Riding and Pondering

Riding Day 8

As I write this morning, I’m sitting in the customer lounge at Camelback Toyota in Phoenix. Around noon yesterday, as Odie and I were pedaling through the Tonto Basin on Highway 188, The Bob was sitting on the side of the road a few miles ahead of us pondering the implications of the “check engine” and “VCS” lights that had just illuminated on the dashboard. He flagged us down as we approached, and we took a break to discuss our options. The decision was made to keep riding to Globe, AZ and then return to Phoenix to get the OREM looked at. We’re just about to enter a part of the country where small towns spaced far apart and with limited services are the norm, so it was a “no-brainer.” The OREM is our shelter from whatever storms, both literal and figurative, might come our way.

The ride itself was awesome with stunning vistas dominating the day. I didn’t think there’d be as much climbing as the day before, but we actually encountered a lot of hills, including a 4.1-mile monster near the end of the day that nearly broke us. We had to stop 4 times to rest our legs and catch our breath, and then make uphill starts, which on a tandem are complicated affairs requiring a precision that Odie and I have apparently acquired because we nailed it all four times.

The Tonto Basin is a sparsely populated landscape rimmed by reddish bluffs etched against clear-blue skies on both sides. Roosevelt Lake, a massive body of water, lies squarely in the middle and we rode along its western flank for a couple of hours. The air was brisk and oh so fresh, subtly and wonderfully scented by some unknown source. We could hear frogs croaking in between the passing of cars and motorcycles, and there were birds everywhere. The occasional fishing boat could be spotted languishing in a cove or by the shore, and I could easily envision the people onboard sitting peacefully, maybe even dozing off, as they fished. In short, it was as tranquil a setting as one could imagine, one rife with gentle reminders to slow down and pay attention to the abundance of beauty that was literally everywhere. It was easy to understand the attraction and why some people would choose to live there, far away from the maddening crowds, even if it meant giving up a certain amount of convenience.  But as we rolled along, stress-free mile after mile, the thing I couldn’t reconcile that was so prevalent every time we passed by a home or small group of businesses, was the preponderance of flags, signs, and the inherent anger they implied in support of one side of the political argument. And I wondered, how could you live amongst such beauty and feel so enraged, when the reality is that you’ve got all the freedom and beauty each and every day that you could possibly want???

Around 4:15pm, we finished riding for the day having covered 71.27 miles. Hank’s chain had come off at one point, and the hills were once again no joke, but overall it had been a glorious day of riding and pondering, chatting about this and that, sweating and grunting our way over the hills, bumps, and ruts…in short, it was pretty much perfect! The Bob was craving Mexican food, which sounded really good to all of us, and after going to two restaurants that are closed on Mondays, we stumbled upon “Irene’s” located along Highway 60 in Globe. The food was excellent, and after stuffing ourselves to the gills, Odie and I got shakes at a nearby Dairy Queen for the 90 minute ride back to The Bob’s. We made it back shortly before 8pm, did a few things that needed to be done, showered off layers of literal grit and grime, and were all in bed early, knowing that the next day would be spent relaxing and doing a little preparation for the next leg of our journey. Hopefully the OREM will soon be fully recovered and not cost a fortune, but it seems that over the last few years, anytime I take a car to the shop for maintenance, the bill is $1,000 or more, and all I can do is pay up and then let it go…perhaps we should all be riding bikes instead.