SCREAMIN' GLUTES!

March 20,Superior to Globe, AZ 18 miles!!

We were going to call this post "A Nice Day for a Walk" but decided that SCREAMING GLUTES was more descriptive and would get more attention. We had 2 1/2 miles to the Queen Creek tunnel at 7% grade and we walked more than half of that. (Some of our Blog readers are Cross Country women Georgia rode with six years ago who did the whole ride from Apache Junction to Globe in one day. That just happened to be on a Sunday and she didn't get to join them. However that was six years ago and with 100 lb's less of a load.) At about that point we were reconsidering the "NEED to have items" in our load and Georgia asked "What can we throw over into the canyon?"
When we were riding we could only get up to about 4mph and with the front panniers, it was difficult to steady and stir the bike at that pace. The sun was shining, there was a nice breeze and we were in no hurry. The wind at our backs was a nice blessing. A nice day for a walk! However pushing that weight up that grade gave our glutes and shoulders quite a workout. Massages were needed that night!
We did 4 1/2 miles in three hours! Gad Zooks!
Rusty says it brought out a new side of Georgia. She actually called a trucker a "Dork" who was rude and honked at us from the passing lane! A highway patrolman drove up and gave us a scolding. He said he had gotten complaints about us being in the middle of the lane and we needed to stay on the side. He said that we had been warned and if anything happened it would be our fault. Smiling sweetly, we said "Thank you, Officer" but after he left we had our own discussion about it. Right, we would really be in the middle of the lane on that treacherous narrow two lane winding road but besides that bikes can legally "take the lane" to be safe if necessary. ( But one would be just as dead right or wrong.)
The day was harder than we thought it would be. At one point Georgia thought she saw a buzzard sitting on a rock up ahead waiting for us. It turned out to be just a shadow but she was certain we were buzzard bait. And we determined a new meaning for the rectangular signs with the black & yellow diagonal stripes at the end of the guard rails along the road: they mean Rest Area! Rusty kept reassuring Georgia that there was a little store called "The Top of the World" up past the top that was sure to have chocolate milk. It kept Georgia going until we realized that that store also no longer exists! Where is the chocolate milk when you need it?!!!
Rusty said he had driven that route in his car dozens of times and had never "gotten so up close and personal" and noticed how beautiful and fascinating the rock formations are!
We had scheduled too many miles for us at this time of the ride and with our load. We decided to change the schedule..after all it is OUR ride. We ate a fabulous dinner in Miami at Rusty's favorite Mexican food restaurant and stayed in Globe in a motel instead of going seven miles past to an RV park. We snuggled down and had sweet dreams of long haul trucks, mountain roads with cliffs dropping to the valley floor and buzzards.