Day 4 (Wed, 19 Mar)

We rode from Ehrenberg, AZ to Salome, AZ today - a grand, peaceful day of riding while enjoying the AZ landscape on a stunning day.  The ride was 30 miles on I-10 (safe and legal to ride on interstates in the West when there is no other reasonable alternative to ride) and then about 26 miles on US Hwy 60.  We climbed a total of 2,500 ft and the total distance was 56 miles.  The weather was perfect– in the 60s when we left our hotel and mid 70s throughout the day – perfectly sunny the entire day !!  Almost no wind today (total opposite of yesterday).  Overall, a very relaxing and scenic ride today – very awesome.  We were able to focus on the “F” of the SPF (Safety, Pace, Fun) of riding today.

We’ve met or seen long haul riders every day of the trip so far.  Tonight we ran into 3 riders heading to San Diego.  They’re all from Michigan; one is doing a cross country ride (starting from Jacksonville, FL) and his friends joined him in Phoenix.  We had a great dinner together trading cycling stories, optimal route information and enjoying the local Salome cuisine J

On to the pictures!

Sunrise in western AZ at the start of our ride today.  A spectacular day with absolutely perfect weather.

"Dome Rock" in the distance.

Southern AZ and CA had a few days of rain a couple of weeks ago - the wildflowers are in blossom adding a bit of color to the typically brown landscape.

 Good example of the landscape in western AZ - you can see the Saguaro cactus growing in large numbers in this part of AZ at the higher elevations.

Water from the Colorado river that will bypass Phoenix and goes to Tucson as one of that city's primary water sources.

Old Rusty Stuff!

Huge Saguaro cactus.  These are only found in the SW corner of AZ in the US.  A cactus this large in this part of the state is likely at least 150 yrs old.  Very cool.  More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro 

A bit of an explanation is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Wick_Hall 

Another large Saguaro cactus in the distance.

Cactus blossoms.  We didn't see many of these today but those we did were in striking contrast to the brown tones of pretty much everything else in the landscape in this part of the US.