many month that I spent one on one time with another woman so this afternoon was quite special for me and I feel like I truly have a new friend now. 

As wonderful as all the delicious food was that Dennis and Kyong spoiled us with, the most enjoyable and memorable were the great conversations we had with these two dear friends. They are both strong Christian believers and it was so refreshing to hear about Dennis mission cycling trip across the USA two years ago. His openness with which he shares his faith with people he meets on the road, when traveling and in everyday life, is so inspiring and encouraging. We realized how much we had missed the company of other believers and God really blessed our time here in so many ways. 

THANK YOU LORD FOR THIS UPLIFTING STAY! BLESS OUR FRIENDS FOR THEIR LOVE AND GENEROSITY!

Jan 11- 15- Near Tucson Part 1

After our night at the go-kart race track we made a quick run into town to reach the Rincon Farmers Market in time to hopefully sell some of our cards. The market organizers allowed us to set up and some of the other vendors were quite interested in what we were doing. A kind man bought us some lunch and although it was not our most profitable day we still made enough to cover about a weeks worth of food. So happy! Thank you Lord for giving us this opportunity to finally earn some money again!

After the market we rode over to our friends', Dennis and Kyong. It was so great to see them again and wow did they ever make us feel welcome in every way. When we first arrived we got to try Kyong's refreshing ginger tea, just relaxed in the living room and exchanged stories.

In the evening they took us to the fantastic Golden Corral for a buffet dinner that offered pretty much everything you could possibly imagine from asian food to chocolate fountains. Yummy! What a treat!!!!!

Jan. 9-10- Saguaros, Burgers and Go-Karts!

Location: Buckeye and Marana, Arizona

From Tonopah we continued east on I-10 to Buckeye where we headed south to Gila Bend and continued east on the I-80 to by-pass Phoenix. The I-8 is also much quieter than the I-10 so much more enjoyable to ride. We passed through the Sonora National Monument where you pass through a forest of saguaro cacti, thousands of them as far as the eye can see, interspersed with cholla, palo verde and other prickly, deserty plants. So beautiful. My phone camera could not capture it very well but hopefully I can post some more photos of this stretch later on. The first night we found a nice camping spot in a small, dry river bed which was lined by bushes that created a natural tunnel of vegetation. The perfect little hiding spot. 

The ride on the following day was rather boring. We stopped to check our emails at the MacDonalds in Eloy. As we stood there a man approached James and asked if we had eaten..."would you like to join us?" He, his wife and their kids were on a road trip from Ontario to California to visit some friends. It was a most enjoyable encouter and interesting conversations. It was even  better because we had pretty much run out of food this morning and there were no stores around! Thank You Lord for providing so wonderfully!

THANK YOU SAM AND WENDY FOR THE GREAT MEAL. IT WAS GREAT TO MEET YOU AND WE HOPE YOUR TRIP WENT WELL. TAKE CARE AND GOD BLESS!

With MacDonalds burger power in our legs, we made it all the way to Marana on the Frontage rd which follows I 10 by the time the sun was starting to set. Being close to Tucson the area was quite urban now and we were not sure if we could find a nice hidden camping spot. As we were riding along the frontage road we noticed a group of RV's and trailers on our right on what was clearly not an official campground. Cool, let's check it out. It turned out this was a Go-Kart racing ground and several families had already gathered there for this weekend's races. They welcomed us to set up our tent wherever we found suitable and invited us to join in the BBQ later in the evening. Beer and drinks in the cooler over there! Wow, awesome! Thank you again Lord for providing such great people to meet, a safe place to camp and food to keep us going! They were a fun bunch and all really passionate about racing. Some of the trailers were completely outfitted as workshops where the fathers were giving their kids's Go-Karts the last tweaks before tomorrow's races. Impressive!

THANKS BILL AND EVERYBODY ELSE FOR WELCOMING US. WE HAD A GREAT EVENING WITH YOU AND WISH YOU ALL MUCH SUCCESS ON THE TRACK!!

