I enjoy more talking and helping to put food together. Vera has a big dinner going: broccoli bake, acorn squash, apple sauce, fresh cranberry bread, asparagus, and a Black Toad beer. We watch a movie and I help figure out their TV and VCR. It’s ridiculously complicated. We laugh. I hope it doesn’t scare them…

I have a mellow day with Aunt Vera and Uncle Hal. Harold is so unassuming and quick to smile, I really warm to him. Vera is warm too, but also observant, quick, and selective in what she talks about. Still, I feel her letting her guard down a little as we talk. We ease through…

Mesa, AZ to Sun City West, AZ 11782 mi The Mesa-Phoenix sprawl seems endless. One shopping center after another. Orange trees everywhere. Even at dawn, the air is invigorating but comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt. I think I have a 30+ mile ride to reach my Great Aunt Vera’s, but it stretches on and…

Seneca, AZ to Mesa, AZ 11733 mi Alas the wind returns, and the going is slow down to Globe for breakfast. But then an amazing thing happens. The wind shifts behind me. An Easterly. The day gets hot as I sail by the copper mines and last dry mountain passes. Dropping into Devil’s Canyon is…

Springerville, AZ to Seneca, AZ 11635 mi I enjoy a morning of calm wind. Sunny and warmer than yesterday. A cute waitress in Springerville takes good care of me, gives me water, cash back, and makes sure I don’t forget anything. I’m among the high, dry area of the White Mountains. More seas of yellow…

Datil, NM to Springerville, AZ 11523 mi Coldest morning yet. I was close to shivering when I woke up. I begin my ride all bundled, one gloved hand at a time in my pocket to restore circulation. I worry a bit about my icy toes. I climb over one crest thinking it’s the divide. But…

Socorro, NM to Datil, NM 11441 mi A nice calm morning greets me. I fill up on cereal and donuts at the motel then head for the mountains. They make it look like I have a tough climb ahead, but after about 1000 feet I pop out into a valley headed west, the peaks on…

Cedro, NM to Socorro, NM 11369 mi Dave and Wendy are off early to work, so I bundle up and ride before sunrise. I climb some more to Escabosa, just high enough to be snow covered with some Ponderosa pines among the pinon, juniper, and cedar. The wind comes up from WNW, not too debilitating.…

Sante Fe, NM to Cedro, NM 11258 mi I’m the first up in the house, reading and quietly packing. Ann is next. She makes me a latte without asking, then worries that she’s forcing it on me. I hug her and tell her I’ll miss her coffee almost as much as I’ll miss her. I…

In the morning Ann makes me tea and toast and I read in bed for an hour while Wes sleeps. I find this extremely pleasant. Wes makes his breakfast, then Ann and I do a miserable job of frying eggs for ourselves. We eat them with the pumpkin waffles Bill sent with me while Wes…