OUR FIRST DAY ON THE ROAD

Cougina was determined to get completely out of our casita in Tucson on July 31, and we did (although it nearly killed Aggie). Cougina wanted to get out of the heat for the start, while we try to beat our bodies back into physical condition, so we rented a U-Haul truck and drove our bikes and gear to Lakeside AZ, up north in the Arizona high country. We spent the next day at a campground, thinning out our gear (WAY too much) and tweaking solar power and electronics. Today, we turned in the truck, and headed up US Highway 61 toward Springerville. That's Aggie with the bikes on the right, and Cougina at a rest stop, contemplating his fatigue.

The man on the left is an angel whose name is Mike. We had hoped to do 20 miles today, generally all uphill. We did 13 miles and were pretty tired, when Mike came riding by on a really nice lightweight road bike. He stopped to chat for a bit, and headed on toward home. We walked our bikes up the next hill, and stopped again at the side of the road. It was still 6 miles to the Vernon store and public lands, but there was no legal camping where we were.

Soon, we saw Mike wheeling by in the other direction and called to him. He had come back up with his mountain bike, the one with a Bob trailer hookup. He took a trailer and pulled it to the store for us. That is, he drove 6 miles back to us and 6 miles with the trailer. He chatted with us as if he were just a friend joining us for a ride, shared tips about our route tomorrow, and got us a camping spot next to the store, where he was friends with the clerk. He made our first day a GREAT day. Not only because we managed to get our 20 miles in, but because we got to witness a great human being in action.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE & COUGINA
I must say the fatigue was all mine /// Aggie is a gorilla and had no problem, it was my trailer that Mike pulled the 6 miles to the store//
I must say that C had a great day. We both had said that if we made it just 10 miles, that would be enough for us to know we'd be fine out here. He just has this innate need to push himself to the extreme.