Hello Arizona!

Day 56: Fredonia, Arizona!

Hello from Arizona! We have now left Utah as our ride today took us from Zion National Park to Fredonia, Arizona.

This morning we awoke at 5:00 am, packed up camp and ate breakfast before forming groups to shuttle out of the park. We were forced to use the van to shuttle out of the park as bicycles are not allowed in one of the tunnels in the middle of the parks eastern entrance route.

We could really smell the wildfires burning this morning as the winds had shifted and were blowing the smoke from the fires in the northern part of the park southward.

I was in the second group to shuttle out of the park along with Brandt, Keith and Dan. Allison was driving the van today and shuttled us through the first tunnel before dropping us off and going back to get the next group. After getting dropped off we rode about six miles, leaving the park and stopping at the Zion Trading Post where we met up with the first group of riders and got coffee while waiting for the final two groups to arrive. After shuttling the final group of riders through the tunnel Allison had to return to camp one final time to pick up Zach and load all of our gear.

I left the Trading Post with Dan and Jon continuing on to Mt. Carmel Jct. where we stopped at a gas station for water before continuing on to Kanab, UT (our last stop in Utah) where we stopped at the Library to use the internet and eat lunch. Jon taught me how to use the big gear on my bike today while riding the hills between Mt. Carmel Jct. and Kanab. The big gear is a gear that I honestly had ignored until this point, to me it just always seemed to make it harder to pedal but today I learned how to use it going downhill. I must say it seems to make everything else soooo much easier! Thank you Jon!

Around 3:30 pm I left the library with Jon, Nick and Keith and headed to a thrift shop in Kanab to do some Christmas in July shopping. I found a few little things that I could use along with a Santa hat for Nick as he plans to dress up as Santa for our festivities in Williams, Arizona on July 25th!

From Kanab the ride to Fredonia was extremely short as Kanab basically sits on the Utah side of the Utah/Arizona border and Fredonia on the Arizona side. When we crossed the state line we stopped for a photo next to the Welcome to Arizona sign, propping my camera up on my bike in self-timer mode so we could all be included. From the welcome to Arizona sign it was about two miles to the Trinity Church of God where we were staying in Fredonia. The pastor was outside waiting for us when we got there and took us inside to give us a tour of the building. The building smelt of fresh popcorn as the pastor had made us fresh popcorn in the church’s movie theater style popcorn machine and gave us permission to make more (which we did numerous times throughout the night!)

We then talked with the pastor for awhile as we waited for the rest of our team to arrive. When the van arrived we unpacked it and enjoyed popcorn while Drew and Keith made Taco’s for dinner. After dinner I walked to the pastor’s home for a real shower before heading back to the church for a team meeting. After dinner I walked to the gas station in front of the church with Anish, Allison and Zach to get ice cream! I got Cookies & Cream in a cone – which was very good! Later on that night the pastor’s wife sent a plate of fresh chocolate chip cookies over to the church and we enjoyed them along with our popcorn and hot chocolate before heading to bed. So far Arizona has been very good to us!