(Wed, 2/26/25; 26 miles, 293 feet of climb)
Wow, what a day — maybe my favorite one yet! After two weeks of social isolation, I enjoyed THREE major encounters today: Breakfast with old relatives, supper with new relatives (by marriage), and a total chance encounter with four people from my home town (a surprise in Surprise!).
Aunt Marjory fed me well with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, coffee, and orange juice. We had a great time sitting around the table talking. One more great story from her this morning:
When my wife Beth was a baby, her parents dropped her off at Aunt Marjory’s house in Luverne, Minnesota, so they could drive Beth’s sister Sarah to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
Marjory and Arlen had two kids aged 5 and 6, but Beth was such a perfect baby that they decided to have another baby! So Karen Simmons literally owes her life to her cousin Beth!
—-
I finally got packed up and on the bike around 10:45 am. It was already getting hot. I went east and then south, searching for the entrance to White Tank Mountains recreational area. But Google Maps was leading me astray — the road it wanted me to take had big “No Trespassing “ signs blocking it. After trying a few alternate routes, I finally surrendered and started heading further east.
Since I had been on the bike for 80 minutes at this point, and it was getting hotter, I looked for some shade for a break. I saw a building and headed for the shady side. When I found that, I also found TABLES to sit at! A double blessing.
Then I looked up and saw the sign: “Handel’s Homemade Ice milk Cream.” The Hallelujah Chorus immediately started playing in my head — I mean, it was ICE CREAM in the desert, and it was HANDEL! How much more obvious can you get?!
So I dutifully entered the store and ordered a cone. When faced with the choices — small, medium, or large — I hesitated, but then remembered I wasn’t biking very far today, and settled on small.
As a former ice cream professional, I can tell you that gave me about 10 ounces of ice cream! (That would be four scoops, at 2.5 oz each.) Good thing I wasn’t planning on eating lunch.
I monopolized an outdoor table with all my charging devices, but started packing up after a long while when it started getting crowded.
That’s when it happened.
As I walked to my bike, a guy said, “Hey, I know you.” One of the women with him then said she recognized the Spring Street Sports water bottle on the table. These four people are all from CHIPPEWA FALLS, WISCONSIN!!
What are the odds of that?! The first guy was Dave Meinen who was there with his wife Diane. Dave and I have worked for the same groups and organizations over the years (Cray, Intel, IBM/GF/Marvell), but mostly at different times. Mike Stoffell and his wife Lisa (who I learned is the sister of Jill Herriges) were also there. Good thing I wasn’t in a hurry today, because we talked for a while. (For those who don’t know, Chippewa Falls is a town of 14,000 that is 1765 miles from here!)
—-
By the time I left Handel’s Ice Cream, it was too late to go to White Tank. So I headed to a post office to buy stamps that have eluded me for five days now (hard to find in the desert), and then to a bike shop to fill up my tires (the first bike shop since Yuma).
On the way to my final destination, I took some drone videos in a neighborhood, which I found was much tougher than in the open desert.
I got to Lynn & Teri Trask’s house in Sun City West at 4:15 pm. They are the dad and stepmom of Cadi, our brand new daughter-in-law! They live in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but just got to Arizona for six weeks. Perfect timing to be their first visitor!
I have to say that I have never felt more welcomed. Teri did her homework, finding out from my son David what I liked. Waiting for me were peanut M&Ms, dark chocolate with sea salt, popcorn, and other assorted snacks. Then for supper, pot roast with vegetables followed by ice cream and warm chocolate chip cookies. HOLY COW! They know how to spoil a guy!
We lingered on the deck for two hours after eating, talking about running a business, reading the Bible, raising kids, and even some politics and world events. After we finally went inside, I couldn’t resist using their gigantic 80-inch TV to get a peek at some of my drone videos in 4K resolution. Stunning! I can’t wait for the long-form videos on YouTube!
So I’m going to bed late tonight. And I rode only 26 miles today, “wasting” what would’ve been a strong tailwind from the west (and with the prospect of facing a string headwind from the east tomorrow.).
But I wouldn’t trade today for all the tailwinds and downhills in the world. It’s all about the people.
—————————————————-
TRANSLATIONS/BACKGROUND: “CANTBIRD” = CA-AZ-NM-TX Bike Ride, my own nickname for the 1000 miles on the western half of the Southern Tier Bicycle Route, using maps from ACA (Adventure Cycling Association). (I did the 1500-mile eastern half in March 2024, which I called GUMBIRD [Gulf of Mexico Bike Ride].)
—————————————————-
LINKS:
Old-fashioned BLOG if you have friends who don’t use Facebook:
“Old Scouter” Facebook page if you want to follow big adventures with more pictures and video clips (but not unrelated personal posts):
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066334039590
“Old Scouter” YouTube page (when I get time to edit after the trip):
sounds like a very good day!