22nd March
I woke up, I'm camping in a 10,000 acre wilderness of bush and shrub owned by the Federal Government’s land agency. I had to take the saddlebags off the bike to squeeze underneath the interstate also owned by the Federal Government. The janitor at the last rest area said I could sleep there. It was a wilderness but next to me was an interstellar amount of energy being used to transport goods and people to whole cities that are unimaginably big. Back to basics: my rear tyre is flat. I have no more patches and have used all my spare inner tubes. So I pumped up my tyre every ten miles until I got where I could buy some tyre patches, Walmart on Watson Road, Buckeye.
The Beautiful Desert of Arizona
Further down the road - was it Sundance - no Starbucks around except one inside another food market franchise, can’t see the bike, but instead found a library in a courtyard of immaculately handsome civic buildings, including the police station. Libraries in the United States are an excellent institution. Found a corner, plugged everything in and fell asleep, probably snoring. “Excuse me sir,” the librarian, a really nice round faced lady, “you can’t sleep in here,” I told her I can sleep anywhere, even on my motorbike, sometimes whilst moving, but she was nonplussed and I promised it would never happen again, well, not in her library. Anyway, well charged up and having been sent a tip off from my wife Caroline about a Trek dealership on my way into the city and that it was really close by, I was encouraged.
Portrait of a Bike
I am scattered all over with the grime and dust at near dirt level. I am a cyclist. It confers few graces. My view is from the ground up. Immediate motto comes to mind, with American motorists you have to know your place. As a cyclist here in America I am marginally more irritating than dog walkers. I often attract interest from well meaning kind people and when I tell them what I'm doing most don’t get it at all. It’s outlandish my job, but it’s all I know.
Reached the grid system just in before Buckeye. Incorporated in 1929 might give you a timeline of the speed this extension of Phoenix has developed. Everywhere plots of land marked out. Great home creating opportunity on a massive growth scale is impressive.
At the Trek dealership in Goodyear, west of Phoenix, on Lichfield Street. I talked to Mike the salesmen. We agreed on the fine filament of exploded tire wire being the problem. With my tyres feeling soft and sticky this conflates always puncturing because you’re on a freeway; the Schwalbe tyres didn’t puncture between Athens and Sydney despite cycling past significant piles of blown out tyres discarded by trucks and buses servicing more than a billion people every day. No answer forthcoming so I bought patches and inner tubes. He suggested tubeless next time. Spot on. When I told him I’d checked out the Best Western round the corner quoted me 247 dollars - it was 50 in Blyth - he had a word with his boss. Said I could put my tent up in their back yard. Hosepipe in the corner. Rudy's BBQ just there and Starbucks just over there. Perfect.
Backyard Camping - very happy!
I have dinner in Rudys BBQ and at the counter stand next to a policeman. He said do not ride across cities at night, too many drunk drivers. 3 people drove into a lake and one drowned 20 mins ago. He looked shocked. Beard tattoos, hard looking. Server came up to me, did you want pickle with your prime?
Map of the Day
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