Day 6 Globe to Safford, Az

Distance: 78 Miles
Riding conditions:  Fast and Flat

The day started off with bad news from Morton, my cycling partner from Denmark.  He apparently got food poisoning from the "Country Kitchen" last night.  ( I told him to stay away from the iceberg lettuce with the brown edges)  When I saw him this morning, he described his night of vomiting and cold sweats.  He didnt feel strong enough to ride on to Stafford so we parted ways after 3 days of riding together.   Shortly after leaving Globe,  I turned off from the 60 and headed southeast on the 70.  The wind was coming from the southwest at about 10 mph and was coming from either just behind or  just in front of my right shoulder the entire day.  Great riding conditions.  About 20 miles East of Globe lies Apache Nation.  My first stop was at a market near Ft. Apache.  Everyone in and out of the market was clearly ethnic Apache.  Was talking to an old man standing outside of the market tyying to sell an old potable air compressor for $15. He told me he had 3 cars but they are all broken down now and he has no more need for it. Someone came up and offerred him $10.  The discussion quickly moved from English to Apache but he wouldnt come down on his price.  Afterward I told him he should have negotiated but he had no desire to do so..  About a mile down the road I regretted not taking a picture of him and almost turned around to go back.

Another day, another flat on the rear.  That's 2 in 6 days.  It's not changing the tire that's the issue, it's taking off the rear bags that are time consuming on the side of the road with trucks whizzing by.  Lets hope for a run of good luck and no more flats on the rear.  Arrived in Safford at a nice early 2:30 and lounged by the indoor pool before dinner.  Tomorrow will be a rough day.  There are no services on the route that I'm taking for 117 miles and no motels between here and Silver City, New Mexico.  Went to the market to stock up on food and fluids.  Starting at daybreak around 5:30 with 3 cycling bottles full of gatorade, a 50 ounce camelback with gatorade, 2.5 large bottles of powerade and a 1 gallon jug of water.  I could barely carry it all back to the motel.  Hoping that will get me through the day.

WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY !!!

Only 21 miles to Safford while the snow capped mountains lie ominously in the distance.