Gonzales Pass

Tue Jan 25th Tempe AZ to Superior AZ

Dave posted a comment about being Forest Gump.  Aaron had made his own spin on that analogy and made some wrist bands before the start of this trip.  I took a picture of the one he gave me.

Last night i slept like a rock in a real bed but I've slept pretty well on the ground too.  We started the ride going past Arizona State University on a scenic pedestrian bridge over the lake.

Arizona could unofficially be called "The land of 10,000 schools".   There had to be 100 small schools in less than a 20 mile stretch of road yesterday.  The Fox news reporter told us the school voucher law in Arizona has created many small private charter schools giving the state the highest number of schools per capita in the country. One plus for bikers is the slow speed of traffic d/t the school speed zones and speed humps every half mile.

Someone pulled their car off the road and was clapping for us as we road past Apache Junction.  Her name is Clax and is a local school teacher who saw the Fox news broadcast yesterday.  It was nice to have a roadside cheerleader spur us onward.  Another friendly soul was Mary in the Honda Element who pulled over and invited us to spend the night at her studio next to her home.  By the time we had the invitation Lenny already had camp set so we thanked her for the offer and continued down the road,

In Apache Junction we had a quick game of "rock, paper, scissors" to determine who gets 1st pick of the beter military "Meals Ready to Eat".  Then we sipped a few latte's, courtesy of a gift card from my co-workers at Lifetime Care, for a boost of energy before heading up a long steady climb to the Gonzales Pass.  We pulled in hungry and tired to find Rick and Lenny with camp all setup for us and a hot dinner of Rick's special camp potatoes, cheeseburgers and asparagus.

We have some more climbing at the start tomorrow as we keep stair stepping our way towards an 8000+ foot peak that we have to pass early next week (today we started at about 1,200ft and are camping at 2900ft). 

Tomorrow we're camping near the Coolidge Dam.  There are 4 campsites nearby and since Lenny likes to fish we thought our best bet would be the Catfish Bay Reservation Campground.