Arizona and New Mexico

The blue line on this progress map shows the Adventure Cycling Soutern Tier route I initially planned to take. The green line shows my actual route, including how I diverted to Tucson to get a new Terry saddle for the Backroads bike and also that I decided to visit Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico.

I have now been biking for 10 days. It has been an emotional experience of highs and lows. Leaving the affluent Bay Area and starting biking in affluent San Diego, I initially biked through beautiful coastal mountains and sand dunes. Very soon, I came into low, flat desert land, and also Indian reservations. I experienced extremes of affluence to abject poverty. Desolate desert scenery, temperatures in the 90s, junky towns with shacks and garbage and rusting cars, washers and dryers in the front yard and back yard. A fellow biker I met on the road said it reminded him of the poverty of Tibet. Then I arrived in Phoenix, a sprawling city (it is said that it is 90 miles to get through all of Phoenix and its suburbs). Phoenix is a low elevation city with only 1 highrise. It is surrounded by Legoland suburbs and golf courses. Leaving Phoenix, I was still biking through the desert through the rest of Arizona, camping along the way. One night, we spent camping on the Apache Indian reservation overlooking San Carlos Lake, a beautiful spot.
Back on the road, I met Steve, biking west on his recumbant bike towing a small trailer. He had left Florida on February 12. When he arrives in San Diego, he plans to ship his bike home to Oregon and then hike the Pacific Crest Trail from San Diego to Oregon, arriving home around October. If you're interested, you can follow his progress on his blog http://100biketours.blogspot.com/
A highlight along the way was our stay at Gila Hot Springs. I soaked in the natural geothermal whirlpool, which was heaven after biking for so many days.
Biking into New Mexico, the scenery changed slightly, going from low desert to beautiful high desert mountains, changing back into low desert. After spending two days in Santa Fe (we had snow flurries here), I will be back on the bike tomorrow to Ghost Ranch (Georgia O’Keefe’s home) and then on to Taos.

Riding through the desert on a bike with no name.

Ready to start my biking day at the Superstition Mountains.

Pooped after biking through the hot desert.

Stopping to smell the flowers.

SAG man takes a prayer break.

Meeting Henry at the state line between Arizona and New Mexico. Henry is from London, England and started biking in Florida on February 22 heading west, and hopes to arrive in San Diego in about a week. He'd never been a biker before this trip. He also has a blog: http://voyageacrossthestates.blogspot.com/

The road ahead into New Mexico.

At the Continental Divide at almost 7,000 feet.

Blessed Kateri, Lily of the Mohawks, she is the first Indian to be promoted to sainthood. Her statue is in front of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe.