Day 13: Valle Rest Day

Day 13

May 29 2015

Miles: 0

Valle to, well, Valle

Di and I are still in Valle enjoying our rest day.  As Di stated in her blog yesterday, the internet connections are pretty bad and it is very difficult to upload pictures.  So, I thought it would be a good time to provide a FAQ page (Frequently Asked Questions).


FAQ Page

How much does all your luggage weigh?
Di did her research and discovered that if we are to average 55 miles per day, then our luggage can weigh no more than 40 pounds.  My luggage weighs just over 60 pounds.  Di says that is insane.  On the other hand, Di's luggage weighs over 50 pounds.  I weigh over 170 pounds and Di weighs in the 120's.  Therefore, Di is carrying close to half her weight while I am carrying about a third of my weight.  Who's the insane one now, Di?

How often are you camping out?
Di has put a limit on our camping days by insisting we camp no more than 15% of the time.  This is day 13 and we have camped out twice.  That comes out to 15.3% of the time.  Coincidence?  I think not.

What is the most common thing you find on the road?
The skeletal remains of bicyclists that have gone before us.  Ha, just kidding, we find very few of those.  This being Arizona, we mostly just find spent shell casings.  Ha, just kidding again, I'm sure the shell casings are recovered to be used again.  No, the most common thing found on the road is rubber from blown out tires.  The second most common thing is those weird weight things that are put on your car tires to make them balanced.  Based upon the number of these I have seen on the road, there are a lot of unbalanced drivers out there.  I have seen at least three folding knives and I am tempted to keep them, but I have enough weight as it is (see question one above).  One time after I had picked up this nice Smith and Wesson and threw it back down once I was done checking it out, Di told me I had to pick it back up and wipe my prints off it.  "You never know how that knife was used!", she said.  I think she has watched too many episodes of CSI.

Are you nuts?
This question was presented to us by our moms.  I'm not sure I should reply as the answer should be obvious.  Also, anything I say in my defense will not make any difference, so all I will say is, "Hey, you raised us and made us this way, so it is all your fault!"

What was the steepest grade when you climbed to Yellen and Prescott?
Thanks to Ben for presenting this question.  The steepest grade was between 8 and 10%.  That's pretty steep.  We were told by some guy in Congress that the ascent was really steep.  I asked him if he had ridden his bike up to Prescott.  "No", he said, "but when I drive my car I really have to give it the gas going up those hills!"

What is Di eating these days?
This question was sent to us by Bethany, who has a sympathy with some of Di's DRs (dietary restrictions).  Well Beth, you may be surprised to learn that Di has not a shred of dietary integrity remaining.  All manner of food is voraciously consumed.  We may need to coin a new word for someone who is both an omnivore and voracious eater: an omnivoracivore. It is most telling that she no longer even bothers to ask for a gluten-free option.  Di wants me to say that her diet is now one of necessity and not of choice.  But is it really?  Were those Kit Kat bars really a necessity?

How do you get your electronic devices charged?
This question was posed by Frank, who's job forces him to be tethered to a charged phone at all times.  Really, we don't have that many electronic devices, just Di's phone, my phone, Di's GPS, Di's iPad, my Mac Air, and my Nikon camera.  We charge the the devices each night we are in a motel, and that is usually good enough to get us through the day.  Di will often bring her iPhone and GPS chargers into restaurants and find someplace to plug them in while we eat.  One time when we camped out we had no access to power and used the Mac to charge Di's phone.  In addition to being a computer, the Mac doubles as a big battery for Di's electronics.

How much did the other motel cost in Ash Fork?
This question was also asked by Frank.  The one hotel that had vacancies charged only $29 per night, which obviously means it is too dirty to ever use.  But how about that first hotel that had no vacancies?  Well, I had to do some internet research and the answer is very interesting.  I learned the room rates start at $30 per night.  I don't know how much higher they go and for what reason the price would increase, but does it matter.? Would Di have chosen to stay at a $30 dollar motel?  Granted, this is 1/29th more expensive than the motel dismissed out-of-hand by Di as being far too likely to be bug infested, but would that be enough to push her beyond the tipping point of a motel being expensive enough?  Probably not.  I suspect Frank assumed this and asked this question merely as a way of cluing us in to what to him was already obvious.  Sometimes its tough having smart siblings.

Are the roads worse than the roads in RI?
We thank Frank again for this question.  No.  RI still wins the prize for worst roads we have ridden so far this year.  The roads in CA and AZ may be cracked in some places from the heat, but at least they are not covered with dirt and sand as the RI roads were a few weeks ago.

Why does Steve always seems to be wearing the same clothes in every picture?
Did you know that Einstein had a closet full of the same white shirts?  He did this so he wouldn't have to worry about what to wear each day.  Nobody asked Einstein why it appears he wears the same clothes every day, they correctly assumed he had that closet full of the same clothes.  Is this my way of saying I have multiple sets of the same clothes?  No, I'm saying all this in the hope you got bored with this answer and stopped reading before you got to this point.  I do not have multiple sets of the same clothes.  Draw your own conclusions.

Why are Toni-Ann's comments placed so early in the morning?
Many people wonder why Toni-Ann places her comments between 2:30am and 5:30am.  Doesn't she sleep?  The only conclusion that can be drawn is she is filled with such anticipation for the next blog entry that she doesn't go to sleep until it is posted.  She stays up continually refreshing her screen waiting to see that the next blog has been posted.  Toni-Ann comments so early in the morning that the one time she didn't post until later in the day made Di speculate that she didn't post because she had jumped on a plane to come and see if we were okay.  Please Toni-Ann, make sure you post early in the morning so we don't spend all day wondering if you are going to show up (though that would be a pleasant surprise).

What has happened so far that has surprised you?
I am continually surprised at how wonderful and kind folks have been to us.  Motorists wave, beep, and give us the thumbs up.  People we meet in restaurants strike up conversation and are truly interested in us and what we are doing.  Randy, the owner of the Westward Inn, ran from his home to stop us from leaving in the morning before he had made us a great cup of coffee.  Cindy and Sheri, the owners of the motel in Congress, invited us to their evening cookout.  Yes, the kindness of the people we have met has been a big surprise.  The biggest surprise of this trip, however, was to see a blog post by my dad (Poppy).  We are definitely on the lookout for fruitcakes now.

Has there been any disappointments so far?
Yes!  We had to ride 27 miles one morning before we had our first cup of coffee.  That was a huge disappointment.  However, we got that cup of coffee because the only store we would see that day was open because the owner was driving into town that morning, saw us on the road and figured we would stop at his store, so he turned around to go back and open the store.  Then he made us coffee and wouldn't accept any money for it.  Naturally, we had a second cup.  The kindness of folks certainly tempered our earlier disappointment.  For more on the kindness of stranger, see the question above.

How is the new camera working?
The new camera is working, but I am not yet satisfied with the pictures.  There are a lot of settings I need to review to make sure the pictures look the way I want.  This is what I have so far:

Di exiting our apartment (the former horse barn)

Di washing clothes 

Di showing skills gained as a result of an ill-spent youth

Di sitting with all her friends