Mesa to Superior, AZ

sign in vacant downtown window

our camp spot in Superior

This one was actually from several days ago, a sunset in Scottsdale

Picketpost mountain, Tonto National Forest

Me, lookin pretty dorky, but look at that beautiful desert

Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert, and the rumble strip bike lane

Look at all of that cholla!

Mesa to Superior AZ
Day 57
12/31/09
37 miles

We spent our last night in Mesa with Greg's grandparents. In the morning we finished packing up and ate a hearty breakfast of coffee cake, fruit, and cheesy eggs and veggies made by Greg's mom, Sherry. We said our goodbyes and started out again after a solid 20 day break. Wow, I can't believe we were off the bikes for so long. I hope we haven't lost our trusty blog readers. We decided to take it fairly easy today because we had been off the bikes for so long. We rode through a beautiful setting of Sonoran desert the entire day. There were countless saguaro, cholla, ocotillo, palo verde, mesquite, prickly pear, barrel cactus and many more. The riding was mostly a gradual uphill with one steep hill and some choppy pavement. We cursed the Arizona state department of transportation for making the bike lane simultaneously also the rumble strip! We endured a persistent headwind for the entire day with some bigger gusts, making the ride a challenge.

It was nice to get into Superior at around 3PM, long before the New Years partying began. We set up camp and then took a nice walk through the town. Superior is quite obviously a copper mining town. We could tell from a few miles away from the smelter stack, which reminded us of Anaconda, Montana. On our walk through town we could tell that Superior had already seen its day and was in serious decline. Many homes and stores were vacant and boarded up. We saw a sign on the window of a vacant building stating “the environment needs copper” and “our future is in your hands.”

We are staying at an RV park for $5, and they have free wireless!

To celebrate New Year's Eve we ate dinner in town at a local hotspot, tamales and a chimichanga, followed by some margaritas, mmmm. This is probably one of the most unique locations and circumstances either of us has found ourselves in. As Greg put it earlier today “I've never celebrated New Year's while on a bike trip.” Happy New Years everyone!

Dani