Well the day started out ok..
Got an early start, 6:30 or so, and rode to Willcox for coffee at McD's. While enjoying my reliable beverage, my phone went black, nada, zilch. After 5 minutes or so I got it to restart and everything was hunky dory. Nice 70-80 degree ride up to Safford then drive through the gigundo Morenci copper mine. I used to think Bisbee had a big hole in the ground but Bisbee looks like a mud puddle compared to Morenci. Morenci is where a bunch of the Bisbee miners went when the Bisbee mine closed in '75.
Then the fun part, twisting up Rt 191, formerly Rt 666, the Devils highway. It is sure slower than any other way since most of the turns are 15 mph, but it is fun. About half way up the twisties, the rain started, so on with the rain gear and the rest of the day was weaving and dodging ugly rain cells. Some big and some small, but every time I thought I could out run them, the road curved and headed right under the next one. Lots of lightning and thunder. My gear is pretty bullet proof so i didn't get wet, just annoyed.
I stopped in Springerville for another reliable coffee and my phone was down to 45% so I plugged in my Lithium pack and it dropped to 35% and the battery indicators were blinking on and off. I think the cable I used early this morning damaged the phone and now when I plug in a known good cable, the phone battery drops again. So I need a new phone. I called Deb and she reserved a room on Socorro for me and I shut the phone off so it had 20% battery in case the nice BestBuy person in Albuquerque needs to do something before it dies. This makes me realize how helpless I am without my phone. Try finding a phone booth these days..
So gassed up in Springerville and rode through the rain to Pie Town, where I really really wanted to stop, but the thought of dripping my way into their shop in the pouring rain killed that idea. So on the Socorro and wandered around town looking for the hotel (remember no Google Maps..). The guy pointed out two restaurants I could walk to and sure enough it started raining again. The first one was closed (Sunday night) and the second one did not exist, so I got a vegan burger at Burger King (they are not that bad actually), then walk back to the hotel in the rain.
OK, no rain and a new phone tomorrow, I hope!!
Oh yea, the new bike is awesome. I am not very sore tonight. So far so good..
Odometer: 1430-975=455
Gas: 67.6, 76.3
Sorry about the lack of nearby restaurants. Glad you’re out of the rain for the night!
ReplyDeleteSounds like we were dodging the same rain clouds.. lots of rain once I got to the AZ/NM border, enough to put on the rain pants for!
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