Wickenburg to Tempe

Flat Tires Galore

Taran had 2 flats and the trailer got two more flats leading into Wickenburg. What a pain!!! The number 60 highway did not treat us well. Because we only had one patch left, we attempted to purchase more patches in Wickenburg. We finally found some at a hardware store, but they didn't look like the right kind. We stayed at a place called Horsepatality RV park. They had a ranch out the back that you could keep your horse at. There were not many in the park when we got there. There was also a lot of Canadians in the park. Most of them were from the Okanagan or Alberta. Our campsite was right beside the Rec Room, bathroom and laundromat. The Rec Room had a TV and Microwave that we put to good use. We had purchased frozen burritos in the hopes a Microwave would be available and quite literally lucked out! Otherwise, we were going to have to Toast them on the stove.

We decided to NOT put up tent and sleep under the stars. Our campsite was a level grassy spot that was fairly secure. It got chilly, but we both slept really well. No bugs, no animals, not too much noise. Very enjoyable.

When we were just about ready to leave, we both noticed that our bikes had flats. I fixed my bike and we tried the new patches on Taran's bike. They did not work...wrong kind. We put a new tube in Taran's bike and headed out with the hope we would not get a flat on the way into Phoenix. We made it to within one mile of a bike shop before Taran got another flat. We walked the last mile. The bike shop had been recommended by our warmshower host and turned out to be very good. They fixed Taran's rear wheel and front derailleur right away. Usually there is a 3 hour waiting period.

Driving to our warmshower location took longer than expected. It was a 25 mile ride through the city at rush hour without many bike lanes. We did get a few honks here and there, but overall we were safe. It felt like it was taking forever! Also, the directions we had did not have distances, so we had to keep stopping and asking people where the next street was because we did not want to go past it.

Warmshower Host in Tempe: Chris and his dogs: Jake, Dobey and Frankie

We arrived at Chris's house around 5:30 buy no one was home except three dogs. They started "singing" as soon as we rang the bell. It was quite the performance. If they practiced a bit and perhaps harmonized, they would sound pretty good. We got out our books and sat down to read and wait. When Chris arrived he said we could have gone in...cause the dogs turned out to be very friendly. We showered, ate more burritos that we purchased and I spent some time yakking with Chris. He turned out to be a very active and eclectic fellow. He has raced road bikes, cyclecross and mountain bikes. He does mountain climbing and is preparing for a Mount Everest Climb, he's part of the avalanche rescue squad, he builds custom bicycle frames, he currently works for a performance car shop building turbo chargers for high performance cars, etc, etc. He was also working on another project creating his own kitchen countertops. He had taken a one day course that showed him how to mix concrete, glass fibers and other chemicals and pour it onto a mold. Apparently the result is a very light (compared to concrete) but very sturdy counter surface. I was very intriqued.

When I was on the phone with Phaedra, Chris and Taran took our bikes into his workshop and Chris started tuning up our bikes. He replaced a rear derailleur on Taran's bike and tuned up the brakes. He replaced a brake cable and rear brakes pads on my bike and low and behold they work now. They had never worked this well. I always thought that the trailer made the brakes not work well...nope, it was the pads and the cable... He also tuned up the derailleurs. We were amazed at how quickly and effeciently he worked. He was a machine. We really appreciated his work cause we're heading into some remote and very hilly territory.