We are now in Cameron, Arizona and staying at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Today’s ride was a hot one as we rode 75 miles in extreme heat. We departed camp in Lees Ferry as soon as the sun was up and were on the road shortly after 5:00 am. We got a pleasant surprise at breakfast when Mark showed up with a box of homemade Cookies! Mark’s father had flown in from Louisiana to spend a few days with him and had brought and entire suitcase full of homemade cookies made by Mrs. Landreneau. Mark had spent the night at a motel (the only motel) with his father in Marble Canyon but had woken up early to bring us all a special treat! Cookies are always a welcome addition to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!Once we got on the road it got hot fast and most people had finished both of their water bottles by our first water stop at mile 18. After our second water stop at mile 30 Alex, Sehee and I made an exciting discovery alongside the road while riding. We found FOOD! Now while the thought of eating food off the side of the road may gross the majority of people out you have to understand, we are in the middle of the desert, it’s day 58, and we’ve been living off of peanut butter & jelly, pasta, and ugali for the most part. So we reacted like little children at the sight of FREE snack food dropping our bikes on the side of the road and running back to check it out. Meanwhile… Andrew who was driving the van and had just given us water at the water stop five miles back comes driving by with Zach. I can only imagine what they thought as they approached us scurrying around on the side of the road jumping up and down at our discovery! Among our findings were unopened boxes of Cheese-It, Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Gram Crackers and a new sealed jar of Strawberry Jelly. Thankfully Andrew came by just as we were pondering how we were going to carry our findings and we threw it all into the van.
Our next stop was in a small town called Gap where I stocked up on fluid downing a small 12 oz. jug of 2% milk and a peach Snapple while also eating a Reese’s Fast Break bar for some quick sugar energy. Alex, Sehee and I left Gap and cruised the next 16 miles to our lunch stop where we stopped for about five minutes before continuing on to Cameron. When we reached Cameron we stopped at a Shell station to ask for directions. Once we got to the church we found that it was locked and that the pastor would not be returning until late in the evening so we sat in the shade of the front overhang for awhile before a group of us headed to the grocery store to buy food for dinner.
While we were at the store Alex called and said that she had gone next door to the Church of Latter Day Saints to use the bathroom and upon hearing what we were doing they invited us all to stay at their church and that they would feed us as they were just wrapping up an outdoor barbeque in celebration of Pioneer Day and had food left over! After checking out at the grocery store we headed over to the Church of Latter Day Saints (which was right next door to the first church we had talked to) and enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, chips and fruit. We spent quite a while talking with members of the church after we ate before they put on a small music program which Dan took part in playing the guitar. There were numerous young children at the church all of whom seemed to have a great time throwing water balloons around outside with a few of our riders.Around 8:30 pm we began to head to bed with another 4:00 am wake up in the morning as we head to our final National Park the Grand Canyon!
No comments:
Post a Comment