FW: Jan. 7-8 - $1 Cheese Sticks and Hot Springs

Locations: Blythe, CA and Tonopah, AZ

The ride was not very eventful. Just followed the I-10 eastbound. We had a bit of a down day because at lunch we looked at our route on the map and realized how far we still had to go to get to the Canadian border. We got really worried that we would not make it in time if we take the detour all the way to Tucson to visit our friend. At lunch we basically decided to go straight north tomorrow and not go to Tucson to save time. But we so wanted to go visit our friends. What to do!?
Still a bit down and not in the most sociable mood we rode to our Warmshowers host in Blythe. The address we had was for a Bait shop so we were not sure what to expect. When we arrived the lady in the shop came out to greet us, told us the owner was not here but that is no problem. She showed us our camping spot, shower etc. and informed us that our first beer was on the house and they were ordering pizza for us. Wow! After our upsetting afternoon this was the perfect atmosphere to walk into; relaxed and totally cool. After freshening up we joined the regulars on the patio where we sat around the big wood stove made from an old barrel. The guys were so great, teased each other and kept bringing us one beer after the other. John's dog Riley provided the best entertainment for the night. That dog knows what money is and he understands the concept that these pieces of 'paper' can be exchanged for food in the store. John gave me a $1 dollar bill which I handed to Riley who immediately strode off to the store, constantly checking that we were following him and then stopped infront of the cheese cooler waiting for John to get two cheese sticks out for him. So funny! I have never met a dog that knows how to shop! 

John even told us a story of a family who pulled up infront of the store one time and when they opened the door a bill blew out. Riley snatched it and again walked over to the store to buy himself some cheese. That poor family got a good scare because they thought Riley was charging at them while in reality he was just after their money. Hahaha. 

That evening we reassessed our trip plans one more time and carefully added up the number of miles we still had to cover and it turned out that we should have more than enough time to hop over to Tucson for a few days. Yay!

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU AT THE B&B BAIT SHOP! THANK YOU FOR THE VERY WARM WELCOME AND THE MANY STORIES. YOU GUYS ARE A REAL COOL BUNCH AND TOTALLY MADE OUR DAY. HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN!

The following day was great. The wind was favourable and the road conditions mostly good. The scenery was nice but nothing overly spectacular. A few saguaro cacti appeared on the landscape as soon as we had crossed into Arizona so that was great. We ended up riding 107 miles (172km) all the way to Tonopah, a small town in dry Arizona. The unique thing about this place is that there are natural hotsprings in the area and we had found a Warmshowers contact there who has his own hotspring on his property. Our friends from Beijing had stayed with him when they were travelling in the USA and had recommended him to us. We could not find his address at first but eventually we succeeded. The guy was nice but he was a bit odd and also nudist so we were glad that he disappeared back into his RV after showing us our camping spot and how to operate the soaking tubs. We normally like socializing with our hosts but since he was not too keen on our company we did not mind since we were a bit tired anyways. After setting up the tent and a quick dinner we got ready for our soaking session! Our host had set up two large bathtubs under a mesquite tree and hoses delivered unlimited hot water to them. 

It was a wonderful experience to sit there up to your neck in hot water with the moon shining between the branches of the tree overhead. What a great way to relax after a long day on the bike!

Jan. 6- Joshua Tree National Park part 2

Joshua trees prefer the cooler climate of higher elevations so as we descended into the valley the vegetation became more 'desert-like'. The cholla garden was one of my most favorite spots in the park. I have never seen such a dense collection of these beautiful, golden cactus bushes. 

We reached the exit of the park in the early evening and found a lovely little camping spot under a mesquite tree. He sky put on another grand show of colour after the sun set.

 

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Jan. 6- Joshua Tree National Park part 1

Eric's friends were a fun bunch. Kyle (far right in photo, Eric far left) has done a lot of cycle touring too so it was great to exchange some stories. 

THANKS GUYS FOR THE WARM WELCOME. IT WAS GREAT TO MEET YOU ALL!

Joshua trees are so awesome!

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Jan. 5- Joshua Tree

After a short stretch on Interstate 10 we turned north onto highway 62 towards Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree, from where we would then enter Joshua Tree National Park. The force of the headwind was worrysome, especially since Sharon had said that it was like that every day. Does that mean headwind for the next week or just in this valley?! No please no!

Thankfully by the afternoon we had reached Yucca Valley and the wind had subsided for the most part! So grateful! Unfortunately we received a message from our Warmshowers host in Joshua Tree that he was still out of town and thus could not host us. We were a bit disappointed about that but o well.Somewhat unsure of what to do we just went to the Park's visitor info center where we met another touring cyclist, Eric, who was on his way to meet some friends who were camping in the park. He invited us to come along. Great!

Aside from cool company there was another benefit to riding with Eric: he had a National Parks Pass with which he was allowed to bring up to three other people into the park for free! Yay! Thanks Eric!

It was getting dark quickly and we still had a ways to go to reach the campground so we had no time to stop for photos but I will never forget the magical landscape we rode through that evening. Joshua trees are  bizarre looking regardless of the time of day but as silouettes against the evening sky their appearance reaches its height of fear inducing, awe inspiring beauty. Meanwhile the mountains in the east reflected the western sky making it seem as though they were emitting residual light that they had accumulated during the day. The sky resembled a living watercolour painting with soft yellows, blues, pinks and purples blending into each other. I regret not having been able to get any photos of all this but at the same time I doubt my camera could have done it justice.
 

Location: Joshua Tree, California