Day Six: This was a bad day for Jeremy. He was feeling really bad from, I think drinking too much power drinks. The ride from Surprise through the Phoenix area was not fun and the traffic was terrible. The Canal Bike Path was good, but getting across all the roads was a real pain, especially I-17. At the corner of 48th and McDowell I had another flat and was out of spare tubes. I had to walk the bike to Scottsdale Road to get going again. The guys at the bike shop at 1800 Scottsdale Road were very helpful and kind. From there I went off route and took Scottsdale Road to University. We stayed at a campground in Apache Junction. Total distance for the day was 73.3 miles.

Day Seven: We left Apache Junction around 7:45. Highway 60 was very busy due to a Safeway Gold Tournament and the last weekend of a medieval type fair. This was a fairly difficult day with lots of hills. The first challenge was Gonzales Pass at 2,651 feet. There was some road construction which caused some heavy traffic at times. At Superior the police let us ride through a very narrow section before letting all the traffic move. Just past Queen Creek Tunnel some rock climbers were putting up a sign. Not sure what it said except “We Love ?”. Signal Mountain was quite a climb at 4,829 feet. We arrived at Globe around 4:15. We were kind of surprised at the hills we had to climb to get out of Globe. We spent the night at the Apache Gold casino. The camp ground was the dog walking area for an RV park, but not a bad place. It also has a pool and hot tube which felt very good. The casino was about seven miles east of Globe. Total miles for the day was 71.

Day Eight: This was a fairly good day. It was much cooler with cloud cover. We also road with a couple for Youngstown, Ohio on a tandem for most of the day. At Bylas a guy we rode with in California for awhile caught up with us and we all rode together to Thatcher. The day was filled with minor hills, but nothing real difficult. We arrived in Safford around 3:30 and rode 68.3 miles.

Day Nine: We left Safford about 7:10 with the goal to reach Lordsburg. The route we took is not part of Adventure Cycling suggested routes to Silver City. We were going to go via Mule Creek, but there was a lot climbing and no services at Mule Creek. Plus, I don’t think it was any further going via Lordsburg. It looked like it could save a lot of climbing, which it did.. It was a little over 40 miles to Duncan, but very nice riding with gentle hills and a slight cross wind. There was not a whole lot in Duncan with not fresh water to spare. The road to Lordsburg was great. The winds were from the southwest so we had cross winds and tail winds most of the way. Outside of Safford there was some purple cactus. We never saw it again. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the high 70’s and no clouds. The traffic was light. Total distance today was 85 miles

Day Ten: The climb to Silver City was not near as bad as I thought. I was a little concerned because Lordsburg was 4,245 feet and Silver City is around 6,000. The first challenging climb was about 9 miles out of town and not very long and there was so much climbing via Mule Creek.. Just past a big copper mine there was about a five mile glide and then up again. Coming into Silver City there was another nice glide into town. Total miles from Lordsburg was 44 and we were expecting it to be 54 so that was a nice surprise. It was a cool day with temperatures in the high 60’s.