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Monday, October 15, 2001 - Gila River Cruise
65 miles. Coolidge Dam, AZ
to Safford Ranch Mobile Home Park, Safford AZ
We slept outside last night and watched the stars come
out. The milky way was clearly visible and we actually had useful starlight
except to the west where the glow of Phoenix was visible over the ridge line.
We left early as usual. It was about 45*
and rode for about 30 miles on tribal road 3. This actually was the old
route of U.S. 70 until the '60s, and since then they have let the pavement go so
it was a slow go for us. There was not a single building the entire way and not
a single car to spoil our winding way over the pavement. When we we stopped the
silence was such as to make your ears ring. We saw four mule dear bound
across the road and easily clear the five foot fence beside the road.
We were then back on U.S. 70 (the "Old West
Highway, where history still lives") and picked up the pace with the better
pavement. First was Bylas, AZ (pop.1,725) which has an impressive Great
White Way (huge number of highway lights) but little else. We stopped in
Fort Thomas for lunch just as the school let out for lunch and we found
ourselves having lunch in the only restaurant with a crowd of giggling Apache
school children.
We continued on U.S. 70 with an excellent shoulder to
ride on up the now broad Gila River Valley past miles of immense irrigated
cotton fields. It seems to be the only crop grown in the area. We
finally rode by the source of the plume of smoke we had seen 15 miles back.
It was a wildfire that had consumed quite a few acres. We could feel
the heat of the fire tho' it was up to a half mile away. Wildfires can be
a real problem here with the dry conditions and the dominant shrub called
greasewood, ready to torch in any fire.
We then rode thru the cities of the area, Pima
(pop.1,725), with little more to offer than the Pima Freeze for a banana split;
Thatcher (pop.3,763), and Safford (pop. 7,359) which has all the stores. Here
we loaded up with groceries and rode east to the Safford Ranch RV Park. It
was a great place to stay with a pool, hot tub, clubhouse and very
friendly people, luxurious facilities for exhausted cyclo tourists.
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